A week or so ago, the Bloomberg leaker Mark Gurman made a bold claim: Apple had, “with zero doubt,” been testing and prototyping a new, stubbier version of the Apple Pencil for its upcoming foldable iPhone. Considering that the company has sold phones for 19 years and styluses for 11 years but has never brought the two things together, this seemed surprising. Some might even say a colossal mistake. But at least the idea was just that: an idea, tested for a while and probably discarded.
But hang on for a minute, because today, at the very last minute, Gurman has posted another article about Apple’s Surprise and Shine press event. And he now insists that the folding iPhone (or iPhone Duo, as he’s now calling it) will indeed be compatible with the Apple Pencil.
It’s important to note that Gurman’s latest prediction, in his own words, is merely that the iPhone Duo will have “support for the Apple Pencil stylus.” If Apple still plans to launch a special edition of the stylus, he doesn’t mention this. From the sound of this the inclusion of Apple Pencil support would be very much optional; a nice-to-have rather than an integral feature. Which sounds like something nobody could be against, right?
Except the screen, which is already a source of concern because of the dangers of a visible crease, will need the additional tech to support stylus input, and as Gurman himself has pointed out, that could result in visible marks. And the iPhone Ultra/Duo won’t be the right size for a standard-issue Apple Pencil to attach magnetically along one side, which creates all sorts of storage and charging headaches. All this to support an accessory most people won’t use.
To be fair, the foldable iPhone, when unfolded, will be more akin to a tablet than a smartphone. (Its expected screen size is virtually identical to the original iPad mini.) So there may be some demand for stylus support. It’s just hard to feel positive about what seems like a half-hearted approach to the matter. Either you do Apple Pencil support properly, with a dedicated version of the stylus that actually fits, or you don’t bother.
Then again, the Pencil gets the briefest of snippets in Gurman’s report, so perhaps there’s more to the story than he’s letting on. You can follow all the latest breaking news as we lead up to today’s announcement with our Apple event live blog.
