Rumor has it that Apple is going to release a new Apple Pencil 3, which would actually make it the fourth Pencil, but who’s counting? But this new Pencil 3 will stand out from the quartet because it could support a new “compression” gesture.
According to a report from 9to5Mac, the iPadOS 17.5 beta released Tuesday includes code for an Apple Pencil tap gesture. Squeeze would be used for “quick interactions such as adding shapes, signatures, stickers, or a text field.” The code doesn’t explain how the gesture works, but it’s likely that it would work by tapping the pencil.
The three Pencils currently offered by Apple do not have pressure sensors in the body where the user holds it, so this new gesture suggests that Apple will release a new Pencil 3. If a new Pencil 3 arrives, it could replace one the current one in the range, probably the 2nd generation Pencil, which is the most expensive model at $129/£139/$149 and works with the iPad Pro, iPad mini and iPad Air. The 1st gen Pencil ($99/£109/$119) would likely stick around since it works with the 9th and 10th gen iPads. The USB-C Pencil could also remain Apple’s most affordable Pencil at $79/£79/$95.
(Or Apple could keep all the Pencils in its lineup and offer four, which would accomplish the goal of making the Pencil lineup more confusing than it already is.)
Apple also introduced a new version of the PencilKit API with iPadOS 17.4, but we haven’t seen any reports of new features provided by the API.
About a year ago, Apple filed a patent application for the acoustic resonators in the Apple Pencil. This seems to indicate that Apple is working on Find My support for the device: the resonators would be used to alert a user of their location. None of the current Pencils come with resonators, so a new Pencil 3 could have this feature. A recent rumor also suggested that the new Pencil could work as an input device for Apple Vision Pro.
Apple is expected to announce new iPads soon. The latest report says that the new iPad Pro and iPad Air won’t arrive until May. igamesnews theorizes, based on Apple’s release history, that Apple will make an iPad announcement this month, possibly Apple 23 or around that time. For more on the possible new iPad, check out our iPad Air and iPad Pro rumor summaries.
