Apple Pencil Buyer's Guide: Which Model Should You Choose?

[BornAgainMac]

I bet the iPad M5 will only work with the Apple Pencil Pro 2. Plus Apple might make the next iPad 13.2 inches to force a new keyboard case.

 

[tivoboy]

Not making the last two generations, recent USB-C and Gen2 compatible is just our apple greed. Certainly the USB-C should work, and the prior gen could have had some small tray for ~ 20-25 that would allow charging from a USB-C port. Oh, well, there will be a fine secondary market for them, but still it’s just greed. At LEAST they aren’t starting at $149 now. Or higher

 

[Rychiar]

Where dat Vision Pro Pencil at…

 

[icymountain]

This has just become such an absurd mess...

 

[phgreer]

I have the Ipad Gen 9 and still restricted to the 1st gen pencil which I do have which is rediculous however I have a couple more 3rd party pencils which I love The Logitech Crayon (easier to hold) and the ERS - got both really cheap and do the trick - Thank goodness for 3rd party innovations abit restrictions.

 

[phgreer]

I came to this article by way of looking for a pencil to use with my iPad for artwork. Long story short I looked on the Apple website, couldn't figure out what I was supposed to get to go with my iPad, did a google search for "Which Apple Pencil will work with my iPad" and here I am. I needed to figure out which iPad I had (7th Gen) and use the table to (finally) get which one I needed.

To say this is dumb is the understatement of the year.

The Apple choices are dumb but check out the 3rd party options

 

[bkaus]

So, is this simply a software decision? Or is there more to it (electronics in screen, electronics in pencil)?

Compatibility that is, not stuff like shape and magnets. .

 

[Darth Tulhu]

JEEEESUS. What is all the FUSS about?!

An Apple Pencil for EVERY iPad.

For more powerful iPads, multiple Pencil options (depending on needs).

This is simple AF:

Step 1: Pick the iPad for your needs
Step 2: Pick the Pencil for your needs that works with your iPad
Step 3: Go home and enjoy it, make something cool, and/or take care of business

ENOUGH with the "Steve Jobs wouldn't have" BS

The iPad is it's OWN category of product. This much choice means:

A. Apple is committed to the iPad as a standalone solution for many folks' computing needs
B. The Post-PC Era (that Steve Jobs BELIEVED IN, by the way) has BEEN here for a while

Complaining about this is like guys with nail guns whining Apple still makes hammers. Sledge, ball-peen, jeweler's, etc.

UUUUGH.

 

[jouster]

I bet the iPad M5 will only work with the Apple Pencil Pro 2. Plus Apple might make the next iPad 13.2 inches to force a new keyboard case.

At this rate, we’ll find out at WWDC.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

Tim Cook is a fool. Microsoft's 1990-2000 lineup was less confusing than this mess. Soon we're going to have a Cleaning Cloth Pro. Cook has to go.

 

[netsped]

I've been looking on updating my iPad Air 4th Gen to an M1 for some time now, I'm reading the specs for the iPad Air M2 and it says that it only supports Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil USB-C, my 2nd Gen Apple Pencil won't work with this one? WTH? Deal breaker for sure.. I'm not buying another $129 Apple Pencil. I guess I'll do the smart thing and buy a heavily discounted M1 iPad Air instead of any of the new ones lol.

 

[Hairball]

I really don't understand why older Apple Pencils can't work on new iPads, or why new Apple Pencils can't work with old iPads. Is the technology so crazy different in each one that they just couldn't figure out a way to make these nearly identical devices compatible with each other? Or is it just a matter of a software flag that bans you from using it just because?

Hell even Wacom doesn't do this.

I agree. I have a gen 2 pencil. Why will It not work with the new pro?

 

[anthorumor]

And yet my Apple Pencil 2 is not supported by the new iPads.
So much for saving the environment.

 

[VidPro]

And yet my Apple Pencil 2 is not supported by the new iPads.
So much for saving the environment.

It’s all about the green.

 

[Sippincider]

Step 1: Pick the iPad for your needs
Step 2: Pick the Pencil for your needs that works with your iPad
Step 3: Go home and enjoy it, make something cool, and/or take care of business

Step 4: Return the wrong Pencil that you invariably got that won't work with your iPad.

Imagine if we needed a buyer's guide to know which current Apple keyboard and mouse worked with which current Mac. It really is that bad.

Steve Jobs most certainly wouldn't have allowed Apple to direct itself back into this kind of Byzantine product mess.

 

[Naraxus]

I'm glad that Honda, Toyota, GM, etc each offer a wide range of different automobiles, at different price points. Rather than producing just one insanely great car. With features many customers don't need or want to pay for.

And I'm glad Apple has moved on rather than insisting on being stuck in the past just because Steve Jobs had an epiphany 15 years ago.

No doubt many faithful still wear black turtleneck sweaters and jeans everyday of the week, because SJ did so he could save time in the morning not having to decide what to wear.

Choice is good thing. Despite so many here believing that Steve Jobs proclamations are the equivalent of Moses delivering the Ten Commandments inscribed on stone tablets.

Somehow Apple has managed to limp along becoming one of the most successful companies in the world without SJ. Hopefully... Apple offering a lower cost stylus will not adversely impact the company's success despite so many people getting frothed up about it. Apple will survive this mice-nuts event.

The immense Earth-tilting pushback and pearl-clutching regarding Apple offering a lower cost stylus is pretty astonishing.

You make some good points in your posts but then you unnecessarily add condecending snark & ad homenims which totally destracts from the points you were trying to make. You can do better man.

 

[Saturn1217]

Hear me out. It would be really nice if there was a backup way to charge (and pair) these "pro" pencils. So that you don't have to rely on the exact form factor of your iPad matching your pencil.

This is like engineering 101.

I can kind of see them not realizing this with the first magnetically attached pencil. But then they clearly realized this was an issue with the iPad 10 (with the landscape camera) and hence the introduction of the cheap usb-c pencil.

BUT now with the pencil Pro there is still no backup way to charge the pencil. If there was, users with older iPads could still use the new pencil (albeit not as well as they can use the pencil 2) and then not have to worry about not having to upgrade AGAIN when they inevitably update their iPad. There are also just tons of situations (specific cases etc) where it would be nice to not HAVE to charge the pencil using the iPad. Limiting the pencil to only being able to charge via the iPad is the problem.

 

[TimHalfCooked]

timmy trying to recreate pokemon with apple products these days

 

[jz0309]

First, thanks for the comparison MR.
But really, 3 different pencils with different features? seems very confusing for those interested ...

Responding to my own post from Oct 13 2023 - so now we have 4 pencils. How many iPads in the current lineup actually support pencils? 4, right? So, that’s all I have to say

 

[lartola]

The fact that we have to choose between 4 pencils is an indicator that Apple is not what it used to be.

Apple used to make the decision for the customer and the customer walked in and had to choose between just 1 or 2 options.

**** you, Tim Apple.

All you have to do is look at what you have: for the latest ipad pros and air, the new pencil pro is the only choice. For previous usb-c ipad pros, gen 2 is the only choice. For the 10th gen ipad the cheap usb-c pencil is the only option and for lighting ipads only the 1st gen pencil works. No ipad is compatible with more than one apple pencil model, so the choice is obvious based on what ipad the customer owns..

 

[lartola]

Responding to my own post from Oct 13 2023 - so now we have 4 pencils. How many iPads in the current lineup actually support pencils? 4, right? So, that’s all I have to say

But each pencil works with different ipads. Not a single ipad is compatible with more than one pencil.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

It's absolutely ludicrious how what used to be 1 pencil has now ballooned to 4

Absolutely no reason why at least the 1st one should be sold, much less gen 2

Gen 2 doesn't even work with the new iPad Airs released today, but yet the gen 2.5 one in the one just known as Apple Pencil (USB-C) does

WHY APPLE????

They should have removed the 1st gen pencil yesterday, and they may as well merge the 2nd gen and 2.5/USB-C into one

The only pencil that should exist is this new one and it should work with all new iPads and should be called Apple Pencil. End of.

 

[lilkwarrior]

this is the company that used to have one or two products for a whole category, they used to know the product and the customer so much that they were sure that the new version would hit in every spot, old models were retired on the spot. Now we have 3 different versions of a ***** pencil.

…Disingenuous AF: They have a low-end pencil model and three generations of the Apple Pencil.

They support their products for a long time at a high quality longer than competition yet you are in your feelings they keep them in stock to support such legacy devices while also counting to innovate.


The first Apple pencil is for legacy and ancient non-USB C iPads.

Gen 2 is for USB-C pads with magnetic connectors primarily (iPad Pros) for over 4 generations.

Gen 3 is the new one after all that time for a radically different iPad after 3 models or ~6 years.

Most manufacturers don’t support their products nearly as long

 

[lilkwarrior]

The only pencil that should exist is this new one and it should work with all new iPads and should be called Apple Pencil. End of.

No. That’s not how backward compatibility works and that would limit the functionality and innovations the can do.

Wacom and other pen manufacturers don’t even do what you’re saying which is tech illiteracy at its finest.

A Wacom Pro Pen 3 couldn’t work nearly as well supporting legacy Cintiqs; same applies to Apple pencil.

If you could do better, the you do it or find manufacturers make products anywhere close to Apple’s or Wacom’s quality with digital pens.

 

[Scotes]

I've not bothered to go through 10 pages here but this only rings of one word.

Failure.