Apple Pencil Pro: All the New Features

[MacRumors]

Apple this week debuted the Apple Pencil Pro, marking the first major revision to the Apple Pencil lineup since the 2018 launch of the Apple Pencil 2. There are some major changes that were introduced with the new accessory, including new gestures and capabilities.

Squeeze

The squeeze gesture allows the Apple Pencil Pro to sense when pressure is applied to the sides of the device. Using squeeze brings up a palette so that you can do things like switch tools, line weights, and colors.

Developers can customize how apps react to the squeeze gesture so it can bring up custom controls in each app.

Barrel Roll

There is a gyroscope in the Apple Pencil Pro that allows the rotation of the barrel to change the orientation of certain tools. It basically offers much more precise control of shaped pen and brush tools, similar to how a real pen or brush would function when you tilt it while drawing or sketching.

Haptic Feedback

A built-in haptic engine offers haptic feedback when using the Apple Pencil Pro's gestures. A light haptic pulse will respond when using a squeeze or double-tap gesture, plus there is feedback when using the snap to a Smart Shape feature.

Find My

Find My is available for the Apple Pencil Pro so it can be tracked right alongside the iPad and other devices in the Find My app.

Charging and Pairing

The Apple Pencil Pro attaches to the side of the iPad Pro or the iPad Air, and the magnetic connection enables automatic pairing and charging. There is a new magnetic interface that is available on the 2024 iPad Pro models.

Existing Features

Current Apple Pencil features like Apple Pencil hover and double tap are supported. Hover lets you preview where the Apple Pencil will touch down on the display before a mark is made, while double tap can be used for swapping between tools.

Low latency, tilt sensitivity, and pressure sensitivity are all included features.

Compatibility

The Apple Pencil Pro is compatible with the M2 iPad Air models and the M4 iPad Pro models, so it only works with the May 2024 iPads.

Price

The Apple Pencil Pro is priced at $129, which is also the cost of the Apple Pencil 2.

Article Link: Apple Pencil Pro: All the New Features

 

[adrianjagielak]

Do a barrel roll!

 

[Pezimak]

When they showed this off and with that curved menu that popped up on the screen, it reminded me off the dial wheel Microsoft showed on on the Surface Studio, really impressive clever UI idea.

Apart from the stupid name, it is a pretty good update to the Apple Pencil.

 

[coffeemilktea]

Imagine telling people from the past that one day, they'd be able to do a Barrel Roll with a pen... truly technology has ushered in a glorious new future.

Also, I guess it's time to bring back this meme:

 

[unashamedgeek]

I'm reading the pencil is wider than the iPad Pro. I'm interested in how well the pencil stays connected when you lay the iPad down. I wish Apple's smart folio had something to help hold the pencil on. I prefer that style of case. I have an ESR model for my current iPad Pro and it has a flap to hold the pencil, but I do not feel the case is as nice as Apple's, mainly because it has lip all around the iPad and it is not the same size lip. Just isn't a perfect fit.

 

[sdwaltz]

Really wish the haptic feedback could be used to simulate a pen or pencil gliding across paper. That would have been neat.

 

[Rychiar]

No Vision Pro support🥱

 

[yabeweb]

They could have sold many more if they made it iPad all iPad m1 and m2 compatible….

 

[ksec]

Interesting with the pricing. Considering most if not all the features are Pro usage only. I would have thought this to be $149 or even $199.

If the Pencil Pro is $129, I would have valued the non-pro version at best $69.

 

[Katopaul05]

Really wish the haptic feedback could be used to simulate a pen or pencil gliding across paper. That would have been neat.

I concur.

 

[trip1ex]

Do a barrel roll!

The new DS stylus

 

[jkmoses]

No Vision Pro support🥱

I'm curious if we see some features such as this unlocked with the next version of OSs that we'll see at WWDC. You know there has to be some "secret" features with M4, etc. that will come to light with the next round of updates.

 

[darngooddesign]

They could have sold many more if they made it iPad all iPad m1 and m2 compatible….

Well they did change the pairing/charging hardware to accommodate the landscape camera everyone asked for.

 

[DMG35]

Find My is such a welcome addition. I’ve misplaced mine soooo many times.

 

[JohnRckr]

I expected them to retail it for like 299$, so props to them… for once.

 

[jkmoses]

Interesting with the pricing. Considering most if not all the features are Pro usage only. I would have thought this to be $149 or even $199.

If the Pencil Pro is $129, I would have valued the non-pro version at best $69.

I was expecting something more expensive as well but I think there are a few factors in pricing. They probably know how much people are willing to pay for something like this and can't go beyond that. Also as time goes on some of this tech gets cheaper to manufacture. The new iPads for instance have bumped up the base storage and the price didn't change on the Air models. Probably just price point decisions.

 

[jkmoses]

I expected them to retail it for like 299$, so props to them… for once.

Can you imagine them trying to sell it at the same price as the new Magic Keyboard? They would have been torched immediately by their customers.

 

[ipedro]

Looking ahead, now that it has a Taptic Engine, the new Pencil Pro opens up some really interesting capabilities:

1. Surface simulation. Writing on glass is one of only a few downsides of a digital Pencil, but one that can be overcome by the Taptic Engine simulating a rough surface of paper or brush strokes on a canvas.

2. visionOS support. Drawing in air or tapping items in Spatial computing with the Pencil Pro could produce a satisfying click, like the Magic Trackpad does so convincingly.

The Touch Pad on MacBooks and the Magic Touch Pad do a convincing job of simulating a real click. The Taptic Engine has the kind of precision at varying degrees of intensity and even direction to enable this.

 

[MLMcMillion]

Hopefully the squeeze gesture isn't too tiring to use. Double Tap has been frustrating to use because it's easily accidentally triggered while drawing and moving around. I wish they would just cave and let me just flip the damn thing over to erase.

 

[Macalway]

Squeeze and roll.

Sounds kinda silly but I might actually use these. Then again, as the above poster mentions, it's all ergonomics, and fatigue can be an issue.

 

[Cirillo Gherardo]

A lot of carry over from AirPods Pro. Pretty cool to see.

 

[srknpower]

Does it have U1 or U2 chip?

 

[klasma]

I'm reading the pencil is wider than the iPad Pro. I'm interested in how well the pencil stays connected when you lay the iPad down.

It’s designed to fit, taking the camera bump into account. The Pencil Pro is 8.9 mm in diameter, minus the 5.1 mm of the 13” is 1.9 mm on each side, while the camera bump is 2.2 mm (at least it was on all previous models).

 

[xpxp2002]

Find My is such a welcome addition. I’ve misplaced mine soooo many times.

I always fear losing it while traveling. I often slide the iPad with the Pencil magnetically attached into a travel backpack that I usually bring. There were a couple close calls, but I noticed and didn't lose it.

I never understood why the magnetic Apple Pencil 2 didn't support this in a similar fashion to the MagSafe wallet. It would be easy to track where it was last seen based on the location of the paired iPad when it was either detached or where the iPad was last located when it had a Bluetooth connection to the Pencil.

But why do that with existing hardware when we can sell somebody a new $129 Apple Pencil Pro and a $999+ M4 iPad Pro because we made the new Pencil hardware-incompatible with every older model.

 

[Polinsky]

They could have sold many more if they made it iPad all iPad m1 and m2 compatible….

I can't believe that Apple didn't think of this.