Apple Pencil to Ship With Adapter for Charging With Lightning Cable

[Rogifan]

I love the way the pencil can charge via the iPad. It's super convenient, fast and requires no separate cable.

"Oh my pencil is almost dead...let me plug it into the iPad and take a bathroom break, or make a phone call, or smell the roses for a minute"

People here are acting like plugging it into an iPad will cause some sort of Earth destroying disaster. It charges in a minute! Are you such a slave to your work that you can't take a 60 second break? Do people seriously assume that you'll be walking around with the pencil awkwardly hanging from the bottom of your iPad and poking into your stomach? (Flip the iPad...problem solved! Or just put the darn thing down for a minute)

Silly season on the macrumors forum these days.

And everybody is a designer and engineer with far better solutions than what Apple did. If only Apple would hire MR forum posters maybe they'd have a chance of shipping decent product. /s I'll bet 99.9% of the people complaining have no intention of even owning an iPad Pro.

You would only need to go without the keyboard for 15 seconds.

And the pencil is only plugged in to lightening port for 15 seconds. I don't see what the big deal is. I will wait for actual reviews of the device from people who have used it. As with the Magic Mouse and now Apple Pencil the way people are going on you'd think these devices were never being used because they're always charging. But in both cases you can get a lot of use out of a short amount of charging time.

I agree. It makes the time when you need to charged the pencil quickly, really easy. Yes it means a full charge is more complicated but you're not needing to use the pencil at that time.

If it was the other way and the pencil dies you'd be fumbling around for a cable to plug into the iPad or wall socket just to finish what you're doing.

Wow people have some weird definitions of complicated around here. I'll bet any money the actual owners of this device will have fewer complaints than those that don't own it.

 

[Even Longer]

I don't know, what you guys have! Remove the cap, don't loose the cap and there is an adapter.... A-A-a-ah!
Don't be *******!

For my part, I definitely like the male charging port of the pencil, because, when you on the move and draw something, you don't have to bring the charger and cable to quickly charge you run out pencil.

Adapter is meant to sit at home, when you just want to charge the pencil with already available chargers.

I guess: wouldn't Apple include that adapter by default, everyone here would be screaming for such, accusing Apple being f.. greedy.

 

[Shirasaki]

Despite the criticism here, I like this solution, because it provides two ways to charge the Pencil. The idea of plugging it into the bottom of the iPad is supposed to allow for 'emergency' rapid charging, when you're using the Pencil - remember it can get a decent amount of battery life from a short charge. And then when you plug it in for a full charge, e.g. at night, it uses a standard Lightning cable. I don't really see what's 'ugly' or 'stupid' about this. If you're in the middle of working, and your Pencil runs 'dry', you can just plug it directly into the iPad for a few minutes so you can get right back to work. That's much, much better than having to go find a cable and wall outlet, plug it into the wall etc. Imagine you're in the airport or on a plane, for example....

But think about this:
Previously there is no such solution for charging Apple Pencil using lightning cable. The only way to charge it is plugging it to the lightning port at the bottom of iPad Pro.

Don't know if this is a catch up solution or this solution is intentionally hidden from Apple.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Uh, Apple is selling more Macs and Iphones than ever. Nobody except a few techhead cares about 4k, and the ATV is kicking everyone else's ass anyway.

Hello person whose opinion is like the wind that only blows in one direction. This to me is fanaticism and such opinions carry no weight since they are not based on any kind of fact, only emotionalism that screams, 'I love everything Apple does and I will attack anyone who dares say otherwise!'

Apple's only weakness is the tablet market, where the iPad is getting crushed by ultra-cheap tablets like the Amazon Fire. Which is fine, because Apple doesn't compete at that level.

Nobody in real life cares about specs, unless you're whipping out your dick and showing your other tech friends how big it is. What most consumers care about is "does it do what I want?" And the answer to that shows up on Apple's bottom line.

Nice comparison there with the "nobody cares" crowd that lies only in the imagination of those that think only the name plate matters and nothing else what-so-ever. I mean who cares if the product is an out of date POS, right? Just as long as it's by Apple it's AWEEEEEESSOOOOOMMMMMEEE!!

While the general defensive consensus around here is that nobody criticizing Apple knows better than Apple, and Apple must have done it for a reason, the reality is, Apple can't put their best engineers on everything. Clearly this is a solution that could have been better thought out, but they had so much going on they had to parcel this out to the guy that wasn't doing that much. Or conversely, he was so overloaded with work, he phoned that one in.

So they put their dumb arse engineers on this product? Um, maybe they should hire more good engineers and less morons?

This is the kind of thing Steve Jobs would have taken one look at and sent them back to the lab to fix the damn design. Tim Cook, however strikes me as more interested in stock performance than actual quality products. And as long as people like usarioclave above are buying Apple products, they can get away with just about anything at all since nothing matters but the NAME to them.

Frankly, given how this pencil is constantly in motion while being used and requires so little power, they might have considered a motion-based induction charge like certain watches use to never need wound/run out of power and/or a little holder on the iPad Pro that would charge it inductively while sitting in the holder (i.e. end of day, just put it away and it charges). Actually, if the connector wasn't hidden, plugging it into the holder could work too. But all these ideas are utterly beyond Apple engineers imaginations because they are clearly ergonomic clueless.

I don't know, what you guys have! Remove the cap, don't loose the cap and there is an adapter.... A-A-a-ah!
Don't be *******!

Ah, more great design wisdom in the Apple forums. I honestly wonder exactly whom Apple builds its products for these days.

 

[ghost187]

reasons why a pencil sticking out the bottom of your device while charging can be a disaster waiting to happen and scenarios that are likely to happen or be impacted by the design implementation:

Example one:
you are charging your pencil, and you put it down somewhere while it charges. it shifts, Moves, sticks out, you name it, but some thing that some how bumps the pencil, which protudes out. this is going to happen. its Murphy's law, you know all that. if you leave something sticking out of something it's going to be bumped. This pencil is only attacked by a lightning port. A good hard enough jar is going to break the pencil, or possibly worse breaking the port.

How bout example two:
you want to sit on the couch and use the device. but oh, that pencil is out of battery. PLug it in. now you've got a long stick sticking out the bottom of your tablet, you know, where generally your guts are and for some of us, possibly further

its not the end of the world, but it's just, such an unpolished, not-typical to apple design that leaves me scratching my head. does it have some cool benefits to this, sure, but I just can't believe someone couldn't have come up with a better idea.

You got an adapter for a full charge and you get 30 minutes of use from 15 seconds. C'mon, that's only 15 seconds. It beats carrying a lightning cable IMO, and if you are willing to carry a lightning cable, than carry the adapter too.

 

[sracer]

And the pencil is only plugged in to lightening port for 15 seconds. I don't see what the big deal is. I will wait for actual reviews of the device from people who have used it. As with the Magic Mouse and now Apple Pencil the way people are going on you'd think these devices were never being used because they're always charging. But in both cases you can get a lot of use out of a short amount of charging time.

Apple thought it was big enough of a deal to create and include an adapter. Was Apple wrong?

 

[niun]

I'm wondering.. There must be at least one person in the Apple design chain raising an arm and asking WTF are we doing!?

Not that any of this really matters. The Verge will give this product a straight 9.5 review rating. The fanboys will eat it up.

However this smacks of something a competitor would do, Apple would chuckle at and then release the version that WORKS!

 

[Dydegu]

I'm glad they're doing this but I feel like people are forgetting that it takes a minute to get 2 hours of battery on the Apple Pencil.

If you're using the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil, and you run out of juice, it's supposed to be self contained. As long as you have power on the iPad, you're good to go. No cables / adapters needed.

 

[niun]

I don't think people are forgetting that at all.. It just all very un-Apple.
Some very odd decisions coming out of Cupertino recently. Very odd when you see the competition doing things in a very Apple way.

 

[digitalhen]

Thats twice too many

I"m thinking about from a waste perspective and overall cost. twice in a year isn't really a lot. it's not going to bankrupt anyone, and really not going to change the functionality and how well it works.

It just... thats 2 batteries more a year into a landfill. two more batteries a year that have to be produced.

Ha, that's a fair point. Maybe I should swap them for rechargeables!

 

[groovyd]

What ever happened to unisex connectors and why isn't everything just double sided and inverse symmetric? It isn't and more difficult or expensive.

 

[Even Longer]

Ah, more great design wisdom in the Apple forums. I honestly wonder exactly whom Apple builds its products for these days.

Cute prejudice.

And I love you too... Here from down below, looking up to your ever-critical shiny pinnacle of pure wisdom.

 

[Mac 128]

A build in double male adapter would make the pencil a three part design, instead of two and thus create more opportunity for failure. A female port on the pencil is much harder to clean and to maintain than a male port and may create problems with the $99 accessory itself. While a double male adapter no matter the price just as easily can get lost as a double female adapter. If you got to say, it's all a matter of opinion and preference, than you didn't come up with a noticeable better solution, just another solution.

Oh you mean like the female Lightning connectors on EVERY single Apple device that uses them, devices which don't have caps, and yet somehow arent affected by this problem, despite the fact they don't have a protective cap like the pencil will?

Like I said, my solution is better because the adapter is built-in, and conforms to Apple's existing standard.

As for the three part design, well that's what Apple's adapter does, far less elegantly. Yes, my adapter can get lost, just like Apple's adapter and cap. Indeed you can lose the whole pencil! The difference is, mine is incorporated into the design, and thus better because it's more convenient. No contest here. Different and better.

And everybody is a designer and engineer with far better solutions than what Apple did. If only Apple would hire MR forum posters maybe they'd have a chance of shipping decent product. /s

Says the most outspoken proponent of redesigning iTunes, because you know better. Perhaps Apple knows best and you need to get with the program. You know, just like Apple created a brand new adapter, breaking their own standard, which can only be used for one product. Once again, you seem to know more than Apple.

Apple thought it was big enough of a deal to create and include an adapter. Was Apple wrong?

Some people are serious hypocrites on these forums, incapable of seeing any other viewpoints than heir own.

 

[bobob]

Heh - - I like how TheVerge is positioning this news:

The Apple Pencil will need an adapter to charge from a Lightning cable

 

[blackboxxx]

Clearly the only proper way to charge the Pencil is to stick it in the bottom of the Magic Mouse.

 

[enrincon89]

and the adapter will be $29

 

[pat500000]

Why didn't Apple just make the Pencil's charging port be a female Lightning port? The idea of having the Pencil stick out the bottom of the iPad Pro, was ridiculous thinking on their part. It's not like it's so hard to use the charging cable from the iPad to charge the Pencil.

Apple lack common sense.

 

[PracticalMac]

What a poorly thought out solution. Who's bright idea was it to think the primary way we would desire to charge this is by plugging it into the lightning port of the iPad Pro? If Samsung or Microsoft included an "adapter" as a solution, MR members would be howling at their inept planning (or lack thereof).

Agree.

One of the failings of Apple culture is sometimes, just sometimes, missing the painfully obvious.

 

[Gudi]

Oh you mean like the female Lightning connectors on EVERY single Apple device that uses them, devices which don't have caps, and yet somehow arent affected by this problem, despite the fact they don't have a protective cap like the pencil will?

No, I mean like every female connector on every device by every manufacturer. All are affected by this problem and caps aren't a neat solution to this. Why do you think Apple is going for a one USB-C port only design with the new MacBook? Less openings, less problems.

 

[jmgregory1]

I get the idea that the fast charge from the iPad can provide enough to the Pencil to keep you going for a while, but I still feel that most people who are carrying around a bag that will hold an iPad Pro, plus their iPhone, will likely also have a Lightning charging cable and plug.

So other than for these off-chance situations where you've been working for 12 straight hours (or forgot to charge it the night before) and you need another 30 minutes to finish up your work, the male plug on the Pencil seems a bit off on UX. I mean come on, are people really going to be writing / drawing with the Pencil for this long each time that they need this fast 30 minute extra charge capability? Even for hardcore designers, they need to eat and take bio breaks throughout the day and plugging the Pencil into a Lightning cable and charger cannot be some out of the ordinary thing.

 

[topmounter]

Someday Apple is going to invent inductive charging technology and we won't need all these silly cables to charge iDevices and iAccessories. Save us Sir Jony, Save us!

 

[tehgregzzorz]

Right.... so with a female to female adapter, what happens when I connect two live wall-powered lightning cables to eachother? Seems like a great way to short circuit a power source

 

[Mac 128]

No, I mean like every female connector on every device by every manufacturer. All are affected by this problem and caps aren't a neat solution to this. Why do you think Apple is going for a one USB-C port only design with the new MacBook? Less openings, less problems.

Again, what problems? Every Lightning port in existence until now has been female. Yet there don't seem to be throngs of angry Apple consumers complaining about it. Lightning is actually an incredibly robust port, with pretty good potential for being completely sealed from the inside. The only issue I see with it, is if you drop it in the mud and mud plugs up the port. If this were any kind of problem whatsoever, Apple would include a plug for the Lightning port. Yet they don't. And it isn't. I've never had a Lightning port fail, nor any 30-pin docking port before that for that matter, but I have had male connectors on both fail.

USB-C is a whole different animal, and a much more fragile connector. In fact the potential to break off the thin male connecter within the female port, attached to the logic board is a much more likely problem than damaging a female Lightning port with contacts on one side -- especially because there is only one port for charging, and a higher degree of likelihood the cable could be tripped over (hence the MagSafe connector). In fact, the tip of the male Lightning is more likely to break off than damage any female Lightning port, something that carelessly charging the Pencil in the iPad could result in doing. And, a hallmark of all Apple devices since the Mac which set them apart from PCs -- if the connector gets broken off in a port, the logic board side is always female in the event pins are broken, which would require a new connector to be soldered onto the logic board in most PCs; whereas on the Mac, all that's needed is a new cable on the attaching device.

So what you're saying is that Apple, out of concern for all this port damage that its customers have been complaining about for decades, has removed the 2nd USB port which they started adding to both sides of a MacBook a few years ago for user convenience, because it was such a disaster that they now restrict the customers to just one port to protect them from any possible trouble they might have with a second port? Despite the fact that if they have any trouble with the one port, which is far more likely than with the Lightning port, they're screwed on the new MacBook?

 

[Mac 128]

You realise that this very adapter that is "now" shipping with the iPad Pro is exactly the cap you are describing here?

Looking at the picture, I do wonder if it's perfectly round and the exact same size as the pencil itself so that it could function as a cap. There's a dot on the cap that shows orientation, so there's a certain amount of fiddling that has to happen which is not there with the rounded cap. It's only a few mm longer than the rounded cap, so shouldn't make using the pencil any more difficult. Though it's not as elegant a finish as the rounded cap. Maybe if they put a metal ring around the end as well making it much more obvious which end plugs in to the pen. Then it would look more finished as a cap as well -- kind of like an old school pencil with the metal eraser barrel. Of course, as a cap, this makes the end slightly more susceptible to being damaged if people fiddle with it too much.

Right.... so with a female to female adapter, what happens when I connect two live wall-powered lightning cables to eachother? Seems like a great way to short circuit a power source

If the 9to5 report is accurate and the dot on the side has to be at the bottom end for proper orientation, perhaps that's what prevents this from happening if two Lightning charges were "accidentally" connected together. For my own personal reasons, I wonder if this will have any impact on connecting two Lightning cables together on the USB-A side to use this adapter to make an extension cable? I wonder if the adapter will be sold separately? It has to right, for all those customers who lose the one that ships with it? Maybe we'll see them in stores a month later.

 

[calebkingston]

What a poorly thought out solution. Who's bright idea was it to think the primary way we would desire to charge this is by plugging it into the lightning port of the iPad Pro? If Samsung or Microsoft included an "adapter" as a solution, MR members would be howling at their inept planning (or lack thereof).

I think it makes sense. 99.9% of the time you'll be using an apple pencil is on an apple device and 99.9% of the time you're using it on the apple device it will be when the device isn't dead and has battery to charge the pencil. So you'll have access to charge your apple pencil WHEREVER you are using it 99.98564% of the time you need to whether theres a cable floating around or not. And if you want to choose to have a dedicated cable charging solution, just plug the adapter on the end once and leave it there. I would much rather have convenience of charging wherever I'm at then making sure it works out of the box with existing cables.... and I'm sure if it still doesn't sit well for the 1% of you, 3rd party female plugs will come out just for you feminists