Some Apple Stores to Stop Selling First-Generation Apple Pencil Until USB-C Adapter Stock Improves

[Tyler O'Bannon]

Though this is only a launch problem, this is still pretty rough for apple. They know how many 1st Gen apple pencils are out there, roughly how many people actively use it, and it doesn’t make sense that there weren’t a large amount of these adapters readily available to make the launch smooth.

 

[roncron]

As ridiculous as this is, the Apple Pencil can still be charged from a plug with a lightening cable so charging isn’t the issue if you have one. Only problem is you can’t pair it with the iPad.

Also, the Pencil will hold its charge much longer. (Because you won't be able to use it with your iPad.) ;-)

 

[CharlesShaw]

But it comes with a Lightning female to female adapter. So you can connect it to a Lightning to USB-C cable and connect it to the iPad’s USB-C port. Should pass through data just as fine.

Until someone tries it (haha, who on MR is going to buy the 10th gen) and confirms that scenario works for pairing, we won't know whether or not Apple has put a chip in the "USB-C to Apple Pencil Adapter" (they do not call it a USB-C to Lightning Adapter).

 

[lazyrighteye]

Schools need headphone jacks. They will just shrug off the 10G and keep buying 9Gs or Chromebooks.

U.S. schools, by and large, are not buying iPads. We barely pay teachers a livable wage. No way they can consider iPads. Our education budget is embarrassing. Nott sure why National test scores continue plummeting. 🧐

 

[darngooddesign]

Until someone tries it (haha, who on MR is going to buy the 10th gen) ...

Right? People on MR sure are getting wound up over a Pencil and an iPad they will largely ignore.

 

[CharlesShaw]

Right? People on MR sure are getting wound up over a Pencil and an iPad they will largely ignore.

It's hard to ignore this one because we're being shown how the sausage is made. And the person in charge of limiting the rodent hair to the allowable level has apparently been replaced by someone who enjoys rodent hair.

 

[darngooddesign]

It's hard to ignore this one because we're being shown how the sausage is made. And the person in charge of limiting the rodent hair to the allowable level has apparently been replaced by someone who enjoys rodent hair.

It's incredibly easy to ignore things that not only you don't care about, but don't actually affect you. If you are so affected negatively by an iPad that you can't ignore it, there's probably more going on in your life that you should resolve before worrying about an iPad you never planned on buying in the first place.

 

[mateytate]

This is hilarious.

This whole thing is such a stupid situation! The only upside is this is now an adapter in existance, so I can finally plug my lightning accessories into my macbook!

Yet... there will still be people on here, blindly defending this cretinous design decision by Apple.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Apple are supply chain WIZARDS!!!

$9 adapter brought them to their knees.

 

[Veinticinco]

The Pencil 1 - with its comically awful design and charging method - was released in 2015. Why it hasn't been mothballed in the intervening 7.5 years in favour of the Pencil 2 (itself now 4 years old) is a pathetic joke.

That, instead, it's now been given a new lease of life 🙄 with a proprietary adapter (that's on back order no less) just to be able to pair it with the new iPad 10 - well, words just fail me.

Surely there were some grown-ups in the meetings when this farce was mooted, presented and actually signed off, that silently thought WTF?!

 

[emmab2006]

What a joke of a product.

 

[benspratling]

I'm beginning to think this iPad was designed and released to illustrate how stupid things get when fascist governments dictate engineering designs.

 

[Veinticinco]

This new iPad appears to have been created exclusively with school business in mind. They don't want to anger the schools by forcing them to purchase the second-generation pencil.

Far easier to anger them by removing the headphone port and increase the price by over 100 notes instead.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Can the Gen 1 Apple Pencil be charged from your iPhone or does it only charge from an iPad?

 

[bwillwall]

Lightning headphones

Do they actually work with this? Would be kinda awesome. Suddenly I want one of these hellish adapters.

 

[bwillwall]

This new iPad appears to have been created exclusively with school business in mind. They don't want to anger the schools by forcing them to purchase the second-generation pencil.

They could've supported both. In fact they could add support for the 1st gen for all iPads with a software update I would imagine.

 

[citysnaps]

Another race to the bottom with inane juvenile comments.

 

[Devnul0]

Is this cable the solution for *any* Lightning accessories (hardware with a male Lightning plug) with newer USB-C devices? If so, it would enable me to use those items again with my iPad and in the future if/when the iPhone goes USB-C.

 

[Hurda]

I'm beginning to think this iPad was designed and released to illustrate how stupid things get when fascist governments dictate engineering designs.

Who forced them to change to USB-C or make it only support Pencil 1?

Spoiler

Don't say the EU, that directive's cut-off point is still two years away and only affects new models, afaik.

 

[hooks]

"The 10th-generation iPad is only compatible with the first-generation ‌Apple Pencil‌, which is equipped with a USB-C port." This sentence needs some rearrangements to be correct.

 

[hooks]

Who forced them to change to USB-C or make it only support Pencil 1?

Spoiler

Don't say the EU, that directive's cut-off point is still two years away and only affects new models, afaik.

Who forced them to change to USB-C or make it only support Pencil 1?

Spoiler

Don't say the EU, that directive's cut-off point is still two years away and only affects new models, afaik.

@benspratling Also: EU? Not a fascist regime by any metric. Not everything that you don't like is fascist.

 

[JoshNori]

Not allowing the iPad to use the 2nd Gen Pencil is a major oversight from Apple.

Yeah, it was an oversight. Lol. So was the $9 dongle.

I never thought I’d see the day where they’d do something this tacky. Shame on them.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

The handicaps on this device in 2022 are so bizarre.

 

[xpxp2002]

Let me get this straight: so if I want to buy a 9:th generation iPad I cannot buy an Apple Pencil gen 1 even though those two are compatible? Or do I beg the sales clerk to go get me one anyway?

This was my first thought -- what if I have an older iPad, like my iPad Pro 10.5, that works with the 1st gen and decided I wanted to go and buy the Pencil even though they have them in stock?

I'm just SOL because Apple decided to block everyone from buying it because they were stupid enough to release one model that requires an out-of-stock adapter? Dumb.

 

[compwiz1202]

I’m a little confused. The pencil has a female-female lighting adapter in the box. So can you not just use a regular lighting to USB-C cable to pair and charge?

This is my question too. From what I've read will that work for charging but not pairing? So the only reason you would need the C>L adapter to pair. They should just have one adapter in the store to pair for people who don't care about charging another way