There have been rumors about a possible Apple Pencil 3 going around for a long time. A few years at this point, and so far there’s been no sign of Apple making it official. In fact, it’s been so long since the release of the Apple Pencil 2 that we’d hoped Apple might have earned its Pen License.
But there have been some hints about the new stylus popping up recently, and it could launch very soon. A Weibo user called “Instant Digital” claims that Apple will be announcing a new version of the Apple Pencil alongside the iPad Pro 2024.
9to5Mac points out that this leaker successfully predicted the yellow iPhone 14 as well as the frosted glass and spatial video capabilities on the iPhone 15 Pro. The site also points out that iOS 17.4 included code evidence that a third Apple Pencil has been added to the Find My app. That’s on top of a brand new version of the PencilKit API, which lets developers add Apple Pencil compatibility to their apps
Neither of these things are solid evidence a new Apple Pencil is coming anytime soon, but it does suggest that Apple may be working on some kind of upgraded stylus. And what better time to launch them, than what may be the very first iPad with an OLED screen?
The latest rumor claims that the new tablets could be announced at some point this week, and no doubt any launch news will include information about new accessories. Mark Gurman claims that Apple has been working on new accessories for the OLED iPad Pros, also noting that the new Apple Pencil would be coming “in the next several weeks.”
The problem is we’ve already had one major Apple announcement this week, in the form of the MacBook Air M3. We had hoped Apple would announce the iPad Pro 2024 at the same time, but that clearly didn’t happen. So the question is whether Apple would want to announce a new set of tablets so soon after revealing its new laptop.
Unfortunately we’re just going to have to be patient and wait to see what Apple’s plans are. Hopefully, since rumors that claim there’s no Apple event coming later this month, it means Apple has no reason to wait too long to announce the iPad Pro 2024 and the accompanying accessories — Apple Pencil 3 included.
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