“Who wants a stylus? You have to get them, put them away. You lose them. Yuck,” said Apple founder Steve Jobs in 2007 about using a stylus in smartphones. Fifteen years later, it seems Apple almost forgot about it, as a report shows the Cupertino company nearly released an Apple Pencil during its September event that would support iPhone models.
The information was published on Weibo, a Chinese social media, and was shared by leaker DuanRui on Twitter. According to him, during the September event, “Apple was originally going to release a new Apple Pencil code-named Maker, priced at about $49, with no pressure sensing and no battery needed, using a chip to power the stylus from the screen, similar to the Samsung S-Pen.”
He continues by saying the “new Apple Pencil even supported the iPhone, but the project was terminated closer to launch.” The Weibo post says that more than one million units had been stocked and are now scrapped.
Although Apple hasn’t announced this product, it’s possible we could see it in the future, as working AirPower prototypes (RIP) were found years later.
What’s interesting about this report is that Apple considered creating a new Apple Pencil with support for the iPhone. However, taking this information with a grain of salt is essential.
There are a lot of questions about how this product would work and for who it would be made too. For example, it could have been a perfect option for the iPad 10, as it requires users to buy an adapter to use the first-gen Apple Pencil. If the accessory didn’t have a battery, as the rumor points to, it could be used with the base-model iPad with no problem.
In addition, if this rumored Apple Pencil also works with the iPhone, would Apple make a case for it available? Would it be rounded or attached to Apple products? As Steve Jobs once said, “who wants a stylus?” And it sure looks like iPhone users still don’t.
