Apple Pencil: New scribbler is cheaper and has USB-C

Apple has taken the wraps off a cheaper version of the Apple Pencil that comes with USB-C charging.

The new stylus will cost £79 and looks a lot like the second-generation Apple Pencil, which was introduced alongside the third-generation iPad Pro back in 2018.

READ NEXT: M2 12.9in Apple iPad Pro review 

Just like the second-generation stylus, the new model can be attached to the top edge of your iPad magnetically. However, it doesn’t charge wirelessly. Instead, you have to slide up the cap at the top to reveal a USB port, which you can then connect to any nearby charger.

Pairing takes place over USB-C as well, with the new pencil supporting any iPad with a USB-C port.Alas, owners of older models with Lightning ports are going to miss out as it won’t pair with those devices.

But wireless charging and pairing aren’t the only features missing from the cheaper USB-C Apple Pencil. It also doesn’t support pressure sensitivity – a surprise given that even the first-generation Apple Pencil supports this – and you can’t double-tap the barrel to swap between tools, either. Oddly, it does support tilt detection, though, so shading should work fine.

Those are all disappointments, of course, but it appears Apple isn’t aiming the USB-C Apple Pencil at customers who would make use of pressure sensitivity – digital artists and so on – instead targeting occasional jotters, highlighters and annotators, for whom the rather large price cut of £70 will be far more significant.

The new Apple Pencil will be available from November.

READ NEXT: The best budget smartphones to buy

Written by

Jonathan Bray

Head of reviews at Expert Reviews, Jon has been testing and writing about products since before most of you were born (well, only if you were born after 1996). In that time he’s tested and reviewed hundreds of laptops, PCs, smartphones, vacuum cleaners, coffee machines, doorbells, cameras and more. He’s worked on websites since the early days of tech, writing game reviews for AOL and hardware reviews for PC Pro, Computer Buyer and other print publications. He’s also had work published in Trusted Reviews, Computing Which? and The Observer. And yet, even after so many years in the industry, there’s still nothing more he loves than getting to grips with a new product and putting it through its paces.

More about