That may yet change. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, the Bloomberg leaker Mark Gurman insists “with zero doubt” that Apple has prototyped and internally tested a special version of the Apple Pencil for its upcoming foldable iPhone. This stylus may or may not materialize when the phone is unveiled next week; at this point, Gurman considers it unlikely. But Apple evidently gave it serious consideration.
It’s nice to have the whiff of a last-minute surprise going into the September 9 event. But on balance, I hope this ends up being one of the thousand noes rather than the one yes. I think launching the iPhone Ultra as a stylus-based (or even a stylus-optional) device would be a colossal mistake. Here are six reasons why.
1. Phone styluses are annoying
It’s been 19 years since he made them, but Steve Jobs’ objections to the stylus remain valid. They’re annoying, fiddly objects, inconvenient to get out, and easy to lose. It’s an extra thing to worry about when the revolutionary joy of the 2007 iPhone was the way it unified all your tech into a single point of use. You no longer needed to carry a digital camera, an iPod, and a cellphone. Gratuitous accessories like the stylus are a regression to the bad old days.
On a larger, more work-focused device like the iPad Pro, such annoyances can be viewed as an acceptable compromise. iPads often live in a bag, and bags have side pockets for things like the Apple Pencil. If you set up your iPad for a longer work session, it’s less of a hassle, but iPhones are instant-use devices, and they don’t need random gizmos adding friction to the process.
2. Where do you store it, and how do you charge it?
One of the biggest problems with the original Apple Pencil, and one of the biggest improvements made by the 2nd-gen model in 2018, relates to storage and charging. Later versions attach magnetically to the side of an iPad and charge wirelessly, which means a) it’s always there, and b) it’s always charged when you need it. Before then, Apple Pencils were generally found at the bottom of a bag, if you could find them at all, and it was a 50/50 bet whether they would have any power. (Charging via Lightning was a design nightmare, too, but that’s another story.)
Gurman says the prototype Pencil uses a magnetic connection, but acknowledges that this isn’t ideal. “Storing the Pencil would get awkward if you want to fold the phone open and not use the accessory,” he says. I also suspect that a magnetically attached stylus will detach from the phone when in a pocket, or while being taken out of a pocket, likely resulting in one or both ending up on the floor. It doesn’t feel like a satisfactory solution, but if you don’t use magnets, you’re left with the inconvenience of the 1st-gen Pencil, or the dust-gathering inelegance of a stylus that slots into a hole. Yuck.
