Does the Apple Pencil Work on the iPhone 7?

Does the Apple Pencil Work on the iPhone 7?
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In the days leading up to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus launch, there was rampant speculation that the new Apple flagship smartphones would support Apple Pencil, prompted by Tim Cook’s remarks in an interview that “if you’ve ever seen what can be created with that pencil on an iPad or an iPhone, it’s really unbelievable.”

The Apple Pencil is a stylus-style writing instrument that brilliantly replicates the experience of drawing with a pencil for touchscreens. It’s responsive, precise, and highly-sensitive to the amount of pressure applied with it, allowing users to create textured sketches that look as if they were really done in pencil.

Which makes it all the more unfortunate that Tim Cook’s statement was a little misleading. The Apple Pencil is currently only compatible with the iPad Pro (9.7-inch and 12.9 inch models) because it requires a specific kind of display technology to work. The iPad Pro’s screen is equipped with such a subsystem that registers the Apple Pencil’s signal 240 times per second (which is twice as fast as reading a user’s finger) and allows it to read its position, tilt, and force.

“This data, combined with Apple designed software, means that there’s only milliseconds between the image you have in your mind and the one you see on the display,” Apple said.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are currently not equipped with the display technology to support Apple Pencil. On the other hand, KGI Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested that Apple may release a new iPad Pro tablet next year, which will in all likelihood support Apple Pencil.

Maybe Tim Cook was talking about the iPhone 8 rather than the iPhone 7; we can’t be certain as of now, however we’ll find out for sure whether the iPhone 8 will feature Apple Pencil compatibility when it’s announced in the fall of 2017. If you’d like to learn more about the iPhone 8, click here.

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