Even in the highly unlikely scenario that Apple has nothing else to announce during tomorrow’s Let Loose event, it’s a given that a new Apple Pencil is coming.
From Tim Cook’s not-so-subtle “Pencil us in” tweet to the artwork that’s emblazoned Apple’s homepage for the past two weeks, there’s little doubt that Apple expects an upcoming stylus to be the star of the show.
Of course, the Apple Pencil is useless without something to draw on, and that’s where Apple’s new iPads come in. By all reports, the company will unveil a new iPad Pro and iPad Air lineup to match the next-generation Apple Pencil. However, as much as we’ve heard about the tablets — OLED screens on some, and faster M-series silicon and a landscape camera on all — not much is known about Apple’s plans for its digital writing tool.
Code found in iPadOS 17.5 last month revealed a new “squeeze” gesture. That’s the most likely of the reports we’ve heard; although Apple is looking at ways to make it work with the Vision Pro and possibly even a Find My Pencil feature, those reports are less solid and could represent things Apple is working on over the longer term.
After all, there’s been no shortage of rumors about the so-called “Apple Pencil 3.” Over the past five years, we’ve heard everything from a rolling gesture and a more realistic feel to a color sensor and even a camera.
Don’t hold your breath for any of these features tomorrow. While Apple could still surprise us, these are all very old reports, and while they may have been things that Apple was exploring — some of them do come from patent applications — there’s been no recent evidence that it’s still working on any of them.
However, new information gleaned from Apple’s website hints at one feature that we haven’t heard much about: you can now erase the art on Apple’s home page.
As before, the homepage cycles through various illustrations, but now you can erase them by moving your mouse pointer or finger over them. The logo will remain on the screen as long as it’s partially erased, but once you wipe out the whole thing, a new variation will fade in — which you can also erase.
9to5Mac’s Benjamin Mayo, who first reported on the change, believes this may be related to the new squeeze gesture, which would trigger erasing functionality in a drawing app. Apple could also go for a more traditional approach and let you flip the Apple Pencil over to erase like a traditional pencil.
Since Apple never does anything by accident, it’s a safe bet that this “Easter eggs” points to something about tomorrow’s announcement, and it’s hard to come up with any other guesses as to what it could mean.
Apple may have also leaked the name of its new stylus in Japan. Code found on Apple’s Japanese website by X user @ribu_ap712 references an “Apple Pencil Pro.”
Since this code only shows up in Japan, it may be an error, but it could also be a tip-off that slipped through Apple’s filters and went live before it was supposed to.
If that name is correct, it hints at where the new stylus might be positioned in the lineup. While there’s an expectation that the new Apple Pencil will replace the current second-generation model, it’s possible Apple could position its new Apple Pencil as a higher-end version instead, leaving the second-generation Apple Pencil on sale.
However, the flip side of that argument is that the Apple Pencil (USB-C) released last fall could also fill the “non-pro” slot. That would potentially simplify Apple’s accessory lineup, which is starting to get confusing.
Either way, we won’t have to wait long to find out. Apple is expected to show off its new iPads and Apple Pencil tomorrow morning during its Let Loose event, which kicks off at 7 a.m. PT / 10 a.m. ET and should be over in about 35 minutes.