Apple built a stubbier Apple Pencil for the coming foldable iPhone, magnetically attaching it to the side for storage and charging the way the iPad versions do, then tested the idea internally and, according to Mark Gurman in Sunday’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, it now looks unlikely the accessory ships next month.
Gurman says the prototype was shorter than today’s iPad Pencils so it would match the height of the device Apple staff still call the iPhone Ultra, but parking it on the long edge made the phone awkward to hold and even more awkward to open, because you would probably have to peel the stylus off just to unfold the screen.
Foldable inner screens are more delicate than a regular iPhone panel, and Gurman says the pointed tip would likely leave unsightly marks on that inside glass, the kind of wear that would wreck the ultra-premium pitch at Apple’s September 9 event.
Steve Jobs famously asked who wants a stylus when he launched the original iPhone, and Gurman is clearly channeling that line this Sunday with a “Who wants a stylus?! Yuck” send-off on the prototype, which is his way of saying the first foldable is staying a finger-first phone even if the inner screen is iPad-sized.
Early testers already like how the hinge feels and how the phone sits in a pocket, so Apple is not short of reasons to keep the foldable simple, and skipping a custom Pencil is one more way to avoid fighting the crease and Jobs’ oldest iPhone argument at the same time.
People lining up for that first-generation model should not expect Apple Pencil support on day one, not even from the USB-C versions already sitting in iPad drawers, before anyone treats the new book-style iPhone as a note-taking tablet.
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