Apple just pulled back the curtain on the latest stylus for the iPad range, the Apple Pencil Pro. Here’s how it compares to the previous flagship pick.
Apple’s May event has now come and gone and while it was certainly shorter than the iPhone/Apple Watch showcase that the company tends to air in September, it was by no means bereft of new things to talk about. Quite the contrary.
In addition to bringing a 2024 update to the iPad Air, now available in not one but two sizes, the company also brought a mammoth update to the iPad Pros. Both size options now feature an OLED display, a landscape centred front-camera and above all, an M4 chip under the hood.
That’s a lot to digest but Apple made sure to point out that one of the best ways to get the most out of these new devices (particularly the iPad Pro) is to pair it with the new Apple Pencil Pro, so if you’re wondering whether or not you should also add the stylus to your online basket then here’s all you need to know about how it compares to the Apple Pencil 2.
There’s a new, touch sensitive button
The first thing to be shown off on the Apple Pencil Pro is a new section just before the Pencil’s tip that can be squeezed between your thumb and index finger.
In Apple’s demo, a single squeeze brought up a mini toolkit of options wherein you can quickly change between different colours and brush types without having to dive into a separate menu. This alone feels like it could streamline the drawing process by quite a bit, to the point where you start to wonder how previous Apple Pencils got on without it.
Twists and turns are now registered
In addition to the squeeze button, the Apple Pencil Pro can now also register when it’s being rotated in your hand thanks to a new built-in gyroscope. Apple showed how a single twist can be used to change the thickness of a brush stroke in real time, or even the shape of your brush.
Again, much like the toolkit that appears when you squeeze the Pencil Pro, Apple seems to be focusing on streamlining the drawing process by giving users more control from the Pencil itself.
Haptic feedback makes an appearance
Thanks to a motor that now sits inside the Apple Pencil Pro, it’ll be possible for users to feel Haptic Feedback as they interact with it. This probably isn’t as much of a game-changing feature as what’s been mentioned so far, but it will certainly help with knowing when interactions have been registered.
Apple Pencil Pro finally supports Find my
Easily a must-have upgrade for anyone who’s previously lost an Apple Pencil, the Apple Pencil Pro now supports Find My. There was no mention of the Pencil Pro using Apple’s W1 chip which sits inside the Apple AirTag and iPhone 15 range, so you won’t have the same level of tracking precision but it’ll definitely go a long way towards preventing any future mishaps.
Strangely, they’re the same price
One has to wonder if Apple will slowly sunset the Apple Pencil 2 or if the stylus is set for a price drop in the near future because right now, at the time of publishing, the Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil 2 have the same RRP of £129/$129.
While we won’t for sure exactly how well the Apple Pencil Pro performs until we get it in for testing, it does seem as if it’ll be the obvious choice for most people, particularly given that it’s coming to the table with far more features on offer than the Apple Pencil 2.
