Apple fixed the Pencil charging issue with new iPad Pro

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple,
stands with Lana Del Rey during a launch event at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music on October 30, 2018.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

• Apple unveiled a new iPad Pro at its event in Brooklyn on
  Tuesday — and a new Apple Pencil stylus to go with it. 
• The new devices fix the worst thing about the
  previous-generation products: the way the Pencil charged.
• Now, the Pencil charges wirelessly by snapping onto the top
  of the iPad. Before, you had to plug it into the iPad’s Lightning
  port, where it would stick out awkwardly.

On Tuesday, Apple unveiled a revamped iPad Pro and a brand-new
Apple Pencil. In the process, it fixed one of the few bad
things about the generation of products that these new ones will
replace. 

The new iPad Pro has an entirely new design, including
squared-off edges and a nearly edge-to-edge “liquid retina”
display. But perhaps one of the niftiest changes comes in how it
charges the Apple Pencil. 

Now, your Pencil can snap on magnetically to the top of your iPad
and charge up wirelessly, like so:

This is a total change from how the Pencil used to charge. The
first-generation Pencil could only charge up one way: by removing
the cap on the top and plugging it directly into the Lightning
port on your iPad, where it would stick out
awkwardly.  

It looked like this: 

The first-generation Apple
Pencil charging on an iPad.
Matt
Weinberger/Business Insider

While that charging method was a good idea in theory — you didn’t
need a separate charger for your Pencil! — it clearly had some
limitations.

If you brushed past the device too quickly while it was charging,
the Pencil could potentially snap off, breaking the Lightning
charger. Or worse, if left on the edge of a table, a little one
walking by could have been poked with the pointy end of the
Pencil. 

At the very least, it was incredibly unwieldy, and looked a
little silly to boot — not unlike Apple’s Magic Mouse 2, which faces a similar
issue. 

Now read: Here’s everything Apple announced
at its big iPad and Mac event

The new second-generation Pencil fixes one more issue: you have
to worry less about losing the Pencil anymore. Before, there was
no easy way to keep track of the Pencil unless you had a special
iPad case, and its totally smooth, cylindrical shape meant it was
often at risk for rolling right off your desk. Now that it has
one flat edge and it’s magnetized, you can snap it onto your iPad
and put the whole thing in your bag. 

A pricier Pencil

The only downside: the new Pencil is more expensive, and it
only works with a few iPads. The Pencil costs $129, $30 more than
the previous model, and it only works with the new 11-inch and
12.9-inch iPad Pro.

What’s different about the new version — beyond a tweak to
the design and the wireless charging — is the ability to double
tap on the device to change tools or brush sizes in whatever
program you’re using, and tap to wake it up. Plus, you can now
get your Pencil engraved. 

While Apple now offers a new version of the Pencil, it does still
sell the first-generation model — it costs $99, and it’s
compatible with the following iPads:

• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation)
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation)
• iPad Pro 10.5-inch
• iPad Pro 9.7-inch
• iPad (6th generation)

Read more of our coverage from Apple’s October
event: