With the introduction of the new Apple Pencil Pro today, Apple is now selling four different models of the accessory with overlapping features and price points in what is sure to be a new headache for prospective customers.
Apple may have cleaned up the iPad lineup today, achieving size synergy with the new iPad Pro and iPad Air lineups and discontinuing the 9th-generation base iPad, yet the Apple Pencil strategy now appears murkier than ever. Apple is forced to sell four different Apple Pencil lineups as certain models are only compatible with certain iPad generations.
To add fuel to the fire, Apple Pencil does not follow a clear naming convention. For example, Apple still offers the first and second generations of the accessory alongside the USB-C model, with all three iterations technically carrying the Apple Pencil name. Only the Apple Pencil Pro announced today gets a new naming convention that sets it apart from other models.
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The pricing scheme also represents a challenge. The second-generation Apple Pencil and Apple Pencil Pro are both sold for $129. The first-generation Pencil, announced nearly a decade ago in 2015, still sells for $99. The USB-C Apple Pencil is only slightly cheaper than the first-generation model, coming in at $79.
To make sense of the Apple Pencil maze, here’s which models work with which iPads:
Apple Pencil Pro:
- M4 iPad Pro
- M2 iPad Air
Apple Pencil (USB-C):
- M4 iPad Pro
- M2 iPad Air
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro – fourth generation and later
- 11-inch iPad Pro – first generation and later
- iPad Air – fourth-generation and fifth-generation
- iPad mini – sixth generation
Second-generation Apple Pencil:
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro – third-generation, fourth-generation, fifth-generation, sixth-generation
- 11-inch iPad Pro – first-generation, second-generation, third-generation, fourth-generation
- iPad Air – fourth-generation and fifth-generation
- iPad mini – sixth-generation
First-generation Apple Pencil:
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro – first generation and second generation
- 10.5-inch iPad Pro
- 9.7-inch iPad Pro
- iPad Air – third generation
- iPad mini – fifth generation
- iPad – sixth generation and later
