Apple Pencil Pro is reportedly in the works, but keep your erasers ready for this rumor
There’s a good chance Apple will unveil a new stylus at the Let Loose event, but recently discovered clues suggest we might see an Apple Pencil Pro. User rsuOvO on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) has reportedly found multiple references to the Pro model in the code of the company’s Japanese website.
At the time of writing, you can still find the name by going to the web page and then pressing the Ctrl and U keys at the same time. Scroll about 60 percent of the way down and you’ll see the name “Apple Pencil Pro” everywhere.
The surrounding text is in Japanese. Since we can’t read the language, we ran the text through Google Translate to get an idea of what it says. So take the following with a grain of salt. According to the machine translation, it only describes the corresponding GIF animation in detail. The text talks about how the event logo is drawn with shades of green and white before ending with a glossier version of the Apple icon. No other information could be found about the Pencil Pro, what it might look like or its features.
The interesting thing about the code is that it can’t be found on the US, European or UK versions of Apple’s website. We did find text strings mentioning the Apple Pencil and a description of the same GIF animation, but nothing about any Pro model. As far as we know, the name does not occur anywhere else.
Analysis: A possible rebranding
Does this mean Japan will receive an exclusive Apple Pencil model or was its appearance on the website just a mistake? It’s probably the latter. If MacRumors points out in their reporting that this could all be a “translation error” or that someone somewhere made a mistake; both are equally likely.
However, the existence of an Apple Pencil Pro is an interesting concept; one we can’t ignore, as leaks over the past six months have painted the stylus as a very capable device. In September 2023, there was a leak claiming that the Apple Pencil 3 would have “interchangeable magnetic tips” to help artists perform different tasks. Then in April we saw more clues. Recent reports point to the possible recording of haptic response in the next stylus. It’s a kind of technology that makes it look like you’re drawing on paper instead of glass. And a report from early last month stated that key features like pressure sensitivity would be present on the upcoming stylus. This allows you to “adjust the thickness of your strokes depending on how hard you press.”
Going back even further, there was another leak claiming that the Apple Pencil 3 would have “interchangeable magnetic tips” to help artists perform different tasks. In our opinion, these types of features are better suited to a Pro-level model. It is for this reason that we believe that the Apple Pencil 3, assuming it is announced at the event, will be renamed Apple Pencil Pro. It will co-exist alongside the original Pencil stylus and Pencil 2 as the high-end option with all the bells and whistles, while the other two will be the cheaper options.
That seems the most likely scenario. Whoever helps run the Japanese website may have accidentally spilled the word about the substantial upgrade. If we don’t see the Pencil Pro at the event, it may appear at WWDC 2024. It’s hard to say for sure at this point.
We expect Apple’s Let Loose event to be a big one, with the world seeing several tablets, such as two iPad Pro models. If you’re in the market for a new tablet, check out Ny Breaking’s list of the best iPads for 2024.