Here’s the likely reason the iPhone Ultra isn’t getting an Apple Pencil

A report yesterday suggested that Apple considered making a special version of the Apple Pencil for the upcoming iPhone Ultra before deciding against it.

Bloomberg suggests that there are three reasons behind this decision, one of them being a desire not to conflict with the position adopted by Steve Jobs when launching the original iPhone. However, this was almost certainly not the deciding factor …

The idea of a shorter Apple Pencil that could be used with the iPhone Ultra is certainly an appealing idea on the face of it. The device is essentially an iPhone that turns into an iPad mini, so giving it some of the same capabilities obviously makes a lot of sense.

Samsung gave its Galaxy Note phablets an S-Pen stylus when the device was launched back in 2011. The thinking was that this was a device that would in part substitute for a paper notebook, and it survived for a decade with a definite fanbase before being discontinued in 2021.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman lists three reasons Apple decided against the idea in the end:

• It would have made the device awkward to hold, with a Pencil on the side rather than the top
• It would have conflicted with Steve’s view of a stylus being a poor substitute for a finger
• It would have made unsightly marks on the display

I’m not convinced the first of these would have been a major consideration, as mounting it to the top of the device would have been an option. Although this would have required a very short design, it would still have worked well enough, I think.

I’m also not persuaded by the second. Steve’s objection was not to the fact that you could use a stylus with a smartphone, but rather that existing models required this. Designing the iPhone so that it was practical to use with a finger was the breakthrough.

In any case, Steve also famously rejected touchscreens on Macs because he felt the ergonomics were terrible, but we’re still expecting the upcoming MacBook Pro model to incorporate one, so clearly Apple isn’t afraid to contradict the positions once taken by its co-founder.

I think the third factor was the one that actually killed the idea. A folding display necessarily has a far thinner and softer surface than those of existing devices. Apple reportedly waited a long time to launch the first folding iPhone precisely because it was concerned about both the appearance and longevity of the display, and allowing an Apple Pencil to be repeatedly scraped across it would have put both at risk.

If Apple can ever solve this problem, would you want to see an Apple Pencil Mini for use with a future iPhone Ultra? Please let us know in the comments.

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