Apple’s new iPad solely helps the previous Apple Pencil — and wishes an adapter to take action

The base model iPad’s change to USB-C has made utilizing an Apple Pencil with the pill… sophisticated. The new 10.9-inch pill solely works with Apple’s first-generation Pencil, which requires a Lightning port to cost. That’s a bit little bit of an issue when the brand new iPad makes use of USB-C.

Apple’s resolution, naturally, is a dongle. A “USB-C to Apple Pencil Adapter,” to be exact, though from what I can inform, it’s technically a USB-C to Lightning port adapter. Apple’s press release notes that the adapter will probably be included within the field with new Apple Pencils for $99 and will probably be accessible individually for $9 for present Pencil homeowners. “A new USB-C to Apple Pencil Adapter is required for pairing and charging,” Apple’s press launch unequivocally states.

Even with the adapter, charging the Apple Pencil alongside the brand new iPad isn’t so simple as plugging the stylus into the adapter after which into the pill. This adapter is female-to-female, not female-to-male. “Your Apple Pencil plugs into one end of the adapter and the USB-C Charge Cable from your iPad plugs into the other” is how Apple’s product itemizing for the adapter describes the method. That’s not dissimilar from the Lightning adapters that Apple has all the time bought for the Apple Pencil however with out the handy various of having the ability to cost the Pencil instantly from an iPad in a pinch.

If you’re questioning why this situation hasn’t cropped up with earlier iPads which have made the leap to USB-C, then that’s as a result of the iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad Mini have all supported the second-generation Pencil, which fees wirelessly whereas magnetically hooked up to the aspect of the pill. Not so for the most cost effective iPad in Apple’s lineup.