It's hard now to imagine the skepticism that met the original Apple Pencil at its launch almost nine years ago. Expensive and with a really awkward charging method, it had an uphill climb towards acceptance — not least because Apple founder Steve Jobs himself had been so vocally opposed to the idea of digital styluses.
But jump forward to 2024 and it’s a vastly different story — over the course of two generations and a budget-oriented USB-C refresh, Apple Pencil is one of the key differentiators that brings people to Apple’s iPad tablet line up. Artists in droves use it as their primary form of interaction with Apple’s devices; the Pencil is responsible for a cottage industry of iPad Pro-wielding sketchers and a legion of third-party apps that fuel their creative urges.
