Apple recently launched some new iPad models. This included a 10.5-inch iPad Air and a 7.9-inch iPad mini. These are designed to be Apple’s new lower-end iPads, but despite that, they also came with support for the Apple Pencil which had more or less been an exclusive to the iPad Pro.
Unfortunately we should point out that there is a catch. According to a report from Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, it seems that the new iPads will not support inductive charging for the Apple Pencil. This was a new feature introduced to last year’s iPad Pros where the Apple Pencil could be attached to the frame of the iPad Pro to charge.
According to Gruber’s sources, apparently it seems that the inductive charging tech was too expensive to be included into the new iPads, or at least it was too expensive where it would have driven up the price of the tablet and thus ruining its position as a budget iPad. What this means is that if you want to use the Apple Pencil with the new entry-level iPads, you will need to get the first-gen Apple Pencil that comes with a Lightning plug for charging.
If you own the Apple Pencil 2, then you won’t be able to charge it using the iPad, so that’s something to take note of. In the meantime it seems that despite the somewhat familiar size of the iPad mini, it has been discovered that older cases might not work with it.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Pencil, iPad, iPad Air and iPad mini.