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iPad Pro to Come With Optional Stylus?

There’s still an insufficient amount of evidence to convince this blogger that Apple will soon release a larger iPad, but that hasn’t stopped others from speculating.

Apple Insider reports that famed market analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities expects that Apple will launch a stylus alongside the still-rumored iPad Pro.

One of the crazier iPad Pro mockups from 2013

One of the crazier iPad Pro mockups from 2013

"Coupled with its unfavorable cost structure, high selling prices may turn consumers off if the 12.9-inch iPad is always bundled with it," he wrote. "We therefore expect the stylus to be an optional accessory before sufficient user feedback is received."

Kuo expects the first stylus model to be a simple stylus, without many of the bells and whistles Apple has revealed in its patent filings over the years  (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc).

"The addition of a gyroscope accelerometer to a stylus allows users to write not only on the display, but also on other hard surfaces and even in the air," he wrote. "While this is a fantastic application for a stylus, we think the required software and hardware is not fully developed yet. Hence, we don’t expect Apple’s stylus to support 3D handwriting in 2015."

A stylus would be a great addition to a tablet of any size; that is why Samsung has a stylus integrated into the Note tablets and phablets, and it is also why Axiotron (and later Modbook Inc) integrated a Wacom stylus into the Modbook.

It would be good idea for Apple to release a stylus, especially if it were as technically sophisticated as Kuo describes, but at this point there is still no evidence that is Apple going to release one.

In fact, there’s no evidence to support the idea that Apple will release the iPad Pro or a stylus in the second quarter. There have been very few iPad Pro component, specs, diagrams, or statements leaked to the press (and zero leaks about a stylus), and with only 5 months to the end of the window there’s not much time for those leaks to happen.

Remember, past Apple products have been leaked profusely and repeatedly with iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 components showing up as much as 5 months in advance of the launch event.

Just about the only new Apple product which didn’t leak extensively was the Apple Watch, and as you may recall that launched last September but has not yet shipped. If Apple follows a similar pattern with the iPad Pro then we won’t be able to buy one until sometime about 5 to 6 months after it launches.

If you want one sooner, you could plunk down $2,300 and get a Modbook from Apple’s unofficial tablet partner, Modbook Inc. (I plan to do so, right after they mac a Modbook from a Macbook Air.)

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Modbook Inc (and its predecessor, Axiotron) have been making Macbooks into tablets since 2007. With a price tag of $2,000 to $4,000, the Modbook is way outside of my price range but there has proven to be a small market for it. Should Apple produce a $1,000 iPad Pro, I think they would sell the dickens out of them.

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Comments


Syn January 20, 2015 um 3:44 am

If Apple comes out with a stylus on par with Wacom or Ntrig, I will be first in line to kiss my iPad 3 and possibly my Galaxy Note tablets adios.

Nate Hoffelder January 20, 2015 um 7:59 am

Some pundits have been agitating for Apple to come out with an iPen as a standalone product. Given the many ways it could improve on the note-taking expereince, I think this is the device Apple should have released in place of the Apple Watch.

Just imagine if Apple released a stylus which could capture the notes you scribble on paper while you’re writing, transfer them to your iDevice, and then upload the raw note plus text to Evernote.

There are pens that can almost do this, but I think there’s room for improvement. And I want to see what Apple would do with an iPen.

Syn January 20, 2015 um 12:36 pm

I never could understand why they were so determine to make everyone finger paint. I was a pen to write with and I can’t stand those fat rubber tip pens and all the mediocre 3rd party products trying to address something that should be baked into the iPad.

If Apple does it right, Samsung would lose the last thing that separates them from everyone else. Their note line is really good. I own the Note 8 phone, the Note 12.2 and the original 10.1 I no longer use.

But Samsung has the issue of being terrible with updating. And sometimes their update is buggy and they don’t bother to fix it

Android still lacks tablet Apps. Its better than it use to be but not even in the same league as iOS. Its the only reason I still keep my old iPAD but refuse to buy a new one until Apple realizes I’m not six and don’t want to write with my finger.

I don’t care for Evernote myself, its all about OneNote. Android finally got S-pen support but the iOS version looks better with more feature (Minus pen support as there is no pen duh) and I really hope this happens.

Nate Hoffelder January 20, 2015 um 1:16 pm

Well, when the iPhone was designed the stylus tech was either clunky or proprietary. For example, a lot of devices included a stylus because the resistive touchscreen tech commonly in use at the time didn’t like fingers (fingernails were good, though).

Apple probably went with a capacitive touchscreen on the iPhone because it was a real improvement on user experience – for the original 3.5″ screen. And frankly, a two-fingered gesture interface is a serious improvement over the older tap and click.

But with the iPad (or even phablets) the screen is big enough that one sometimes wants to sketch with a stylus. It’s a shame that Apple didn’t thrill and amaze us with double touchscreen tech or a really smart touchscreen (hand-cancellation when using the stylus, for example).


Syn January 20, 2015 um 12:37 pm

Oh Nate, bring back the edit button please. 🙂


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