Apple has added a welcome breath of recent air to its iPad lineup this 12 months, bringing its most inexpensive entry-level mannequin into concord with its extra premium tablets. The 2022 iPad options the now-familiar design language of the iPad Professional, iPad Air, and iPad Mini. Much more considerably, it additionally brings the USB-C port over from these fashions. It’s even accessible in some enjoyable new colours.
Sadly, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with the latest Tenth-generation iPad. Whereas it features some good enhancements past the design, together with an improve to the A14 chip discovered within the iPhone 12, a greater 12-megapixel (MP) digital camera, and 5G connectivity, it’s oddly been left behind relating to the Apple Pencil — regardless of promoting for $120 greater than its predecessor.
Can I take advantage of an Apple Pencil with my 2022 iPad?
Apple’s complete pill lineup has supplied help for the Apple Pencil for the reason that sixth-generation iPad joined the social gathering in 2018. This 12 months’s iPad isn’t any exception. What’s uncommon concerning the 2022 iPad is that it appears caught up to now relating to Apple’s stylus.
Particularly, the brand new entry-level iPad nonetheless solely helps the first-generation Apple Pencil. That’s the stylus Apple launched with the unique 12.9-inch iPad Professional in 2015, which was supplanted within the iPad Professional lineup by a second-generation Apple Pencil in 2018.
When the iPad Air and iPad Mini adopted an analogous design in 2020 and 2021, in addition they gained help for the second-generation Apple Pencil. Apple’s technique appeared clear: conventional iPads used the first-generation Apple Pencil, whereas these with the fashionable design labored with the improved second-generation stylus.
It was a pleasant idea, however now it seems that wasn’t the playbook Apple was following. The 2022 iPad encompasses a design just like the iPad Air launched earlier this 12 months, but it doesn’t help the identical Apple Pencil because the extra premium mannequin.
That could be excellent news for some people contemplating an improve from an older iPad because it means they received’t have to switch their Apple Pencil. Additional, for the reason that first-generation Apple Pencil is $30 cheaper than the second-generation mannequin, it additionally matches in with the extra wallet-friendly pricing of Apple’s extra inexpensive iPads.
How do I cost the Apple Pencil on my 2022 iPad?
Sadly, people with the brand new iPad will miss out on two of the perfect options the second-generation Apple Pencil gives: wi-fi charging and handy storage.
The unique Apple Pencil relied on wired charging, with energy transferred utilizing a Lightning connector on one finish. Customers might plug the stylus into the iPad’s Lightning port for fast top-ups or use the included female-to-female Lightning adapter to connect with an ordinary USB-to-Lightning cable and charger.
When Apple launched the second-generation Apple Pencil, it did so alongside an iPad Professional with flat edges and a magnetic dock on one aspect. The brand new Apple Pencil magnetically snapped onto this spot on the iPad Professional, which additionally routinely transferred charging energy to it as quickly because it was in place.
One of many causes the newer Apple Pencil by no means got here to conventional iPad designs was just because these fashions supplied no strategy to cost the stylus. The design of those older iPads didn’t lend itself to this magnetic charging as there was no place to dock the Apple Pencil on the tapered edges. Nonetheless, as Apple introduced the brand new flat-edged design to the iPad Air and iPad Mini, it additionally added the magnetic charger, introducing compatibility with the second-generation Apple Pencil to each these fashions.
Sadly, although the 2022 iPad has the identical flat edges, Apple hasn’t included a magnetic charger on this mannequin, so it’s not appropriate with the newer Apple Pencil. Granted, the brand new panorama digital camera place occupies the spot the place the magnetic charger lives on Apple’s different iPads, however that doesn’t imply Apple couldn’t have discovered some other place to cost its newer stylus.
As an alternative, the 2022 iPad stays the one present Apple pill that doesn’t help the second-generation Apple Pencil. This implies those that need to use a stylus with this iPad will nonetheless have to cost it the old school means — both from an exterior charger or from the port on the underside of the iPad.
Including insult to harm, the swap to USB-C has made this much more sophisticated. For the reason that first-gen Apple Pencil nonetheless makes use of a Lightning connector, iPad house owners might want to resort to utilizing a in the event that they need to top-up their stylus from their iPad’s charger.
As foolish because it usually seemed, you may plug the unique Apple Pencil instantly into the underside of a Lightning-equipped iPad. Doing the identical on the USB-C-equipped 2022 iPad will now require you to hold round a dongle and a cable to mate up the Lightning port in your stylus with the USB-C port in your iPad.
Particularly, you’ll want the aforementioned USB-C to Apple Pencil adapter, a $9 dongle with a feminine USB-C port on one finish and a feminine Lightning port on the opposite. Apple now contains this within the field with new first-generation Apple Pencils, however you’ll need to shell out for one individually for those who already personal the stylus from a previous iPad mannequin. You’ll then have to couple this dongle with the USB-C to USB-C cable that comes with the iPad.
You don’t have to cost the Apple Pencil instantly from the iPad, so for those who already personal one — and haven’t misplaced the tiny Lightning charging dongle that got here with it — you’ll be able to plug it into an ordinary Lightning cable and USB energy adapter. You can even use that authentic dongle with a USB-C to Lightning cable, just like the one which comes with trendy iPhones, to cost instantly from the 2022 iPad.
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