“Sources say Apple engineers have recently been working on a new iPhone that comes with a digital pen,” Kim Young-won reports for The Investor. “”
“‘Apple is preparing to launch the phone as early as 2019,” an industry source told The Investor on condition of anonymity. ‘It is also in talks with a couple of stylus makers for a partnership,'” Kim reports. “In 2016, the firm debuted the Apple Pencil stylus for the iPad Pro tablets. It has also continued introducing new handwriting functions for the iOS operating system such as Notes and Makeup tools.”
Kim reports, “Along with the stylus technology, the source said, Apple’s current A-series mobile chip should undergo a drastic upgrade to better support handwriting functions of the planned stylus.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Of course, this is very much in the rumor realm, but times have changed much since Steve Jobs eschewed the stylus for iPhone.
The iPhone had only a 3.5-inch display when Jobs made those remarks. iPhone 6s/7/8 Plus units have a 5.5-inch display. iPhone X has a 5.8-inch display.
When trying to markup a screenshot or jotting down notes on an iPhone, for example, a finger barely works and never works well. Even rudimentary third-party iPhone styluses work far better for such purposes. Apple Pencil support in these cases would allow for an even better user experience.