Apple’s patent application reveals the possible future functionality of the Apple Pencil 3, which includes new gesture functionality alongside the existing double-tap feature. Apple Pencil may gain the ability to recognize gestures such as swiping, via a more comprehensive touch-sensitive control.
Introduced in October 2018, the Apple Pencil 2 added the ability for a user to select items or change modes by double-tapping on a panel on the stylus’s body. A new Apple patent proposes having a flexible sensor positioned at the user’s fingertips, which can receive tactile inputs.
The Apple Pencil 2 is compatible with the 3rd generation iPad Pro 12.9 inch and the iPad Pro 11 inch models. Some of Apple Pencil 2’s features are touched on such as one edge being flat to accommodate its new charging format and to a certain degree the double-tap feature.
The third-generation Apple Pencil also supports gestures, so with a tap just like the second-generation pencil where you can change brushes or quickly switch from a brush to an eraser without having to pick up the pencil and select a new tool.
For Apple Pencil 3, the touch sensor can be used to detect a rolling gesture by the user that includes movement of a finger about a circumference of the housing and/or rolling movement of the housing over a surface, such as a working surface.
In order to achieve this, the Pencil would have a “low profile” sensor, such as a capacitive sensing device, added. This patent application follows others concerning the base and tip of a stylus like the Apple Pencil, many of which even utilize the same drawings.
