Apple has just filed a new patent for its Apple Pencil. Equipped with numerous sensors, the stylus would be able to sample the colors and textures of real-world objects and surfaces. A dream for creators…
The next generation of Apple Pencil could experience a major evolution! Launched in 2015 with the iPad Pro, this wireless stylus – it connects via Bluetooth – allows you to write and draw naturally on an iPad. It is particularly sensitive to tilt and pressure – which allows its user to vary the width of the strokes and therefore to achieve fine nuances on its drawings – and equipped with a palm detection technology which allows it to to detect its holding angle. No wonder it’s highly prized by die-hard illustrators and note-takers! However, the Apple Pencil has only seen one update since its launch. But maybe that could change. Indeed, according to the site Patently Apple – which tracks the patent filings of the Cupertino company – Apple would have filed a patent application with the USPTO on December 29, 2022 concerning an Apple Pencil with integrated optical sensors. These would allow him to duplicate the color and texture on the surface of objects present in the real world. Something to open up new perspectives for digital art!
Apple Pencil: adaptive color and light sensors
This new version of the Apple Pencil would integrate color and light sensors as well as a light emitter inside its tip. Thanks to them, it would work much like the Eyedropper tool found in many software programs, which allows you to copy an exact color. It could also sample a texture or a color by adjusting the detection according to different factors, including the ambient lighting – its intensity, its color…– and the different angles which affect the surface of an object – in particular at the level of the reflection of light. All these measurements would then be transmitted to the iPad and used in applications, such as drawing software for example.
If this concept became concrete, it could greatly extend the possibilities of using the Apple Pencil, which could be of great interest to creative people of all kinds, such as 3D modelers, video game developers and architects for example. However, keep in mind that this is only a patent, and therefore it is only at the theoretical stage. No concrete information has been mentioned, and even less a date of marketing. As a reminder, Apple had already filed a patent in 2019 to integrate a photo sensor and a screen on its Pencil, but the idea has so far never materialized…