Apple reportedly built and tested a dedicated Apple Pencil for its upcoming foldable iPhone, then decided not to release it, at least not with the first-generation model. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, this wasn’t a patent filing or a rumor pulled from a supply chain leak. Apple had an actual working prototype internally.
The design specifics are what make this interesting. Rather than repurposing an existing iPad Apple Pencil, Apple built something shorter and more compact, sized to match the foldable iPhone Ultra’s dimensions rather than a tablet’s. It was designed to attach magnetically to the side of the phone and charge while docked there, essentially the same approach Apple already uses on supported iPads. That’s a meaningful engineering investment for an accessory that apparently isn’t shipping.
The reasoning likely comes down to physics. The iPhone Ultra is rumored to be around 4.5mm thick when unfolded, and accurately detecting a stylus requires specific digitizer hardware that’s reportedly difficult to fit into a chassis that thin. Apple hasn’t confirmed this as the reason, but it lines up with what’s already known about the phone’s design constraints.
There’s a genuine irony buried in this story too. Steve Jobs spent his 2007 iPhone keynote arguing that a stylus was a sign of bad interface design, and here’s Apple, nearly two decades later, quietly prototyping one for its most ambitious iPhone yet. The Pencil isn’t dead as a concept, Gurman’s reporting suggests it’s a “not yet” rather than a “never,” which means the feature could resurface once Apple solves the hardware problem a future, thicker or more mature Ultra design might allow.
M Adnan Akram is the founder and lead writer at Phoonomo, covering mobile technology with a primary focus on Apple and the broader smartphone industry, alongside emerging developments in AI. He follows product launches, spec leaks, and industry trends closely to keep readers informed with timely updates.
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