Apple Might Add a Pencil to Its First Foldable, but Don’t Expect It at Launch

A folding phone straddles the line between a smartphone and a tablet, but would you dare control it with… a stylus? Apple reportedly considered adding an Apple Pencil as an accessory to the company’s first foldable phone, expected to be unveiled next week. But don’t expect it to join the party when the so-called iPhone Ultra is unveiled at Apple’s “Surprise and Shine” product launch event on Sept. 9.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported this week, with “zero doubt,” that Apple has “internally prototyped, tested and considered launching an Apple Pencil for the foldable iPhone.” But Gurman also said it’s “unlikely” that the company will include the accessory when it introduces the Ultra.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The Apple Pencil is a digital stylus that is compatible with the iPad Pro, iPad Air and iPad Mini. It charges up when attached magnetically and has pixel-perfect precision, low latency to reduce stylus movement and screen response and tilt sensitivity for shading and other effects.

There has never been a Pencil for any of Apple’s numerous iPhone models. As Steve Jobs said during the launch of the first iPhone in 2007, “Nobody wants a stylus.”

More sharpening to do

Despite the Pencil’s features, there are hiccups to pairing it with the Ultra, Gurman said. If you open up the foldable but don’t want to use the Pencil, what would you do with it? Also, there is the worry that using the stylus could leave marks on the foldable screen, which may be more delicate than that of other iPhones and iPads.

Gurman added that the Ultra’s Pencil, if it does come to fruition, will be “stubbier” than those used with iPads. The Pencil Pro is 6.53 inches long.

The Ultra will be Apple’s first foldable phone, arriving in that sector years behind other phone-makers such as Samsung, Google and Motorola. Although many tech analysts are calling it the Ultra, Apple has not announced that name. The iPhone Fold has been another name floated as a possibility.

Other phones do have styluses, including three picked as among the best by CNET’s sister site ZDNET: the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Moto G Stylus 5G.