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iPad Pro: AppleCare staff given Nov. 6 training deadline, Pencil charging adapter detailed

ipadpro

Ahead of the iPad Pro’s launch in November, sources have shared a couple of tidbits regarding launch plans for the device. We are told that Apple this week has started training its AppleCare support staff to become familiar with troubleshooting the larger tablet. Apple typically prepares its support network on major new products in the couple of weeks prior to the device’s launch. Apple is asking its support centers to complete their training by Friday, November 6th, which indicates that the iPad Pro is likely still on track for the early November launch we previously discussed.

pencil

In related news, sources familiar with the iPad Pro’s Apple Pencil accessory say that the company has come up with a secondary solution to charging the stylus. As Apple demonstrated on stage in September, the default way of charging the Apple Pencil is to insert its Lightning connector into the bottom of the iPad Pro. Some users have wondered if this would open up the tip of the stylus’s Lightning connector to bends and breaks, and Apple’s solution will be an adapter that comes with the stylus.

The adapter (pictured above) will allow users to charge the accessory with a standard USB Lightning cable. This means that users will be able to charge the Apple Pencil via a wall adapter, computer’s USB port, or any other power source that can be used to charge up an iPhone or iPad. The dot that can be seen in the image of the adapter indicates the correct orientation needed for the adapter to function correctly. The iPad Pro starts at $799 and comes in 32GB and 128GB configurations, with an LTE model available exclusively at the 128GB tier.

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Comments

  1. iali87 - 8 years ago

    I just hope the next iPad air is going to support the Apple Pencil, this is the only reason that will make me upgrade.

    • Looks like you won’t be upgrading then

    • I know he meant iPad Air3. it aint getting Pencil support

      • Unless you got a sneak peek into Apple’s highly secretive roadmap, that’s pure speculation. You can make a good case there’s a good demand for the Air 3 with Pro features because more people prefer the portability of the 9.7″ screen. If anything, it’s the iPad mini that is on the “endangered” list.

      • mikhailt - 8 years ago

        Why not? There’s nothing that says the display technologies they made on the iPad Pro can’t be bought down to the Air models. If Pencil becomes very popular, it will happen on Air and mini too.

    • triankar - 8 years ago

      same for iPad mini. I hope the iPad mini 5 supports the Pencil. This alone will be reason enough for me to upgrade.

  2. Why would the adapter need a “correct” orientation when Lightning is reversible?

    When I saw the dot, I assumed it was a small light to show it is charging. because there might not be a way to know when the Pencil is fully charged.

    • Ben Gale (@bengale) - 8 years ago

      IIRC they mentioned making the adapter on the pencil slightly longer so it works through cases and things

    • Erol Sansolo - 8 years ago

      Its probaby housing a protective diode for polarity, to stop users knowingly or accidentally plugging two charger outputs together.

  3. Izzard (@Izzard) - 8 years ago

    Perhaps that Pencil adapter can be kept on the end of the Pencil instead of the stock cap (otherwise it’s going to be easy to lose).

  4. Piotr Synowiec - 8 years ago

    The only iPad I could ever buy is the one that I can run the same apps like on my MacBook

    • rogifan - 8 years ago

      Why? OS X doesn’t have a touch interface.

      • Laszlo Gaspar - 8 years ago

        I think his point was that until OSX becomes touch friendly he wont be buying an iPad, who knows, maybe the iPad Pro 2 will run a touch friendly version of OSX.

    • darwiniandude - 8 years ago

      The only MacBook I could ever buy is the one I can run the same apps like on my iPad and iPhone.

  5. Liam Deckham - 8 years ago

    Why could they not offer a 256 GB model? They had the space. We are being forced to use iCloud, and, like sheep, we accept it.

  6. Jurgis Ŝalna - 8 years ago

    Apple kind of missed the boat with USB-C. Or more realistically, USB organisation realised they missed the boat when Lightning connector was released. Nevertheless, I think Apple will adopt USB-C on new iPhones, one of the reason being – you simply can’t keep USB 2.0 bottleneck on 128GB devices.