Absurd Apple Pencil dongle sends fans into spiral of grief

News

Yes, you'll need a dongle to charge an Apple Pencil with your shiny new iPad. Deal with it.
Photo: Ben White/Unsplash License

The decision to make the all-new iPad compatible with the original Apple Pencil looks likely to go down as one of Apple’s most ridiculous design decisions.

Since the new entry-level iPad utilizes USB-C rather than Lightning, you can’t plug the Apple Pencil into the tablet to charge the stylus. And Apple’s “fix” — a $9 USB-C-to-Lightning dongle that will come packaged with old-school Apple Pencils — sent some Apple fans into an accelerated version of the five stages of grief.

Mourning the new iPad’s Apple Pencil dongle

The silly dongle is just one of the puzzling revelations from this week’s iPad and iPad Pro updates. But it’s definitely the one that evoked the most denial, anger, bargaining, depression and … finally … acceptance.

Cue up some somber organ music on Apple Music and join us as the world weeps, longing for the rapturous days when you charged an Apple Pencil by jamming it awkwardly into your iPad’s Lightning port.

Denial

At first, people couldn’t find a way to wrap their heads around the decision to require the dongle. Confusion and shock set in, and many simply shut down.

Oh nice new iPads! Oh awesome home button gone, finally unifying the lineup, and ports, and Pencils, and…

wait, is that a… can’t be… Pencil 1 on that photo? How?!? Oh no, no way, they actually dongle-ized the pencil. https://t.co/diQvAh5qKl

4:47 AM · Oct 19, 2022

WAIT WHAT. So the iPad now has USB-C but isn’t compatible with the Apple Pencil 2, so you need to buy a dongle to be able to use the Apple Pencil 1. And you have to carry it with you everywhere. https://t.co/InXAOcBZNq

1:44 AM · Oct 19, 2022

Anger

Then came the righteous anger. How could Apple do this to us? Whatever happened to elegance and Apple’s faultless design principles?!? Requiring a dongle is an affront to good taste. Plus, it’s bad for kids and worse for the environment.

How could the Apple design gods let this happen?

iPad (10th) #PixelArt . Apple Pencil "1st generation" is paired. Via iPad (10th generation).

Blog title (8vivid): iPad (10th generation) is supported Apple Pencil "1st generation". It's horrible! https://t.co/Aq85jcUzjE

5:56 PM · Oct 19, 2022

Apple, you kill me. They release this base model iPad thats not actually a base model, is essentially an iPad Air 4th generation, but they don't give it support for the magnetic Apple Pencil? You gotta use the 1st generation one? And they ship you an adapter? WHAT https://t.co/QmYicp7BT9

12:30 AM · Oct 19, 2022

Asked my mom, a school teacher, for her opinion on the iPad 10 Apple Pencil situation. Super interesting https://t.co/VSY4MNDkPv

1:42 AM · Oct 19, 2022

Apple: "No charger block cause we <3 environment" Also Apple: "We keep 2 generations of pencils in production, and for the old one we also create a brand new dongle (shipped separately) so we can sell 2 different iPads that are practically the same"

5:18 PM · Oct 19, 2022

Bargaining

Eventually, some folks tried to convince themselves that toting around a dongle wouldn’t be that bad.

A brilliant way for charging Apple Pencil in iPad 10. #apple #Apple #iPadgen10 #ApplePencil https://t.co/4o8V7Tffis

11:09 AM · Oct 19, 2022

Depression

Soon others descended completely into the depths of depression and despair. This is, after all, the kind of unwarranted indignity that no technology fan should ever endure.

Acceptance

And finally, at least some Apple fans came to terms with the new reality. They found acceptance — and even hope for the future!

$9 lightning to usb-c dongle Hey at least you don’t need to plug directly into the ipad anymore 😂 https://t.co/6vX4br3gXu

12:10 AM · Oct 19, 2022

I present… My solution for those afraid of losing their USB-C Apple Pencil adapter #TakeNote https://t.co/mPHHJHn955

3:07 AM · Oct 19, 2022

Absurd Apple Pencil dongle sends fans into spiral of grief