Apple's Folding iPhone Will Use a Pencil, but You'll Have to Wait
Apple's folding iPhone, called the iPhone Duo, will work with the Apple Pencil with USB-C. You can use it on the big unfolded screen and the smaller outer screen. No iPhone has worked with a Pencil before. The feature will not be ready at launch.
The reason is software. The Duo is expected to go on sale in October with iOS 27.1, the iPhone software it ships with. Pencil support should arrive in iOS 27.2 around November as an update, according to Engadget. Early phones will gain the feature later. Staff and app makers testing the pen will need to check the software version, not just the phone model.
Only one Pencil works. Think of it like a coffee maker that only takes one shape of pod. Only the $79 Apple Pencil with USB-C works with the Duo. The Apple Pencil 2 and Apple Pencil Pro do not. Apple said Duo users can take notes, draw, or mark up documents on either screen, per Apple. Many iPad owners will need to buy a separate Pencil. No other iPhone works with a Pencil.
You set it up with a wire. You plug the Pencil into the Duo with a USB-C cable to pair and charge it. There is no magnetic click-on and wireless charging like the Pencil 2 and Pencil Pro have on iPad Pro. The Pro Pencil needs iPadOS 17.5 or later and only works with 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models with M4 and M5 chips. The USB-C Pencil already works with more iPads, including 12.9-inch iPad Pro fifth and sixth generations and 13-inch iPad Pro with M4 and M5. The Duo follows that USB-C path.
On hardware, the Duo has Touch ID, or fingerprint unlock, in the side button, and Apple said it is the thinnest iPhone when open, as reported by Reuters. A very thin folding phone has little space for the magnets and chargers used by the fancier Pencils.
The broader context here is what happens when a phone opens like a small tablet. App makers who built iPhone apps for fingers will need to handle pen input in iOS, not iPadOS, including ignoring a resting hand, keeping pen delay short, and making buttons pen-friendly.
In my view, splitting the release makes practical sense. Apple can ship the phone in October and finish pen software in November. The downside is confusion, with buyers holding a $79 Pencil that sits unused for weeks and help desks explaining the difference between does not work and does not work yet.
One thing worth flagging for families comes from my own house. I watched my children use an iPad pen as normal for schoolwork, then never ask for it on phones because phones never had it. The Duo will show if that was only about screen size, or about having the software ready on day one.
