Your next Apple Pencil might sense colours and textures

A future Apple Pencil might be capable of detecting the colour and texture of the surfaces that it comes into contact with, according to a new patent.

While the Apple Pencil is already the go-to option for iPad owners who want to draw and write on their tablets, a new Apple patent published by the US Patent & Trademark Office points to a future where it can do so much more.

That patent suggests that a sensor attached to the end of the Apple Pencil would be capable of detecting not only the colour of any surface that it touches, but also its texture as well. The theory is that an iPad app would then be able to replicate those characteristics to help artists turn real-world items into digital creations.

This isn’t the first time that Apple has claimed a patent relating to the detection of colours, but so far the most recent Apple Pencil release happened in 2018 with no sign of a refresh being imminent. It’s important to remember that Apple patents all kinds of things, both software and hardware, to ensure that they can’t be used by any other company.

Not every patent Apple applies for, or is granted, becomes a product of feature further down the line. However, there is little doubt that having an Apple Pencil capable of detecting its surroundings could be useful to digital artists so this might be one patent that has more legs than others.