Apple's upcoming iPad Pro accessory, the Apple Pencil, will now ship with an adapter that will allow it to charge using a standard Lightning cable, reports 9to5Mac. The Apple Pencil, which has a Lightning connector on the end for charging, was originally designed to charge by plugging into the bottom of the iPad Pro.
With the adapter, which will fit over the Apple Pencil's Lightning connector, it will also be able to charge using a regular Lightning cable. This will expand the number of ways the Apple Pencil can be charged and it will alleviate concerns about potential damage to the Apple Pencil from being knocked or bent while plugged into an iPad Pro.
The iPad Pro appears to be on track for a launch in the first weeks of November. AppleCare employees and retail staff are currently receiving training on the new larger-screened tablet, with the training completion deadline set for November 6.
Apple's iPad Pro is the company's new flagship 12.9-inch tablet. It includes an A9X processor, 4GB RAM, and according to Apple, is as fast as many desktop class machines. Pricing on the iPad Pro starts at $799 for a 32GB Wi-Fi only model and goes up to $1,079 for a 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
The Apple Pencil, which allows for pressure-sensitive drawing on the iPad Pro, is a standalone purchase that will be available for $99. Apple is also selling a Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro, priced at $169.
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by Juli Clover
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products.
Here's what's supposedly coming:
An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. iOS 26.2 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Macworld claims to have access to an ...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:19 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's next-generation Studio Display is expected to arrive early next year, and a new report allegedly provides a couple more details on the external monitor's capabilities.
According to internal Apple code seen by Macworld, the new external display will feature a variable refresh rate capable of up to 120Hz – aka ProMotion – as well as support for HDR content. The current Studio...
What a poorly thought out solution. Who's bright idea was it to think the primary way we would desire to charge this is by plugging it into the lightning port of the iPad Pro? If Samsung or Microsoft included an "adapter" as a solution, MR members would be howling at their inept planning (or lack thereof).
Why didn't Apple just make the Pencil's charging port be a female Lightning port? The idea of having the Pencil stick out the bottom of the iPad Pro, was ridiculous thinking on their part. It's not like it's so hard to use the charging cable from the iPad to charge the Pencil.
Seriously. The process for charging the Apple Pencil this way is:
1. Remove cap from Pencil. Make sure not to lose your cap. 2. Attach adapter to Cable. 3. Connect adapter to Pencil.
Most other products, both from Apple and other companies, generally have a single step:
1. Plug charging cable into product.
A few products (not Apple's) have an additional step:
1. Remove charging cover. Don't worry about keeping track though - it's attached. 2. Plug charging cable into product.
So yes, this is a seriously poorly thought out solution, involving 3-4x as much effort as most other charging solutions, and at least 2x as much effort as even poorly thought out solutions.
Despite the criticism here, I like this solution, because it provides two ways to charge the Pencil. The idea of plugging it into the bottom of the iPad is supposed to allow for 'emergency' rapid charging, when you're using the Pencil - remember it can get a decent amount of battery life from a short charge. And then when you plug it in for a full charge, e.g. at night, it uses a standard Lightning cable. I don't really see what's 'ugly' or 'stupid' about this. If you're in the middle of working, and your Pencil runs 'dry', you can just plug it directly into the iPad for a few minutes so you can get right back to work. That's much, much better than having to go find a cable and wall outlet, plug it into the wall etc. Imagine you're in the airport or on a plane, for example....
What a poorly thought out solution. Who's bright idea was it to think the primary way we would desire to charge this is by plugging it into the lightning port of the iPad Pro? If Samsung or Microsoft included an "adapter" as a solution, MR members would be howling at their inept planning (or lack thereof).
I imagine the idea is to make it impossible to find yourself in a situation where you have a dead pencil. If you're in the park or on a train or anywhere, but haven't charged your pencil in a while, it's no problem. I don't think this adapter's a 'solution' for anything other than keeping the pencil permanently charged at a desk workstation, and Apple's never shied away from optional desk-based adapters.
