Steve Jobs may have hated the stylus, but Apple sure has a lot of patents for awesome styli floating around the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Two recent patents detail an amazing futuristic stylus with the ability to analyze and react to different textures, create 3D images, and provide haptic feedback.
The first patent explains how an Apple stylus could use haptic feedback to mimic the experience of drawing with a real writing implement on whatever surface the user has chosen on the tablet screen. Apple came up with several different ways to achieve accurate haptic feedback, all of which are detailed in the patent.
One possible method involves a stylus with contact sensors that can tell when the stylus touches the screen. Another proposal suggests using capacitive sensors, pressure sensors, and cameras to determine the texture of the digital surface and provide the corresponding haptic feedback. For example, photodiodes could be used to tell the stylus what texture is shown onscreen, whether it’s wood, paper, glass, and fabric. The stylus could also learn what texture is being used via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
As soon as the stylus recognizes the texture in use, it will vibrate accordingly. So if you’re drawing on a smooth, glass-like surface, you won’t feel any vibration, but if you’re drawing on a rough texture like a sharp stone, rugged fabric, or wood, you’ll feel a stronger vibration.
The second patent explains how the stylus could be used to capture and transmit the texture of physical objects to the iPad or iPhone, as well as how the stylus could be used to create 3D CAD files. In this patent the stylus would be equipped with a camera module in its tip, which could detect and record the physical texture of almost any object or surface. Once the stylus records the texture, it will send it to the iPad or iPhone, and the person drawing would experience that specific texture onscreen.
Apple suggested a few ways for the stylus to capture and transmit texture. In many examples, light bounced off a textured object would move through the stylus’ clear tip or lens to a photo sensor. The stylus would then send the texture data from the object to the iPad or iPhone to recreate 3D renderings of the texture, color, and even the shape of the object.
Designers, 3D modelers, and other digital artists could use the data from the stylus to create projects and even 3D CAD files, which are used in animation and other artistic ventures.
Obviously, there’s no telling if Apple will ever make this stylus a reality, but it would be pretty amazing to say the least. Most pundits and sources agree that Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro will come with a stylus, though there’s no word on what its abilities will be.
Affinity’s new all-in-one creative app is finally coming to the iPad, nearly a year after Canva launched the redesigned desktop version for Mac and Windows. Creatives have been asking for the iPad release ever since, especially because files created in the new Affinity app cannot be opened in the older V2 iPad apps.
Affinity already has Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps on iPad, but the new release combines those tools into the same unified app that Canva launched on desktop last year.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Apple has just launched its latest iPad mini with a notable set of upgrades, including an OLED screen, improved speakers, and a more resilient build. It also gets a new chip, and the whole package costs $200 more than its predecessor. But if you look closely at Apple’s online store, you’ll realize that $699 isn’t enough to get you the most powerful version of the A20 Pro chip inside this tablet. In fact, even if you pay $800 for the 256GB model, you still won’t get the beefiest variant. Only when you jump to the 512GB trim, which costs an absurd $999, do you get the most powerful flavor of the A20 Pro.
The $999 model gets more than extra storage