Future Apple Pencils may provide haptic and audible feedback

Future Apple Pencils may provide haptic (touch) and perhaps even audible feedback as hinted by a newly granted Apple patent (number 11,221,677) for “pencil haptics.”

About the patent

In the patent filing, Apple notes that electronic devices can include touch screen displays that provide an immersive multimedia user experience. The tech giant says that, however, despite advancements made in display technology that renders graphical images generated by such touch screen displays more accurate and more responsive to user input, an element of interaction with the user remains missing. 

Apple says there’s a need to enhance the user’s experience by generating a haptic feedback response during the user’s interaction with such touch screen displays. And that would be via the Apple Pencil. The patent also mentions audible feedback from the accessory.

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “According to some embodiments, an accessory device for interacting with an electronic device having a touch sensitive surface, is described. The accessory device can include a housing having walls suitable for carrying a processor capable of providing instructions and an interface unit extending through an opening at a distal end of the housing, where the interface unit is capable of interacting with the touch sensitive surface. 

“The accessory device can further include a sensor in communication with the processor and the interface unit, where the sensor is capable of (i) detecting a stimulus generated by the interaction between the interface unit and the touch sensitive surface, and (ii) responding by providing a feedback parameter to the processor that responds by providing a feedback instruction. The accessory device can further include a feedback component that responds to the feedback instruction by transmitting a feedback force to the walls of the housing.”