Oliver Haslam·

iPad Pros With Third-Party Replaced Screens Don’t Work With Apple Pencil

If you own a fifth or sixth-generation iPad Pro and break the display, make sure that you have it replaced by Apple. Otherwise, you might find that you can’t use your Apple Pencil properly.

That’s what a new Forbes report notes after one repair shop owner said that they installed a new display and found that the Apple Pencil could no longer draw straight lines.

What’s more, this doesn’t only seem to affect displays that are non-genuine. Taking a genuine display off of another iPad Pro also breaks the Apple Pencil.

According to Ricky Panesar, founder of iCorrect.co.uk, it’s all down to a new chip.

“They have a memory chip that sits on the screen that’s programmed to only allow the Pencil functionality to work if the screen is connected to the original logic board.” He continued. This means third party repair shops that use other Apple devices for parts now have to order replacements directly from Apple for them to work properly, which is more expensive for the consumer and less environmentally friendly.

This is of course bad news for anyone who breaks a display and doesn’t want to pay Apple to put a new one on. Using a third-party shop can be cheaper and quicker, and not everyone lives near an Apple Store, either. It isn’t currently clear whether this is intended behavior or a bug on Apple’s part but we can only hope that it’s the latter.

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