Credit: EverythingApplePro

While rumors of iPhone Apple Pencil support aren’t new, yet another financial analyst forecasted that Apple could introduce support for the stylus as a feature in the 2019 iPhone lineup.

Apple Pencil Predictions

After Apple reported its Q3 2019 earnings results, Citi Research issued a report with its outlook on the company’s financial situation. That report also contained some future predictions about the next iPhone.

Among the predicted features for the 2019 lineup was “support for iPhone pencil/stylus,” according to Business Insider. Some other predicted features in Citi’s report include larger batteries and a triple-lens setup on the rear-facing camera of the two OLED iPhones.

Normally, a prediction like this might seem like a quirk in the Apple blogosphere. But other analysts have predicted Apple Pencil support coming to the iPhone in the past.

Last year, well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo forecasted that Apple was considering adding Pencil support to a future lineup of iPhones. (Although, it’s worth noting, he didn’t specify a release date for that feature.)

Also, industry insiders told The Korea Herald in 2017 that an iPhone with Apple Pencil or similar stylus support could launch “as early as 2019.”

And, interestingly, ahead of the iPhone XS launch, supply chain reports suggested that the 2018 iPhones could support the Apple Pencil. That didn’t materialize, but taken together with other rumors of stylus support on the iPhone, it’s probably not unrelated.

How Likely Is This?

Apple was, for the longest time, infamously anti-stylus. Apple’s late CEO and cofounder, Steve Jobs, once said “if you see a stylus, they blew it.”

But, of course, the Cupertino tech giant has seemingly softened its stance on styli with the introduction of the Apple Pencil back in 2015.

Because it isn’t so anti-stylus anymore, it might make sense for Apple to add stylus support to its iPhone lineup. That’s especially true for larger handsets like the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max or the possible 6.7-inch iPhone rumored to drop in 2020.

Even Kuo has said that stylus support for an Apple handset would hinge on devices with larger displays.

Apple has also taken to expanding Apple Pencil support to other devices in its iPad lineup, instead of just restricting it to the higher-end iPad Pros. Because of that, an iPhone that works with an Apple Pencil may not be out of the question.

But, on the other hand, there’s not a whole lot of evidence aside from analyst predictions that Apple Pencil support could debut on the 2019 iPhones.

In other words, Apple may very well add Pencil support to a future iPhone lineup. We just can’t be sure that it’ll be this year’s iPhone lineup.