Skip to main content

Apple Pencil gets busted in bend test, but overall stands up pretty well

Apple Pencil Torture Test! Don't Charge your iPad Pro's Apple Pencil like this!
If consumer tech had feelings, each new unit would leave the factory with great trepidation, aware that they may be the unlucky one that ends up in the hands of some crazy dude desperate to subject it to a drop test, water test, bend test, or, most horrifically of all, a full-on all-out torture test.

If the Apple Pencil thought it could escape such treatment, it was sorely mistaken. Within days of hitting the market alongside the iPad Pro, one unlucky unit was picked up by video blogger Zach Straley, who, after lulling the Pencil into a false sense of security with a kindhearted – some might even say affectionate – unboxing sequence, proceeded to tear into the tool as if it’d just called him a bumbling nincompoop in front of his friends and family.

Recommended Videos

The thing with the Apple Pencil is that charging it requires you to stick it in the Pro’s Lightning connector, leaving it looking a bit like an iPad-flavored lollipop. Sticking straight out like that, the Pencil is of course more susceptible to inadvertent knocks, yanks, and twists, all of which would place great pressure on both the Pencil and the port.

In his video, Straley wanted to see how much of a beating the Apple Pencil can take while it’s connected to the Pro, and spends more than two minutes enthusiastically bending it in all directions to see how it fares.

Fighting for its dear life, the put-upon Pencil holds up remarkably well for the most part before Straley ramps things up a notch.

“I can definitely hear it breaking,” he says at one point while pulling the stylus sharply to one side.

And then, with a forceful yank that no piece of kit would be able to take, the Pencil breaks apart at the end where it’s joined to the tablet. And yes, it’s messy.

On discovering that the Pencil still worked, Straley does his best to finish it off completely by attempting to snap it in two with his bare hands. But the Apple Pencil has the last laugh by staying intact.

The state of the Pro’s Lightning connecter wasn’t reported.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Watch Apple’s newest iPad meet messy end in durability test
Apple's iPad 10 experiencing a street test.

Popular YouTuber Zack Nelson -- he of the JerryRigEverything channel -- has taken his tool kit to Apple's newest iPad in a durability test that, we may as well say it now, doesn’t end well for the device.

The New iPad is... (Lets just not talk about it...)

Read more
Does the Apple iPad (2022) work with Apple Pencil?
Someone using an Apple Pencil with the 10th Gen iPad.

Apple has added a welcome breath of fresh air to its iPad lineup this year, bringing its most affordable entry-level model into harmony with its more premium tablets. The 2022 iPad features the now-familiar design language of the iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad Mini. Even more significantly, it also brings the USB-C port over from those models. It's even available in some fun new colors.

Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and rainbows with the newest 10th-generation iPad. While it gains some nice improvements beyond the design, including an upgrade to the A14 chip found in the iPhone 12, a better 12-megapixel (MP) camera, and 5G connectivity, it's oddly been left behind when it comes to the Apple Pencil -- despite selling for $120 more than its predecessor.

Read more
Does the iPad Pro (2022) come with an Apple Pencil?
An Apple Pencil over an iPad.

The Apple iPad Pro (2022), featuring a gorgeous 11-inch or 12.9-inch screen, makes for an excellent device for drawing, coloring, sketching, writing, highlighting, or just browsing the web. Whether you're a professional artist or a hobbyist looking for a fancy tool, the new iPad Pro paired with the Apple Pencil gives you plenty of features to play around with.
In fact, Apple has revealed that you can use the Apple Pencil from up to 12 mm above the display, giving you more control over your strokes. It's a neat feature that makes the Apple Pencil more useful than before, but there's one important thing we need to get straight.
Does the iPad Pro (2022) come with the Apple Pencil?

Unfortunately, none of the recent iPads come with the Apple Pencil, so if you want to use a stylus, you'll have to buy it separately. We recommend buying the second-gen Apple Pencil as it offers the new 12 mm hover feature, and it's also compatible with third-party apps.
It's specially designed to work with the iPad, too. It pairs well even with other iPad Pro models released after 2018, so you can share it with your family and friends if needed. You can buy it as an add-on with the iPad Pro (2022) for $129 and get free engraving options to add a mix of emojis, names, initials, and numbers to suit your unique style. 

Read more