New Apple Pencil gets real-world color picker

Apple is exploring new Apple Pencil technology that could allow the device to sample  colors from

real world for use in the digitalart, drawings, editing, etc. This data was obtained according to an Apple patent application published by the US Patent and Trademark Office this week.

Apple Pencil and color sensor

The patent entitled "Computer system withcolor sampling stylus" describes a computer stylus that "may have a color sensor." The color sensor will be equipped with multiple photodetectors capable of measuring light for different color channels, allowing it to detect and sample color from a real-world object such as a flower, for example.

The stylus can also be backlit to help youit was easier for photodetectors to accurately detect color, and the rest of the patent described an Apple pencil-like design with an elongated body, a tip, and an opposite end, the tip capable of operating a touch display. Apple says the color sensor functionality can be located at the end of the stylus, on the tip, or connected to the tip via a light guide.

With this technology, Apple usersPencil could use it for photorealistic paintings or simply to sample unique colors from grass, plants, existing art, and more. According to the patent, the stylus would detect a color and then place it into a color palette in the drawing program, where the color could then be assigned to the brush. Apple also suggests using the color sensor for other purposes, such as calibrating displays, calibrating printers, taking health-related measurements, determining paint colors for home projects, which will make the Apple Pencil even more versatile.

Optical color sensors like this are alreadyexist and are used in different ways. In fact, we tested a simple rudimentary optical color sensor in the Sphero Specdrums, a product designed to transform color into sound.

Apple has patented all kinds of differenttechnologies, some of which seem plausible for implementation, while others — simply fantastic. There is no guarantee that Apple's patents will be used for actual products, and in fact, most patents are for technologies that will never be released.

For this reason, there is no word on whether Apple is actually planning to add a color sensor to the Apple Pencil or if it's just an idea that will never get out of the phase of opportunity.