New iPhone 9 rumoured to get surprise feature that Steve Jobs would have hated

APPLE is secretly planning to offer a stylus with its new round of iPhone models, according to fresh rumours.

That wouldn’t sit well with late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who famously hated the stylus — and vowed never to use them.

Back in 2015, Apple debuted the Apple Pencil stylus for some of its iPads, but iPhones were left without.

According to The Sun, a report by China’s Economic Daily News claims that two of the three 2018 iPhones expected to launch in September 2018 will support the Apple Pencil.

That echoes a similar report from analysts at TrendForce seen by The Sun, which said that they’re expecting the Apple Pencil to “be offered as an option” for this year’s iPhones.

However, it’s not clear whether existing Apple Pencils (which are large and pencil-like) would work with the iPhone, or if a smaller version would be created.

Rival Samsung, for example, already offers its own tiny S-Pen stylus with its Galaxy Note series of smartphones.

And although the iPhone works with some third-party styluses, Apple has never offered its own version.

It’s probably because Steve Jobs, who founded Apple and died in 2011, was a major opponent of styluses.

During the original iPhone launch event in 2007, he quipped: “Who wants a stylus? You have to get em’, put em’ away. You lose them. Yuck!

“Nobody wants a stylus. So let’s not use a stylus.”

A Steve Jobs biography also quoted the tech titan as saying “God gave us 10 styluses. Let’s not invent another,” referring to human fingers.

But after he died, Apple’s anti-stylus stance fell by the wayside.

The Apple Pencil was announced back in September 2015, to launch alongside the company’s premium iPad Pro tablet.

It’s mainly aimed at creative types, offering varying levels of pressure sensitivity — so you can draw accurately, just like a pen.

It also has angle detection, so the iPad can tell whether you’re trying to draw a hard line, or do some soft shading.

It’s a powered gadget — connecting to your device over Bluetooth — which means it has a battery life and requires charging.

Apple is expected to announce its next iPhone line-up very soon, likely on September 12 or 13.

The tech giant is tipped to reveal three new iPhone models, all of which borrow last year’s slick iPhone X design.

The 2017 iPhone X has an all-screen front that wowed critics, and also included new Face ID face-unlocking tech.

The industry is also expecting a small price cut, with the replacement for the $1579 iPhone X rumoured to cost just under $1500 this time around.

Of course, Apple hasn’t actually confirmed any details about its 2018 iPhones, so take all rumours with a pinch of salt for now.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished here with permission.