Apple says the Apple Pencil is not meant to replace your finger

When Apple announced the iPad Pro, it also showed off a new way of interacting with the tablet, the Apple Pencil. But this is not a peripheral that's designed to replace your finger, according to Apple's Jony Ive.

In a chat with design journal Wallpaper, Ive said that it might be easy to confuse the role of the two. But, in Apple's mind at least, the two serve a very different purpose.

He said, "I actually think it's very clear the Pencil is for making marks, and the finger is a fundamental point of interface for everything within the operating system." If you enjoy painting or drawing, Ive added, the Pencil is better suited for the task.

But the Pencil isn't set to replace the humble finger just yet. "It was important that we develop the UI based upon multi-touch, based on our fingers... I think it is equally obvious that you’re just not as dexterous as you are with a pen or a pencil for certain things," Ive said.

"But it is, and I don’t think anybody would argue, a far better tool than your finger when your focus becomes exclusively making marks. The traditional pencil could have been replaced by a dish of powdered charcoal, which you dipped your finger into to make marks with. And that didn’t happen," he added.