Solid evidence points to Apple Pencil 3 participating in the Find My network, allowing you to see its location on the map in the Find My app.
The Find My network comprises hundreds of millions of Apple devices that sense other nearby devices and report their location to the Find My network. This lets you track compatible devices in the Find My app, even if offline or disconnected.
Apple currently offers three different Apple Pencil models. However, none of them can be tracked using Find My on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Web.
Apple Pencil 3 expected may be compatible with Find My
Discoveries in the iPadOS 17.4 code suggest the next Apple Pencil could appear in the Find My app so you can track and find it should you happen to lose it.
To add fuel to the fire, iPadOS 17.4 beta introduces a new version of the PencilKit API, which developers can use to make their apps compatible with Apple Pencil. While version 2 came with iPadOS 17.0 and enables new tools such as monoline, fountain pen, watercolor and crayon, the Apple Developer website gives no details about what exactly is new in PencilKit 3.
This suggests that PencilKit 3 may add new capabilities that require new hardware and Apple wants to keep them secret for now.
The report speculates that Apple Pencil 3 might be equipped with Ultra Wideband technology for precision finding.
This Apple Pencil patent offers a possible solution
If not, Apple Pencil 3 should at least report its last location on the map. The truth is probably in Apple’s recent patent application which describes a future Apple Pencil that would emit acoustic signals and vibrate when nearby.
iPads may get landscape cameras
Apple is currently testing iOS and iPadOS 17.4. One of the strings unearthed from the iOS 17.4 code suggests that the iPad Pro could get a landscape camera.
This will boost videoconferencing in horizontal/landscape mode as you won’t look sideways at the camera, breaking eye contact. The tenth-generation iPad is the only Apple tablet with a front camera along the landscape edge.