Apple Pencil support arrives on the iPhone Duo with iOS 27.2, and that update is expected to reach everyone next week. Max Weinbach, an analyst at Creative Strategies, installed the iOS 27.2 release candidate on his Duo and posted on X that his Pencil started working once the update was on. Per MacRumors, the USB-C Apple Pencil can draw, annotate and scroll in supported apps on both screens: the 7.6-inch inner display and the 5.4-inch outer one.
The Duo ships on Friday, October 23, at $1,999. If iOS 27.2 lands next week as expected, launch-day buyers get a few days where the phone is in hand and a Pencil does nothing on it. That's short, but it means a Pencil bought with the phone won't draw on it the day it arrives.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported earlier that Apple had built and tested a shorter Pencil that clips to the side of the foldable, and that it was unlikely to ship alongside the first folding iPhone. This week's update doesn't change that. The pen that works on the Duo is the USB-C Pencil Apple already sells, not a new one.
Samsung built its foldable identity around the S Pen and then dropped stylus support entirely with the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Apple went the other way. Both of the Duo's screens take the Pencil, so you can mark up a PDF on the big inner screen or scribble a note on the outer one with the phone closed.
If you're getting a Duo this week and plan to use a Pencil with it, install iOS 27.2 as soon as it shows up next week. Everything else on the phone works from day one.