This pen switches between paper and iPad with a single click

ELECOM and Zebra — a Japanese hardware maker and a stationery company that has been making pens since 1882 — have built something that solves a small but persistent annoyance: carrying both a stylus for your iPad and a regular pen for paper.

The STYLUS 2WAY looks unremarkable from the outside. It could pass for any other minimalist aluminum pen. But press the clip, and the mechanism shifts: the digital tip retracts, a 0.5mm ballpoint extends, and the pen changes personality entirely.

Zebra engineered a gel ink formula that makes the ballpoint side forgiving enough to coexist with a touchscreen. If you accidentally scribble on your iPad with the pen tip, the ink wipes off without residue and won’t damage the display. A protective film on the iPad side handles the rest. It is the kind of pragmatic design decision that separates a shipping product from a press release concept.

The stylus tip works with standard capacitive iPad screens — no special digitizer layer needed. The ballpoint uses a standard 0.5mm refill, so replacing it when the ink runs out should be straightforward.

ELECOM built the digital side of the equation. The pen charges via a built-in battery that reaches full in about 30 minutes and delivers roughly seven hours of continuous use. Magnets embedded in the body let it dock against the side of an iPad, mimicking the Apple Pencil’s magnetic attachment.

The concept of a dual-mode pen is not new. A handful of niche products have tried it before — usually by making the pen too thick to hold comfortably or by compromising on both writing and drawing quality. ELECOM and Zebra are betting that two specialists collaborating is better than one company trying to do everything. ELECOM knows the hardware and charging side; Zebra has been refining ink chemistry for over a century.

No pricing or release window has been announced yet. But the category — people who carry both a notebook and an iPad — is larger than it was five years ago, and growing.