https://wccftech.com/ipad-air-ipad-mini-no-second-gen-apple-pencil-support/

Apple recently launched the new iPad Air and iPad mini. Both the devices support Apple Pencil, albeit only the first generation one. This means that the user of the new devices would not be able to take advantage of the new features that are offered by the second generation Apple Pencil, such as inductive charging. It has now emerged that this was done to keep the costs of new iPads from ballooning.

In Apple’s own words, the iPad Air is offered at a breakthrough price. Similarly, the iPad mini is also considered an affordable tablet. The new iPad Air starts at $499 while the iPad mini 5 starts at $399. According to John Gruber from Daring Fireball, only the first-generation Apple Pencil is compatible with the two new iPads because the inductive charging data port needed to connect the latest version of the Apple Pencil was deemed too expensive to be built into the iPad Air and iPad mini 5.