This probably won't have any effect on anyone who has heard the recent rumors about the Galaxy S25 Ultra S Pen. But if you haven't, you may want to fasten your seatbelt.
It's confirmed. For the new-generation S25 Ultra flagship phone, Samsung has downgraded the S Pen experience by axing its Bluetooth capabilities.
The good news is that the Galaxy S25 Ultra S Pen is just as good of a stylus as last year, assuming all you care about are the core stylus features. It has a 0.7mm tip and 4,096 pressure sensitivity levels. It's going to work perfectly fine for drawing or handwriting.
However, with Bluetooth gone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra S Pen loses some of the characteristics that made previous S Pen models unique next to other styluses.
- The new Galaxy S25 Ultra S Pen can no longer be used to perform Air Actions, which allowed S Pen users to wave the stylus like a wand to control certain apps remotely through gestures.
- The S Pen's remote clicker button functionality for the Camera app is likewise no longer supported without Bluetooth.
The story continues after our Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on video
Samsung supposedly removed these S Pen Bluetooth-based features because the data showed too few Galaxy S Ultra owners were using them.
Given that the S Pen still exists and hasn't been removed entirely, enough people seemingly use the accessory as a drawing and writing tool, but not enough care about Air Actions and the Camera clicker button functionality.
Is there any upside to this Galaxy S25 Ultra S Pen downgrade?
Taking away something like this, niche as it may be, is always a point of contention. So the question is whether or not the S Pen downgrade comes with any benefits at all.
Potentially, there is one. Axing Bluetooth from the S Pen may have allowed Samsung to make the Galaxy S25 Ultra narrower, shorter, thinner, and more streamlined while giving it a slightly larger (by 0.1-inch) screen and a beefier heatsink for the crazy-powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.
For the S Pen's Bluetooth functionality to work, the accessory required an internal battery that recharged wirelessly when the S Pen was in its holster. This meant that each flagship phone with an embedded S Pen needed room for an extra wireless charging coil and other small bits and pieces just for the stylus.
Most modern smartphones have tightly packed components, and manufacturers like Samsung go to great lengths to optimize the internal space and use it to its maximum potential while taking into account things like heat dissipation and repairability. Sometimes, this means a phone can't get smaller without some compromises in other areas.
Was this S Pen trade-off worth it? Samsung seems to believe so, and the company most likely has the data to support its decision. Nevertheless, a small portion of S Pen fans, at least, won't like that this happened.
