Samsung confirms it is not killing the S Pen, shares plans for the future

Source: Android Authority

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

TL;DR

• A Samsung executive has confirmed the S Pen will continue to be available on future devices.
• Won‑Joon Choi, COO of Samsung’s MX division, said the S Pen will remain a “core” feature.
• The company is working on new display technology to address the challenges of retaining the S Pen.

Samsung says the S Pen isn’t going away

Almost half a decade after Samsung discontinued the iconic Galaxy Note series in favor of foldables, the S Pen—one of its defining features—continues to live in the Galaxy S series. Despite Samsung’s act of repeatedly reducing features on the S Pen (Android Authority article) and limited attention while upgrading the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the stylus is not going anywhere, at least not soon.

Won‑Joon Choi, COO of Samsung’s Mobile Experience (MX) division, assured this in a recent interview with Bloomberg. Choi told the publication that Samsung does not plan to abandon the S Pen.

“We’re working on a more advanced technology within S Pen to come up with a new structure of display, so the penalty of having S Pen is diminished.
S‑Pen will continue to be one of the core technologies.”

What’s the new technology?

While the exact details remain undisclosed, the executive hinted that Samsung is developing a new display technology to address the challenges of retaining the S Pen. One plausible direction is building a touchscreen without a digitizer layer, which is currently required to detect stylus interactions and differentiate them from finger taps.

Notably, Samsung removed the digitizer layer from the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Android Authority report) last year to achieve a thinner profile, resulting in the loss of S Pen support for that foldable. However, the feature is rumored to return with the upcoming Galaxy Z “Wide” Fold (Android Authority article; announcement).

If the new display approach proves viable, Samsung could apply a similar solution to future Galaxy S Ultra phones, restoring full S Pen functionality without the drawbacks of a dedicated digitizer layer. As of now, no further details have been confirmed by credible sources.