I remember so vividly when, seven years ago, Samsung introduced Bluetooth wireless connectivity to the S Pen with the Galaxy Note 9. It was such an innovative feature because the Note 9 would automatically and burdenlessly charge up the stylus whenever it was inserted into the phone. Once charged, which took less than a minute to do, the pen could be used as a wireless clicker for taking photos and videos, scrolling through presentations, and more.
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With the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, much of that pizzazz is no longer available, and I don’t blame the company. According to Samsung, most users simply didn’t use the wireless, air gesture features enough. Instead, more handy methods (pun intended) for taking photos, for example, such as waving a hand on-screen to prompt a countdown timer, overshadowed the S Pen.
Fortunately, there’s a glimmer of hope for the power users who still want those capabilities. You’ll just need to fork up some cash, as a recent Samsung Business blog states “Bluetooth-enabled S Pens sold separately.” The question now is for how much?
The current functions of the S Pen on the S24 Ultra. These are no longer available on the S25 Ultra.
Matthew Miller/ZDNET
Samsung currently sells replacement S Pens for the Galaxy S25 Ultra for $50 — and those do not support Bluetooth gestures. So, you’ll likely have to pair more for the enhanced version.
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If you’re undecided about whether you need one or not, here’s a rundown of what features you won’t be able to use without Bluetooth capabilities. And if you do own an older device with wireless S Pen functionality, here’s what you still have access to.
Capturing photos: A long press of the function button will launch the camera. Double-pressing the button flips between the rear and front cameras. A single press captures the photo or starts a video recording. This capability is handy for group shots with the S Pen in your hand.Gallery: While in the Samsung Gallery app, press the button once to move to the next image in the album.Samsung Internet: Button presses move you forward and back while gestures support scrolling, moving forward and back, and refreshing pages.Voice Recorder: You can record or pause your recording with a single press of the button.Samsung Notes: The S Pen is optimized for this app with the Bluetooth button letting you select pens while gestures move you around the app.PowerPoint: You can move to the next or previous slide with single and double button presses.Media playback: You can use button presses and S Pen gestures to control audio playback.Air actions: These were added with the Note 10 model and supported using your S Pen like a magic wand.
Even though I’ve been using a stylus with a Galaxy Note for many years, I mainly used the Bluetooth functionality in the S Pen to capture group photos during family and friends gatherings. For the past couple of years, I’ve relied on the camera controller app on my Samsung Galaxy Watch and forgot the S Pen even had this capability.
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Writing out the list of functions supported by the Bluetooth S Pen did prompt me to reconsider upgrading my S24 Ultra to an S25 Ultra, but given I hadn’t used it much when I had it then, I’m not too worried about losing the capability now. How about you?
