The "Stylus Phone Comeback" Story Has a Major Hole: Samsung Just Removed the Best Part
Stylus phone content tends to lean on one recurring example: the Galaxy Ultra's S Pen doubling as a Bluetooth remote — camera shutter, presentation clicker, gallery control. I went to confirm the current specifics before writing about it and found something the "comeback" narrative conveniently skips: Samsung actually removed that functionality, starting with the Galaxy S25 Ultra in January 2025, and confirmed it's staying removed in the S26 Ultra too. Here's the more accurate picture.
What Actually Changed, and Why It Matters
The S Pen bundled with current Galaxy Ultra phones no longer has Bluetooth at all — no remote shutter, no air gestures, no slideshow control from across a room. Samsung's stated reason: their own data showed fewer than 1% of users were actually using those features, so they cut the Bluetooth module as a cost and complexity reduction. The pen still works fine for writing, drawing, and on-screen navigation via the display's digitizer — that part is unaffected — but the specific "point it at your camera and snap a photo remotely" feature that gets cited constantly in stylus-phone content is gone from the current flagship, and Samsung has now confirmed it's not coming back for at least one more generation. This matters because it undercuts the "here's proof of how advanced these pens have become" framing — the actual direction, at least for Samsung's top-tier device, has been feature removal, not addition, for this specific capability.
Who Genuinely Still Benefits From a Built-In Stylus
Setting the Bluetooth removal aside, the core writing and drawing functionality remains genuinely useful for a specific set of people, and it's worth being honest about who that actually is rather than the broad "professionals, students, everyone" framing. Digital artists and anyone doing fine detail photo editing benefit the most concretely — pressure sensitivity and precision genuinely outperform a fingertip for actual creative work, not just casual use. People who mark up PDFs and sign documents regularly as part of their actual job also get real value, since it replaces printing something just to sign it. Students taking handwritten notes or working through math and diagrams benefit too, particularly since on-screen keyboards are genuinely bad at anything beyond typed text. Casual users — anyone mostly browsing, streaming, and scrolling — get little practical benefit from a built-in pen, and that's true regardless of the Bluetooth situation.
The Real Trade-Offs, Beyond the Feature Removal
A pen slot does take up internal space that could otherwise go to battery or other components — this remains a genuine design trade-off Samsung and Motorola both accept for stylus-equipped models. Losing the pen is a real, recurring cost concern; replacements aren't cheap, and it's an easy thing to leave behind or lose entirely. The market itself is genuinely narrow. If you specifically want a built-in stylus, you're choosing between Samsung's Ultra line and Motorola's Moto G Stylus line, essentially — there's no built-in option for iPhone, and passive third-party styluses that work on any capacitive screen (including iPhone) don't offer pressure sensitivity or any of the smart features people associate with a "real" stylus phone.
Quick FAQ
Does the Galaxy S25 or S26 Ultra's S Pen still work for writing and drawing?
Yes — the digitizer-based writing and drawing functionality is completely unaffected. Only the Bluetooth-dependent remote features (camera shutter, air gestures, distant slideshow control) were removed.
Can I use a stylus with an iPhone?
Yes, passive capacitive styluses work for basic navigation and drawing, but without pressure sensitivity, low latency, or any Bluetooth-based remote features — there's no Apple-made or built-in stylus option for iPhone.
Are there affordable stylus phones available?
Yes — Motorola's Moto G Stylus line offers the feature at a noticeably lower price point than Samsung's flagship Ultra models, without needing to spend flagship money just for the pen.
Conclusion
The genuine utility of a built-in stylus — for artists, note-takers, and document-heavy professionals — is real and hasn't gone anywhere. But the specific "look how advanced these pens have become" narrative built around Bluetooth remote features doesn't hold up against what Samsung actually did with its current flagship, and any content still citing that feature as current is describing a phone that no longer exists.
More honest device breakdowns like this are up on Tech & Rewards.