Last week, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Z Fold 7 as the company’s thinnest foldable phone yet. To make it that thin, Samsung had to drop the S Pen stylus functionality as it was unable to include the active layer necessary for compatibility. It dropped support to make the phone thinner, and Samsung then chose to prioritize strength at that thinness rather than stylus functionality.
Now, a Samsung executive has confirmed the company hasn’t given up hope of bringing the stylus back for future foldable phones. Kang Min-seok, Executive Director of Samsung’s MX business division, told ET News that the company is still experimenting with options for future iterations of its foldables.
Kang said, “We are also researching and developing thinner and innovative technologies for the S Pen, so we will reconsider it when the level of perfection increases and there is consumer demand.”
That’s not incredibly promising for fans of the foldable’s stylus support. Samsung has previously said it opted to lose support on the Z Fold 7 as consumer demand wasn’t there.
Peter Park, Senior Product Manager at Samsung Electronics America, told PCMag during a briefing around the Z Fold 7 that it opted to drop the stylus as it found only a small percentage of users were using the phone with an S Pen.
Take Kang’s comments with a pinch of salt as the company may be continuing to experiment with new ideas to bring back stylus support, but it would take a shift in priorities from customers for Samsung to fully embrace the stylus again.
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Samsung would also need a major breakthrough in its tech to combine strength, thinness, and stylus functionality if it were to return on the Galaxy Z Fold 8. The company would also need to find a way to make this happen without it increasing the price of the phone.
For now, Samsung is keeping its stylus tech to its top-end flagship phone. Expect to see a stylus with the Galaxy S26 Ultra and future versions of that phone. Current rumors say we’ll see a new Galaxy S26 Ultra in January next year.
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About James Peckham
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