Something curious is happening with Samsung’s S Pen, and honestly, it’s a head-scratcher. For years, the S Pen was a signature feature, especially for productivity users. Samsung even poked fun at other tech giants, like Apple, over stylus use. But now, it seems the company is slowly pulling back from one of its classic tricks.
The Disappearing Pen from the Galaxy Z Fold 7
This brings us to the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. In a surprising move, Samsung has removed S Pen support entirely. This means you can’t use a stylus with it at all. The company didn’t even mention the S Pen in any of the Fold 7’s launch materials. Later, they issued a statement to confirm the change.
Here’s what Samsung said: “While the S Pen continues to be a valuable part of the Galaxy line, our priority with this latest iteration of these products was to provide the lightest and thinnest experience of the Galaxy Z series, as the most important user experience for this generation was to maximize portability.” This explanation suggests that making the Fold 7 super thin was the main goal. The new phone measures an impressive 8.9 millimeters thick when folded, not counting its large camera bump.
But here’s where things get puzzling. Why would making the phone thinner mean losing all pen features? The Fold 7 actually has a bigger 8-inch AMOLED screen this time. It feels odd that you can’t write on it with an accessory Samsung has promoted since the first Galaxy Note in 2012.
Samsung never actually built the S Pen into any Fold model. However, they always made sure to highlight its compatibility, starting with the Fold 3. You could buy the S Pen Fold Edition, which did basic things. Or, for more features, there was the larger S Pen Pro with all its Bluetooth tricks. Even the Slim S Pen case for the Fold 5 and 6 was a neat hybrid, small and thin, letting you use the pen as a remote camera shutter. Now, all that functionality is gone.
A Familiar Pattern of Giving and Taking Away
Samsung has done this before. Think back to 2015 with the Galaxy S6 series. Samsung removed water resistance and the microSD card slot. Their focus was on curved screens and super-thin phone bodies. But customers were not happy. This strong negative reaction made Samsung bring both features back for the S7 series. They managed to do it while keeping the curved screens and slim designs.
Not long ago, Samsung even presented the Z Fold line as a "Note-like productivity powerhouse." They marketed it as a serious tool for photo editing and AI tasks like Circle to Search and Generative Edit. To make this point even clearer, the S Pen only worked on the larger main screen, not the smaller cover screen. This was to push the idea of creating on the go. After all, our phones travel everywhere with us.
It’s important to note that the Fold 7’s main screen uses the same materials as older models. This means there’s no technical reason why S Pen input should suddenly stop working. The Fold line never had top-tier cameras. Instead, the focus was on users creating content with their own art. Samsung even worked with illustrators, painters, and designers to show off what the Fold could do. Photo editing was a bonus, and Galaxy AI only added to these creative possibilities.
All things considered, this move is confusing. The Fold 7 is already expensive, starting at €2,169. It might not be popular to ask for another 50 or 100 euros for an S Pen, but it was always an optional choice. Taking it away completely feels like a punishment and a mystery. And after Samsung itself mocked Apple for its approach to styluses, this decision feels ironic.
Does the S Pen Have a Future?
Earlier this year, Samsung removed Bluetooth features for the S Pen on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. They claimed only one percent of previous Ultra users actually used those features. This meant no more remote camera shutter, among other things. What are the chances these features will return in 2026?
Could this be a similar situation? Fold devices don’t sell anywhere near as much as Samsung’s more common phones, like the S25 Ultra. So, maybe a tiny percentage of an already smaller group of customers buying the S Pen as a separate accessory is the reason. Were S Pen sales for Fold models poor or declining? Samsung isn’t saying. But if pen input comes back on a very thin Fold 8, then we’ll know how much portability and sales really mattered.