- According to rumors, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will drop Bluetooth support for the S Pen
- This would result in the S Pen not being able to control the S25 Ultra via gestures
- Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is scheduled for January 22nd and we expect official news about the S25 Ultra at this event
It's almost time for Samsung's annual Galaxy Unpacked event, where we'll almost certainly see the Samsung Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra unveiled.
Among other upgrades and improvements, we expect the S25 Ultra to replace the S24 Ultra as the only flagship phone on the market to ship with a stylus, specifically the S-Pen. However, a new rumor suggests that the S25 Ultra's S Pen may not be as powerful as the one that ships with Samsung's current-generation Ultra phone.
Tipster Ishan Agarwal shared a post on called.
Exclusive: According to retail sources, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's S Pen will no longer have Bluetooth! This means you will lose certain features like gestures and remote control. What do you think about this downgrade? #GalaxyS25Ultra pic.twitter.com/ASDKB06nsxJanuary 10, 2025
As Agarwal notes, a lack of Bluetooth support would result in the S Pen lacking gesture support and the ability to remotely control phone functions. With the S24 Ultra you can take photos and videos, open apps and navigate the interface with S Pen gestures.
The lack of Bluetooth could be a signal that the S Pen is becoming less important for Samsung, which would certainly be a shame for some. With the release of the S23 Ultra just two years ago, TechRadar's US phones editor Philip Berne wrote that the S Pen had “finally stood out enough to earn its nickname.”
Personally, I think the S Pen's Bluetooth support helps justify its inclusion in the Ultra series. Sure, by being built into the phone's body, the S Pen takes up a lot of internal space that could otherwise be used for cooling or a larger battery, but Bluetooth allows the average user to partially use the S Pen across supported devices Gestures.
This latest rumor goes against most current Samsung Galaxy S25 specs predictions, as it assumes a direct downgrade, albeit a niche one, for Samsung's new premium phone. Without Bluetooth, the S Pen would only function as a drawing or writing tool (which might be fine for some users, of course), but with this added gesture support, the average user has something to do with the Samsung Pen.
Other rumors about the S25 Ultra have focused on hardware upgrades – for example, we've heard that the phone may come with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, an improved camera system with a 50MP ultra-wide camera and a bit Its predecessor comes onto the market with a larger display.
With Galaxy Unpacked scheduled for January 22nd, we won't have to wait long to hear official information about Samsung's new phones. Stay tuned to our Samsung phones coverage for the latest updates.