Our poll came before Samsung clarified the S Pen confusion and it seems you weren’t too interested in Bluetooth either way.
By Matt Horne • January 28, 2025
The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series has largely gone smoothly, but there’s been a bit of confusion over the last few days about the whole S Pen situation for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. What was clear the whole time is that, unlike the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the latest model doesn’t come with a Bluetooth S Pen. We can live with that, but then a Samsung story on its own Insights blog late last week claimed an external Bluetooth S Pen would be compatible. We wondered how you felt about paying extra for an upgraded S Pen for your Galaxy S25 Ultra and ran a poll to find out.
Now, for full context, we launched this poll prior to the statement Samsung gave Android Authority that the blog post was inaccurate and that the Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn’t support any Bluetooth S Pen. This makes the results of the poll somewhat hypothetical since we were asking if you would buy something for your S25 Ultra that we now know isn’t an option for you to buy anyway. You can blame Samsung for that unclear messaging. Still, the results give us an interesting insight into how you feel about a Bluetooth stylus and whether you’d be prepared to fork out extra cash for one.
Would you buy a Bluetooth S Pen for the S25 Ultra?
Of the respondents to the poll who have ordered the Galaxy S25 already, more than half (52%) said that they wouldn’t buy a Bluetooth S Pen because it should have come with the phone. Remember, this was two days ago when it looked like Samsung was trying to milk buyers for a few extra bucks. That could be read as a majority wanting a Bluetooth S Pen, but it’s probably more accurate to say that those voters were just irked by the idea of the Bluetooth version existing but not being included as standard after they’d already spent $1,300 on the premium handset. Another 8% said they were happy with the included stylus.
Just under a quarter of respondents (24%) were ready to buy the now-hypothetical accessory separately, while another 16% would consider it depending on the price. So, we can still extrapolate from the results that even if you still had the option of buying a Bluetooth S Pen, only about 40% of people would be interested at all, with a good portion of those being put off if the price was too high.
Samsung downgraded the S Pen for this generation because it claimed associated features like air gestures weren’t particularly popular. It looks as if the brand may have been right about this, but you’ve also made it clear with your votes that it was a very unfortunate mistake for Samsung to then claim you could pay extra to get that version of the stylus. Many of us already feel like we’re being squeezed for enough cash.
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Matt Horne
Matt Horne has been a key member of the Android Authority team since 2017, helping readers find the best tech deals and covering pivotal sales events like Prime Day and Black Friday. Alongside his knack for finding bargains, Matt stays on top of breaking news and dives into tech’s most intriguing topics with guides and features that resonate with Android enthusiasts.
Now based in Mexico, Matt’s journey to tech journalism took an unconventional path — he was once a criminal lawyer in London, where his analytical skills and focus on fairness were honed. Outside of his journalistic life, he enjoys playing and watching soccer or cooking up a storm while listening to a podcast. A passion for travel has led to many an exciting trip, and is also what brought him to Latin American shores.
Matt has always been an Android acolyte, switching back and forth between the Samsung and OnePlus ecosystems. He’s currently sporting a Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus as his daily driver but has fond memories of his old Galaxy S5 — the option to switch out the battery for one of several spares was invaluable as he bounced between police stations and courtrooms in the UK. His old pair of Galaxy Buds Plus is still going strong after a few years, as is his JBL Flip 5 speaker, which has been on almost as many adventures as he has.
