The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s S Pen features an unexpected downgrade

Summary

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra lacks Bluetooth in S Pen, losing Air Actions functionality.
Samsung claims few users utilize Air Actions with the stylus.
Despite the S Pen no longer needing a battery or charging, dropping Bluetooth is a significant drawback.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is finally here. While Samsung’s new flagship smartphone offers a few notable new features like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, a personalized AI, and a rounded-off design, there’s one downgrade that’s gone under the radar — the smartphone’s S Pen doesn’t feature Bluetooth.

What does this mean? The stylus doesn’t work with Air Actions, including using the S Pen to launch apps, control music, scroll through photos, or act as a camera shutter button. While this won’t matter to everyone, it’s still a perplexing move on Samsung’s part.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The highest-end variant of Samsung’s flagship smartphone lineup for 2025, the S25 Ultra ships with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, a massive 6.9-inch display, and a quad camera setup.

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The Galaxy S25 series is very similar to the S24 – unless you’re into AI

As far as smartphone updates go, Samsung’s Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra are incredibly incremental.

Why would Samsung ditch Bluetooth for the S Pen?

The company claims not many people used Air Actions

Unfortunately, ditching Bluetooth removes a lot of functionality from the S Pen, turning it back into a relatively straightforward stylus. According to Samsung (via TechRadar), not many people used Air Actions, and the Galaxy Watch and the Galaxy Ring can accomplish many of the same functions. This ignores the fact that most people probably don’t own both the Galaxy Watch and a Galaxy Ring alongside the S25 Ultra, of course.

Since it no longer features a battery, you don’t have to worry about charging it.

While this is probably true, it’s still a pretty substantial downgrade, especially if you’re a Galaxy S24 owner. I know several Note and now Ultra fans who use the S Pen to move between slides in presentations. I’ve never been an S Pen user, so this doesn’t change my day-to-day functioning, but I can see why it’s a frustrating move for those faithful to Samsung’s stylus.

On the other hand, there are a few benefits to ditching Bluetooth from the S Pen. First, since it no longer features a battery, you don’t have to worry about charging it. It’s also quite a bit lighter than the S24’s stylus.