Samsung has confirmed that it will be adding support for its S Pen stylus to more devices in the future. It was announced, during Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event on January 14th, that the new Galaxy S21 Ultra is the first Galaxy S smartphone to support the full feature set of the S Pen. The subsequent confirmation that support will be rolled out more widely begs the question of what other devices might be included.
The S Pen was introduced with the first Galaxy Note in 2011 and is now supported by a number of Samsung tablets and its Galaxy Book Flex 2-in-1 too. Unlike other styluses that simply give users a way to draw or write with more precision than a finger, the S Pen offers a variety of additional smart features. It can be used as a remote control for things like slideshows, to trigger a device to take photos or videos remotely, and to control a device with gestures in the air using its accelerometer and gyroscope. Much of its functionality is customizable, meaning users can set the gestures or buttons that trigger specific actions.
In a Q&A with Samsung Mobile executives about the Galaxy S21 series, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business TM Roh said, “We are committed to innovating new mobile experiences that flow seamlessly and continuously to make our consumers’ lives easier and better. We’ve made the bold decision to expand the S Pen experience to Galaxy S21 Ultra, and plan to expand the S Pen experience across additional device categories in the future.” The key thing to note here is that Samsung is not just talking about more devices, but more device categories.
What Other Samsung Devices Will Get S Pen Support?
We can safely assume that more Samsung smartphones and tablets will get S Pen support. The next iteration of the Galaxy S series of smartphones, beyond just the Ultra variant, is a good starting guess, but it may be that Samsung rolls it out to other smartphones it releases sooner than that. Similarly, we might expect to see the tablet lines that don’t yet support the S Pen gain support.
Perhaps most interestingly, though, would be the addition of support for Samsung’s Galaxy Book laptops. More widespread Galaxy Book support would bring definite benefits, such as annotating documents or webpages, controlling slideshows, and new navigation options. The Galaxy Chromebook, meanwhile, already comes with a standard stylus, but would also benefit from this additional sort of functionality offered by an S Pen. One other category that might be a possibility is Samsung’s Smart Monitors, which offer some computing functionalities on their own without the need for a computer that Samsung suggests can be used for work or educational purposes.
Sources: Samsung
