Major Samsung Z Fold 7 leak has no mention of S Pen stylus
Alex Walker-Todd / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Samsung’s Z Fold phones have supported its S Pen stylus in the past, even though the foldables could not internally store the pen.
- With the upcoming Fold 7, we’ve been hearing rumors of a new approach to the S Pen in general, though sources have disagreed on specifics.
- A last-minute leak of Fold 7 launch materials appears to make no mention of the S Pen, raising doubts about support.
We’ve got less than a day to go before Samsung executives take the stage at Unpacked to announce the company’s latest mobile tech. The past few months leading up to this launch have been jam-packed with leaks and rumors, giving us a very solid set of expectations when it comes to the new foldable phones and wearables we’re going to see introduced. But even at this incredibly late hour, new information is still emerging. Sometimes, though, it’s not the information you get, but the information that’s absent which ends up revealing the most.
Samsung’s long had a love affair with the stylus, and its S Pen found a home in Galaxy Note devices for years, before moving on to the Galaxy S Ultra family. And while the S Pen has also featured prominently on Galaxy Tab tablets, maybe its most surprising affiliation has been with the company’s foldables.
You might think that fragile foldable screens would be a non-starter when it comes to stylus support, but Samsung made it work. The biggest trade-off, really, was that we didn’t get a built-in spot to stow the stylus on Fold phones, and resorted to pairing the phone with stylus-friendly cases, instead, like you can see up top.
With this year’s Z Fold 7, however, we’ve been hearing for months rumors that Samsung could be planning something new for the S Pen. That’s included talk of new tracking technology that might result in a larger, powered stylus, as well as whispers of this new tech spilling over into the S26 Ultra. Really, though, it’s just been very confusing, and with S Pen rumors jumping all over the place, it’s been difficult to know what we should really expect.
Over on Blue Sky, prolific leaker Roland Quandt is dumping just an absurd amount of Samsung materials associated with this week’s launch, and that includes a healthy amount of Z Fold 7 content. From detailed spec sheets to high-level feature overviews, the resources paint an incredibly thorough picture of the Z Fold 7 and its hardware.
And there’s not a single mention of an S Pen.
With last year’s Z Fold 6, the S Pen received mention in Samsung’s launch announcement, with the company highlighting the phone’s “Sketch to image” AI functionality and showing off how the stylus complemented the foldable:
What does all this spell for the S Pen and the new Z Fold 7? We may not be able to say with any certainty ahead of Samsung’s announcement tomorrow, but we’ve got to say we’re certainly not feeling particularly optimistic about whatever the company is up to here.
