I’ve been using the new Galaxy S26 Ultra for nearly a week, and it’s the first “Ultra” phone from Samsung I’ve ever tested. Despite using Samsung phones for half a decade, Ultra and Note models have proven elusive. This became my first run-in with the S Pen as a result, and boy was I excited. It’s rare to see a novelty smartphone feature in 2026, and a siloed stylus certainly falls into that category. Truthfully, Samsung delivered. The S Pen is fun to use and could seriously improve productivity for some users.
I’m not one of them, but that’s not why I’m ready to give the S Pen up. After all, smartphones are designed for millions, not for any one person. There are always features catering to one type of user versus another, and that’s fine. In this case, the issue is what the Galaxy S26 Ultra gives up to include the S Pen. We could have a bigger battery or inbuilt Qi2 support on the Galaxy S26 Ultra instead of a siloed S Pen, and I think those features would be more valuable to the average user than a stylus.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra has two new features I actually want on every phone
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is the best new phone from the brand with two especially exciting features you’ll want to try right away.
I tried the S Pen, and I actually loved it
As far as novelty phone features go, this one is absolutely awesome
Let’s start by reviewing the state of the S Pen on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. It’s complicated, because I like the idea of jotting down quick notes on my smartphone with a stylus. However, I rarely find myself pulling out the S Pen instead of simply typing a thought in my notes app of choice. The glide of writing with the S Pen on the Galaxy S26 Ultra is incredibly satisfying, and it’s the most accurate stylus I’ve ever used. I’m someone with terrible handwriting, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s S Pen is the first that’s accurate and ergonomic enough to make my scribbles legible.
That said, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the S Pen on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S26 Ultra is significantly underpowered compared to its predecessors. With last year’s Ultra model, the S Pen lost its Bluetooth functionality, which was crucial for certain features. Previously, you could use Air Actions to control your Galaxy S24 Ultra and earlier S Pen models remotely. There were Air Actions for camera controls, media playback, and device shortcuts. This was incredible functionality, because even if you didn’t use the S Pen for drawing or writing, it still provided value.
When Samsung removed the Bluetooth features from the S Pen with last year’s edition, the entire value proposition changed. Now, if you don’t use the S Pen regularly for annotating, the stylus provides little else while taking up crucial space inside your smartphone. To Samsung’s credit, the S Pen software is still stellar, providing quick shortcuts to Samsung Notes, AI Select, and more features when you remove the stylus. It just might not be enough to justify the space the S Pen uses.
Qi2 and MagSafe are secretly breaking the S Pen
Strong magnets in certain Qi2 accessories interfere with the stylus
Samsung made the call to avoid adding Qi2 to the Galaxy S26 series for yet another year — even at a time when Google brought it to the Pixel 10. For those unaware, Qi2 or MagSafe uses inbuilt magnets to connect with chargers and accessories, like phone wallets, grips, stands, and more. Phones that don’t have magnets inside can still use a specification called “Qi2 Ready” to deliver the charging features of Qi2 without the full hardware support. So, you can buy a case with Qi2 and MagSafe to effectively add the feature to your Samsung Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Plus, or Galaxy S26 Ultra.
As long as you can live with the bulk of using an extra case (and the camera lens placement that can obstruct MagSafe accessories), Qi2 Ready works fine on the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus. For the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the situation is much more complicated. That’s because the S Pen uses electromagnetic resonance (EMR) technology to connect with your phone. Essentially, the Galaxy S26 Ultra screen has a digitizer that creates a low-power magnetic field to track the S Pen’s movement. Throw on a MagSafe case or accessory, and the magnets inside those products can interfere with the EMR tech used to power the S Pen.
Not every Qi2 case or accessory will break the S Pen. In fact, many cases will work just fine with the S Pen until an accessory is snapped on the back. That’s because accessories like chargers, wallets, and stands typically have stronger magnets than the one inside your case, which causes more interference. This isn’t a hypothetical; it’s a problem Samsung warns users about with a push notification that reads as follows:
Magnetic accessories may block S Pen: The magnetic accessories attached to this phone may block or interfere with your S Pen. Tap to learn more.
There’s also a pop-up that may appear when using certain accessories with a more specific S Pen warning:
Magnetic accessories can interfere with your S Pen: The magnets in accessories can interfere with the signals your S Pen sends to your phone. They may cause your S Pen to not write correctly or cause Air commands to occur unintentionally.
In other words, it feels like Samsung chose the S Pen over Qi2 support for the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Many smartphone features aren’t mutually exclusive — we can, and should, ask for multiple. This case is out of the ordinary. The S Pen and Qi2 support are inherently at odds, since the technology powering them interferes with one another. We can’t have both, and if I had to pick just one, I’d leave the S Pen behind.
The S Pen is great, but at what cost?
I’d use Qi2 daily, and I simply don’t use the S Pen as much
To be clear, I’d really love to keep both the S Pen and add Qi2 support to the Galaxy S26 Ultra. That just isn’t in the cards unless Samsung completely redesigns the technology powering the S Pen. And if it’s between the S Pen and Qi2, I’m taking magnetic connection with chargers and accessories every single time. Or, a bigger battery — the Galaxy S26 Ultra has the same 5,000mAh capacity as the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The point is, while I love the idea of the S Pen, it’s coming at the expense of more valuable features.
- SoC
-
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- Display
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6.9-inch Dynamic Super AMOLED 2X
- RAM
-
12 or 16 GB
- Storage
-
256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
- Battery
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5,000 mAh
- Operating System
-
Android
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra earns its “Ultra” moniker in every sense of the word, down to the novelty S Pen feature. There’s a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset and a quadruple-camera rear system. But the S Pen does come at a cost, and it’s reasonable to wonder whether it’s worth it.
