Smartphones killed the stylus, that in the 2000s used to be the most common tool used to interact with phones or handhelds sporting a touch interface, and usually powered by the Palm or Windows CE operative systems. iPhones introduced the concept that you don’t need a stylus, just your fingers, to use a touchscreen. A powerful concept that suited the needs of the most but wasn’t wholly satisfying. With a stylus, you can write or draw better than with your index finger, and with display size getting larger and larger year after year, sometimes it’s a pity if you can’t just take handwritten notes on your smartphone. Meanwhile, in more recent years, a pen has become a familiar companion to tablets and Windows 10 users.

Samsung introduced one of its most representative products, the Galaxy Note, back in 2011: it was soon nicknamed as a “phablet”, the first of a category of smartphones larger than the norm back then, but paradoxically still smaller than most of current days “normal “smartphones. The first Galaxy Note sported a 5.3” AMOLED display, and – most important – included a stylus, the S Pen, which the user could store inside the device. For a decade, the Note has been the only pen-enabled smartphone in the Samsung portfolio. The whole Note interface has evolved around its stylus, providing a unique experience with a custom interface. The S Pen itself stands today as an evolution of the original: you can still use it to take notes and interact with the device in various ways, also using it as a remote to take a selfie and more. And that’s why Samsung Galaxy Note has become the ultimate digital pocket notebook, loved by many creatives and professionals around the world. At the core of this unique user experience lies the ultra-powerful Samsung Notes app. 

Most probably, we’ll see the S Pen aboard an upcoming Galaxy Fold, where it would be advantageous. For now, Samsung has extended for the first time its use to a smartphone that’s not the Note: S21 Ultra 5G is the new hyper-premium device in the Galaxy lineup, with a 6.8” AMOLED display and a 108MP camera, and it was launched along with the new Galaxy S21 and S21+ smartphones. Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G integrates the S-Pen experience, letting the user to take fully advantage of the Samsung Notes suite. With the phone also comes an optional case designed to store the S Pen, but – not enabling a Bluetooth connection with it – it lacks the remote functions that you can find aboard the Galaxy Note 20.