“Writing is learning!” That’s a core belief my primary school headmistress instilled in me when she spoke to the class before the soon-to-follow series of tests. Over the last 20-plus years, I have diligently followed her wisdom, and writing has been crucial in distilling my thoughts.
This tendency also influences my inclination towards devices that let me use a pen-like contraption on digital screens — the Galaxy Z Fold being one of them. However, as Samsung introduces the newest foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is slimmer than ever, it makes one crucial change: dropping support for the S Pen, which leaves me heartbroken.
Did you use the S Pen on a Galaxy Z Fold foldable? 373 votes Yes, I use the S Pen on my Galaxy Z Fold daily, at least once a day. 57 % Yes, I use the S Pen on my Galaxy Z Fold frequently, about once a week. 22 % Yes, I used the S Pen on my Galaxy Z Fold occasionally, about once a month. 11 % I bought the S Pen but barely used it on my Galaxy Z Fold. 6 % I did not buy the S Pen and never used it on my Galaxy Z Fold. 5 %
Why S Pen support for Galaxy Z Fold 7 matters
Alex Walker-Todd / Android Authority
In the simplest of expressions, a Samsung Galaxy Fold is a Galaxy Tab that can be folded in half. Therefore, the removal of the S Pen from the Galaxy Fold 7 feels like stripping it of one of its key characteristics.
But the S Pen has been much more than a trivial trait in the Galaxy Fold’s identity. For over four generations, the Galaxy Fold has been the only book-style foldable — among those available globally — to support an active stylus. The S Pen, therefore, made the Galaxy Z Fold a more desirable outlier for people like me, even despite frustrating inadequacies like the awkwardly-shaped cover display on previous generations.
More than that, Samsung has always advertised the Galaxy Z Fold as a device for prosumers and go-getters who like to ace their workplace commitments while on the go. And the S Pen fit right into that depiction of productivity.
As it eliminates that possibility, Samsung risks upsetting that section of its target audience and potentially losing their Wall Street moolah.
But perhaps it doesn’t make sense for Samsung to cater to a small sub-section of the audience when it can gain another chunk of buyers by flaunting the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s razor-thin form factor. Perhaps that was the plan all along, and we got our first signals of the change last year.
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