Samsung found a new way for you to insert the Galaxy S26 Ultra's S Pen backwards

How much longer is Samsung going to stick with the S Pen? Ever since the retirement of the Note series, Samsung’s stylus solution has felt like it’s on borrowed time. We’ve seen support continue with Galaxy S Ultra flagships, but the Fold 7 launching without S Pen support felt like a major slight. While those long-term prospects are still up for debate, Samsung’s giving the S Pen some fresh attention for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and that means a new design element with a possibly annoying little quirk.

Time was, Samsung had a big S Pen problem: users kept inserting the stylus backwards. And back in the days of the Galaxy Note 5, putting your S Pen in the phone backwards could actually damage your hardware, or even get the pen stuck inside. Eventually, Samsung redesigned the S Pen storage area such that you couldn’t fit it in backwards at all.

Today we’re also thinking about S Pen orientation, although this time along a different axis. Last year, with the S25 Ultra, the end of the stylus opposing the tip was flat. But now with the S26 Ultra, Samsung has given this end of the S Pen a curve to match the phone’s frame.

The problem is — at least if you’re not aware of it — that there’s no system in place to prevent you from inserting the S Pen rotated the wrong way around its long axis. And if you do that, you’re going to have this little corner poking out the side of your phone’s frame, looking and feeling all sorts of wrong.

Either this is the sort of thing that’s never going to bother you, or you’re going to obsess over getting it right each and every time you put your S Pen away.

The good news is that this new mistake is a harmless one to make — you’re not going to break anything by putting the S Pen in your phone turned around the wrong way.