Early Galaxy S26 Ultra hands-on video reveals bad news for S Pen fans

One of the most controversial Galaxy S25 Ultra changes last year was Samsung’s decision to remove Bluetooth from the S Pen. This meant that the stylus couldn’t be used as a remote shutter, presentation remote, or for a host of other wireless capabilities. Now, there’s bad news if you were hoping for Bluetooth to return.

Tech YouTuber and Twitter user Sahil Karoul purportedly bought a Galaxy S26 Ultra in Dubai ahead of launch for ~$3,268. He’s now posted a video which strongly suggests that the phone doesn’t have a Bluetooth S Pen. Check it out below.

The video shows Karoul repeatedly tapping the S Pen’s button while the stylus is a short distance away from the Galaxy S26 Ultra. However,  this seems to have no effect on the phone itself.

By contrast, I can confirm that tapping the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s S Pen button while holding it a few centimeters away from the phone “wobbles” the Air Command menu. You can also press-and-hold the button to enter the camera app, as well as double-tap the button to perform actions in certain apps. So it definitely looks like the upcoming Ultra phone lacks a Bluetooth S Pen.

In any event, you should probably hold on to your Galaxy S24 Ultra or earlier device if you simply must have this option. Otherwise, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is tipped to offer upgrades like the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset, 60W wired charging, and slightly better cameras.