The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 foldable has been announced with a slew of improvements, but one major feature has been dropped entirely.
While we’re digging the Fold 7’s new slimline design and improved camera, these upgrades appear to have come at a cost.
In what Samsung tells us is a space-saving measure, Samsung has dropped S Pen compatibility altogether.
Slim proposition
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 measures just 8.9mm thick when closed. That’s a huge improvement on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6’s 12.1mm.
We’re looking at a more than 26% reduction in thickness by our estimation (OK, by an online percentage-calculation tool).
This brings Samsung back into contention with the Oppos and Honors of this world. The Honor Magic V5, in particular, has been announced with an 8.8mm closed thickness, so the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is right on its tail.
Throw in a much improved camera system – the Galaxy Z Fold 7 adds the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s fabulous 200MP main camera to the package – and Samsung was looking at both drastically reduced internal space and a drastically increased bill of materials.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Something’s gotta give
Something had to give, and that something appears to be S Pen support.
In getting rid of the digitiser layer necessary to enable to Samsung’s stylus to operate on the display, Samsung has saved space, not to mention money. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 costs exactly the same as its predecessor here in the UK, which almost feels like a price cut in today’s economy.
To be fair, this move was somewhat predictable. Late last year, Samsung released the Galaxy Z Fold SE in its native South Korea. This Special Edition was essentially a thinned-out Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.
In order to get that skinny new form factor, Samsung had to drop S Pen compatibility from the package. The writing was on the wall for the S Pen from that point.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Goodbye S Pen, you’ll be missed (kind of)
To a certain degree, it’s disappointing to see S Pen compatibility stripped out. It’s never good to see features taken away rather than added, no matter how obsolete they may have become. Apple’s 3D Touch cull with the iPhone 11 still stings to this day.
There’s also a case to be made that Samsung’s S Pen makes more sense on the Galaxy Z Fold range than it does on the Galaxy S Ultra. It offers a much bigger canvas, after all, and we all know that styluses and tablets are a match made in heaven.
But when it’s in service of solving a fundamental flaw with a product’s form factor, it’s much easier to swallow. For many people, Samsung’s foldables were simply too unwieldy to be usable day to day.
Besides which, Samsung clearly has the data to hand, and S Pen compatibility clearly wasn’t a commonly used feature on the Fold range.
Of course, that may well have changed if the company had chosen to integrate the S Pen properly and bundled one in with every Fold, like with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. But it seems now we’ll never know.
