Samsung S Pen has become a run-of-the-mill stylus in the Galaxy S25 Ultra—Air action’s “magic wand” feature is gone

Samsung has reduced the functionality of the S Pen stylus for the Galaxy S25 Ultra compared to the stylus for the Galaxy S24 Ultra and other predecessors. The company removed the Air action feature, which allowed you to control your smartphone using gestures with a stylus. The function of remotely releasing the camera shutter by pressing a button on the body of the digital pen has also disappeared, writes The Verge.

Image source: samsung

On the eve of the presentation of the new Galaxy S25 series of smartphones, Samsung held a press conference, during which it explained that customers rarely used Air action gestures, so it was decided to abandon this feature. For the same reason, the function of remotely releasing the camera shutter using a stylus was also removed, which made it possible to reduce the cost of manufacturing the device to some extent.

However, the S25 Ultra’s starting price hasn’t dropped as a result, as Samsung believes there are more than enough other upgrades to the smartphone over its predecessor to keep the price the same at $1,299.99.

Apparently, Samsung believes that the palm gesture – when the smartphone recognizes a raised hand and automatically releases the shutter – is quite enough. The user will also be able to control the S25 Ultra’s camera using a connected Galaxy Watch. However, the less functional S Pen marks an unexpected regression for the flagship S25 Ultra model, which Samsung tried to equip with various functions as much as possible.