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During the launch of the Galaxy S21 series last year, Samsung announced support for the S Pen on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. While the Galaxy S22 is slated to come with a built-in S Pen slot, Samsung had also announced it would be launching an S Pen Pro sometime later in 2021 that would bring additional functionality to the S Pen. After not hearing about it in months, Samsung finally launched the S Pen Pro alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Galaxy Z Flip 3 at its Unpacked event. Since the Note line-up has now been officially discontinued, the S Pen Pro can be a great accessory for people who take notes or sketch on their device. If you're one of them and are planning to pick up the new S Pen Pro, here's everything you need to know about it.
S Pen Pro: Price
The Samsung S Pen Pro is a universal tool that can be used across multiple devices and comes with some nifty features that make it pricier than the regular S Pen that Samsung offers. The S Pen Pro will be available to purchase for a price of $99. While it's higher compared to the normal S Pen, you get additional features that can make it worth it depending on your kind of usage and requirements.
Samsung S Pen Pro
The S Pen Pro is a premium stylus from Samsung that works with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and a few other Samsung tablets and laptops.
Release Date
The S Pen Pro, just like most products announced at the Unpacked event will go on sale starting August 27th. This is several months after Samsung first revealed the S Pen Pro. If you've been waiting all this time to pick one up, it's finally time to do so.
S Pen Pro: Specs and Features
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 has a separate Wacom layer underneath the screen that allows users to use a universal stylus like the S Pen Pro (though there are good reasons why you should stick with Fold-compatible styluses with the Fold). The keyword here for the purposes of the S Pen Pro is a universal stylus.
The S Pen Pro is going to be compatible not only with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 but also with other Samsung devices that have a special digitizer on the display that supports stylus input. This includes the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+, Galaxy Book, and future Galaxy devices as well. The S Pen Pro can operate at two different frequencies which makes it compatible with older as well as newer devices. The conventional S Pen from the Note series operates at a different frequency which is unsupported by newer devices like the Z Fold 3.
The S Pen Pro has a 0.7mm precision tip with 4,096 pressure points. Artists and graphic designers will appreciate this fact since more pressure points mean better precision and control while using the S Pen Pro. The stylus has been designed in a way that it can be used on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 without damaging the screen, as the tip will retract back into the casing of the device if you apply too much pressure.
Unlike the older S Pen that Samsung launched with the Galaxy S21 Ultra or the S Pen Fold Edition, the Pro has Bluetooth connectivity. It connects to your phone and gives you extra controls along with features like on-screen gestures, air gestures, and even the ability to connect to multiple devices at once and switch between them seamlessly. There's also onboard memory on the stylus which will allow you to copy something on one device and paste it on another device. This is something that will surely improve your workflow. The S Pen Pro charges via a USB-C port, so you can just use the cable that came with the phone/tablet to charge the stylus as well.
Size and Weight
The S Pen we've been seeing through the years with the Note series has been relatively small and could easily fit into the body of the phone itself. While the S Pen Fold Edition is similar to that, without the ability to be stored inside the phone, of course, the S Pen Pro is considerably larger. It resembles a typical writing instrument like a pen and is not really meant to be stored along with the phone.
The S Pen Pro weighs in at 14g compared to the 8g on the Fold Edition stylus. Samsung will also sell a case that can house the S Pen Fold Edition but there's nothing like that for the Pro version since it's bigger. It can however magnetically attach to some devices.
S Pen Pro: Compatible Devices
The S Pen Pro is compatible with a host of devices from Samsung including some older smartphones, tablets, and notebooks.
The top portion of the S Pen Pro has a mechanical switch that lets you toggle between two different modes or frequencies. The first mode is the Fold mode where the S Pen Pro switches to a certain frequency that's required to use it on the Galaxy Z Fold 3. It also makes the tip retractable so it's softer on the display. The other mode is used for all other devices mentioned above that support the stylus.
Samsung S Pen Pro
The S Pen Pro is a premium stylus from Samsung that works with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and a few other Samsung tablets and laptops.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is Samsung's latest foldable phone which has support for the S Pen.
If you're a digital artist or take down a lot of notes, and you own a Galaxy Tab/Book from Samsung that supports the S Pen Pro and you're also getting the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the S Pen Pro might prove to be beneficial to you. If you're just going to be getting the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and don't have any of the other devices, the Pro version might be overkill for you and you should be just fine with a standard Fold version S Pen. You can check out our full review of the S Pen Pro in case you want to know more about it and if it's actually useful for you.