New leaks lay out where Samsung is taking the S Pen across its next tablets and phones, and the direction is a steady retreat. The Galaxy Tab S12 series, expected to debut shortly, won’t offer S Pen Bluetooth functionality, matching last year’s Tab S11 series and Samsung’s recent Ultra phones. The Galaxy S27 Ultra S Pen situation could be worse still, according to the same leak.
Tab S12 follows the Tab S11’s playbook
The Tab S12 leak isn’t a reversal so much as a continuation. Samsung already stripped S Pen Bluetooth pairing from the Tab S11 series and from its most recent Ultra-branded phones, so carrying that decision into the Tab S12 flagships keeps the lineup consistent rather than walking it back. The leak doesn’t spell out which specific features Bluetooth pairing enabled that owners will now lose; it only confirms the capability itself is gone from the new tablets.
Why the Galaxy S27 Ultra S Pen could fall further
The claim that the Galaxy S27 Ultra could be “even worse” than the Tab S12 on S Pen support arrives alongside a separate run of leaks about the phone’s hardware. High-resolution renders based on final CAD models show the S27 Ultra swapping Samsung’s familiar vertical camera island for a horizontal camera plateau that spans almost the full width of the phone’s rear, even though the cameras themselves sit off to one side, a layout lifted from Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. The frame edges are also said to be rounder, for an easier grip, alongside slightly narrower screen bezels on the separate S27 Plus model.
Below the Ultra, the newly leaked Galaxy S27 Pro shows how far Samsung is willing to strip the S Pen back. The Pro shares the Ultra’s design language and inherits its camera plateau, but skips the S Pen slot entirely, pairs a smaller 6.6-inch display with what Android Authority’s renders put at a 5,200mAh battery, and swaps the positions of the speaker grille and microphone hole. It’s pitched as a smaller, easier-to-handle alternative to the Ultra rather than a replacement for it.
What’s changed since our last look at the S27
We covered the early Galaxy S27 design split between the Ultra and Pro on 27 August, when the first renders suggested Samsung was pulling the two models apart. Since then, the Pro’s break from the S Pen has hardened from a design possibility into a confirmed omission, and the Tab S12 leak suggests the same retreat from S Pen features is playing out on the tablet side of the lineup at the same time. Taken together, the pattern points to Samsung treating full S Pen functionality, Bluetooth included, as an Ultra-tier exclusive rather than a feature it spreads across a family.
What to watch next
Samsung’s Galaxy S27 series is still roughly five months from launch, so none of this is locked in. The nearer test comes first: the Galaxy Tab S12 series is due to debut shortly, and its retail listing will confirm whether S Pen Bluetooth pairing is really gone before Samsung says a word about the phones.
