‘S-Pen stylus on Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is optional accessory’

The S-Pen stylus becomes an optional accessory on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra that users must store in a custom phone case. This is evident from information that the German site WinFuture has put online.

There is no space in the housing for the stylus, WinFuture claims. The site will publish an entire specsheet and a series of marketing renders of Samsung’s upcoming high-end smartphone on Friday afternoon. Much of it was already known from earlier rumors. It was already clear that the stylus would work, but how was still unknown.

The screen has a Wacom digitizer to register input from the S-Pen, but users will have to purchase the stylus separately. There will be cases to store the pen when not in use. That’s different from how the S-Pen works in Galaxy Note phones; those telephones have a place in the housing. WinFuture does not mention it, but it is possible that the S-Pen for the S21 Ultra works passively because of this; storing it in a case reduces the chance that it can be charged wirelessly, something that is now happening in recent Galaxy Note models.

The screen of the S21 Ultra should reach 1600 candela per square meter, which is higher than the 1200 candela per square meter that the manufacturer claims for the current S20 Ultra. This is especially useful when displaying HDR footage. The resolution remains at 3200×1440 pixels and the refresh rate is adjustable, from 1 to 120Hz.

According to WinFuture, the European version of the phone will get an Exynos 2100-soc from Samsung itself, while the American version will have a Snapdragon 888 from Qualcomm. How the two relate to each other is not yet known. Samsung is rumored to present its S21 phones on January 14th. The S21 Ultra will cost at least 1399 euros according to WinFuture.

S21 Ultra, source: WinFuture

* Based on rumors