Samsung has just announced its Galaxy S25 series including the all-singing, all-dancing S25 Ultra, its most expensive non-foldable Android phone. Though it’ll set you back at least a cool £1,249, at first glance that looks like a good deal.

That’s because it’s exactly the same price as 2024’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, so on paper you’re getting the latest and greatest Samsung Ultra phone for the same price. The upgrade to a more rounded design, a beefier Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy chipset, new One UI 7 software and 50MP ultra-wide camera (vs 12MP on the S24 Ultra) seem like solid upgrades on last year’s phone.

But Samsung has quietly downgraded one aspect of the S25 Ultra that could bug Galaxy fans. The S Pen stylus that comes with the new phone and lives inside it when not in use no longer offers Bluetooth support, meaning it can do fewer things than the one nestled in the S24 Ultra.

This includes ‘Air Actions’ that let you use gestures with the S Pen to control music, take photos remotely using the S Pen’s button, scroll through photos using swipes, or launch apps. Samsung reportedly says it decided to take these features out as only a small fraction of Ultra buyers ended up using them on older phones, but it still represents a downgrade for the S25 Ultra.

It could be that Samsung decided to remove Bluetooth from the S Pen to keep the cost of the phone at £1,249, but it also makes the device a tiny bit lighter overall without the Bluetooth components.

But as spotted by TechRadar, Samsung appears set to offer a Bluetooth S Pen to S25 Ultra owners who want it, the catch being they will have to stump up extra cash for the privilege.

“The Bluetooth-enabled S Pen (now sold separately) acts as a remote control within select apps to help maximise productivity”, freelancer Daniel Gordon wrote on Samsung’s official Insights blog.

“Simply press the button on the side of the pen to activate the Air Actions menu and view all the available gestures. Whether taking selfies to promote your business on social media, using your phone on a tripod for a campaign photo shoot, or starting and stopping a video, S Pen’s gesture capabilities in the Camera app make it easier.”

Gordon also describes circling the S Pen in the air to zoom in and swiping up and down to switch cameras in the camera app. He said it can also be used to advance PowerPoint presentations.

Yet all of these advanced features that worked with the S Pen provided with the S24 Ultra do not work on the S25 Ultra’s S Pen. The Bluetooth-enabled S Pen is now sold separately, but at the time of writing it does not appear to be listed for sale on Samsung’s UK website.

A regular S Pen for the S25 Ultra is listed as a replacement accessory in case you lose the one that came with your phone, retailing for £49.99. It remains to be seen just how much the Bluetooth S Pen will cost, but we imagine it’ll be more.

Given the minimal upgrades the S25 Ultra offers over the S24 Ultra, it’s a shame that Samsung has opted to leave out Bluetooth from the S Pen because it claims no one used them, only to then publish a blog promoting the handy features you won’t be able to use unless you pay more for a Bluetooth S Pen.