"Who wants a stylus?!": Galaxy Fold proves Steve Jobs wrong - the “useless” S Pen is now useful

When Samsung added a stylus to the 2011 Galaxy Note, people weren’t sure what to make of it. Another surprise element was the sheer size of the first Note.

In fact, when “phablets” started coming out, Steve Jobs was firmly against the idea, famously saying that “the best way to operate your smartphone is to use your finger” - hardly a hot take.

Fast forward to 2024, the Galaxy Note is the size of Samsung’s smallest flagship phone, the Galaxy S24.

Meanwhile, 17 years after the launch of the Note, the S Pen that accompanied Samsung’s iconic phablet is still around. And that’s pretty remarkable, considering how many hardware elements phone-makers got rid of in the past 17 years… While the S Pen kept surviving.

For instance, Apple killed the headphone jack and Touch ID; earbuds no longer have wires; memory cards are a feature you can only get in mid-range phones; Google killed a dozen projects it had started; and Samsung “killed” the Galaxy Note itself. Oh, and LG killed LG.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s stylus is still here, and although it took a while, I’m finally… for the first time… in 17 years… glad to say… the S Pen is sort of… useful!