It was rumored that the Galaxy Fold2 will come with an S Pen but that didn’t happen.
The Elec quotes UBI Research, which says that Samsung will try again for the third generation foldable, though it may need to switch to a different technology.
The Galaxy Notes use Electro-Magnetic Resonance (EMR), which works with a passive stylus and is generally cheaper, with good accuracy and low latency compared to Active Electrostatic Solution (AES) styluses.
However, Samsung reportedly ran into issues with integrating the EMR digitizer with the Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) and making it flexible, which led it to drop the S Pen from the Fold2.
Unless these issues are resolved in time for the next model, the company will likely switch to AES, which predicts UBI Research.
Samsung Display changes its display panel technology for its foldable panel that will be supplied for Samsung Electronics’ foldable smartphone launching next year to accommodate the S Pen stylus, a South Korean research firm said.
Samsung Display will consider applying an active electrostatic solution (AES) to remove the digitizer needed to accommodate a stylus, UBI Research said. It was also considering changing the thickness of ultrathin glass used as cover windows on the panels, the research firm said.
Samsung currently uses electromagnetic resonance (EMR) to support stylus-use in its Galaxy Note series.
EMR requires a digitizer but increases touch sensitivity and doesn’t require a battery to placed within the stylus.
UBI Research believes Samsung dropped its plans to apply the S Pen onto its Galaxy Z Fold 2 due to durability issues of the ultrahigh glass and flexibility of the digitizer.
Unless Samsung’s vendor for EMR develops a solution that can help support a stylus, the conglomerate will likely apply AES technology, UBI Research said.
This will lead to the sensors on Y-OCTA becoming denser or the IC design becoming more complicated.
LG Display was also developing foldable technology with BOE using AES technology.
The ultrathin glass will also become thicker to 60 micrometers from the current 30 micrometers to make it endure the pressure from pen points.
The challenge will be to make the thicker glass more flexible, the research firm said.
UBI Research expects ultrathin glass to account for 78% of the cover windows used in foldable smartphones in 2025.
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