The Galaxy Note has become synonymous with the S Pen, but Samsung might be planning to make the stylus available for more than one device in the future.
That’s according to a new Samsung patent published earlier this week, showing a smartphone cover with a built-in S Pen. The stylus is housed in the bottom corner of the case — which is where it is found on the Galaxy Note 5 — for quick access.
Housing the S Pen inside a cover would give users the ability to pull it out whenever necessary, without having to carry it around like an accessory. It also signals that Samsung might be interested in making the S Pen available on more devices.
Samsung would not be not the first company to bundle a stylus with a case, though the S Pen is a bit more than your average third-party stylus. It was specifically made for the company’s Note lineup, and it works with a number of cool software features and apps on the phone.
However, the digitizer built into the display of the Galaxy Note is a feature that’s not available on most other Samsung devices. In order for the S Pen to work on other devices, Samsung would have to add the same technology to its other smartphones. That might be something it is considering, if it plans to make the two-in-one smartphone cover stylus more than just a patent.
Patents are never conclusive evidence of an upcoming product, especially from a company like Samsung, which files thousands of patents every year. Samsung was awarded the most patents after IBM in the United States last year, so you can imagine how many of those end up serving no purpose.
