For years, the Galaxy Ultra line has stood apart in the Android world, partly because of the S Pen. A built in stylus that adds genuine productivity flair to Samsung’s hardware. This legacy is expected to continue in the South Korean tech giant’s upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra. And in 2026, Motorola seeks to compete with its Moto Pen Ultra, its latest flagship stylus that pairs with both the Motorola Signature and Motorola’s current foldable lineup.

It brings fine-tipped precision, pressure sensitivity, and quick-access shortcut controls that make it perfect for taking notes, sketching, and annotation closer to what users expect from a flagship productivity device. Unlike Samsung’s S Pen, the Moto Pen Ultra isn’t built into the body of the phone; rather, it is sold separately. So Samsung does have an advantage of Samsung’s embedded stylus that adds to its day-to-day convenience. Still, Motorola’s approach lowers the barrier for bringing stylus support to a broader range of devices without the engineering overhead of an internal silo.’

Samsung’s Galaxy Ultra series has become the gold standard for Android flagships not just because of its top-tier specs, but because it combines those specs with a deeply integrated stylus experience. This is already a rarity in the market, and the S Pen is just a cherry on top of its premium experience. The S Pen is embedded inside the phone’s chassis, and software features like Samsung Notes, Live Messages, handwriting recognition, and Air Actions are widely supported across first- and third-party apps.

So you don’t have productivity workflows built around it. On top of that, Samsung pairs its hardware with years of refinement with low-latency stylus tracking, consistent creative workflows, and cross-device continuity with tablets and PCs. So it remains to be seen if Motorola can match or even iterate on this polished stylus integration.