During a media briefing on the new S25 series last week, Samsung explained that customers rarely ever used the “Air action” gestures. So the company decided to try and cut costs by ditching them entirely.

The Galaxy S25 is a tale of two AIs: Gemini and Bixby. Yes, while Google's Gemini AI assistant sits at the forefront—it can finally be triggered through a long press of the power button—Samsung is bringing its original Bixby voice assistant out from the shadows.

The S-Pen was introduced with the Galaxy Note series in 2011. Bluetooth was only added starting from Galaxy Note 9, unlocking the ability to tap the button on the pen to do certain tasks. On the Galaxy Note 10, more advanced “Air Actions” were brought in that allowed users to control the device remotely with the pen.