Samsung has quietly fixed the Galaxy Note 5 S Pen issue

When the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 released back in August of last year, many were impressed with the new, modified S Pen it shipped with. Rather than utilizing a pull-to-detach approach, the stylus instead is spring-loaded and can be ejected by pressing it. Unfortunately, the new installation was not without a potential problem for those who might accidentally seek to stow the stylus in reverse. Samsung has now confirmed that it has quietly modified the design of the Note 5 to alleviate the unsuitable situation that might result.

Dubbed “Pengate” by some, the problem stems from the fact that the S Pen can technically be inserted the correct way (i.e. point first) or the opposite. In doing the latter, the pointing device would typically get stuck, which upon managing to wriggle it free, would invariably break an internal component necessary for detecting the when the stylus is and is not stowed inside. Previously Samsung had pointed out the customers should refer to the instruction manual’s usage indications, and even included a warning on the factory installed plastic that the device ships with covering the display.

Over the past day or so however, reports had been coming in which indicated Samsung changed things up inside the Galaxy Note 5, and now the Korean OEM itself has issued an official statement via a reply to Android Central:

“Samsung can confirm that the Note5 internal S Pen mechanism has been changed to avoid the issue caused by inserting the S Pen incorrectly…As always, we recommend following proper instructions for storing the S Pen.”

Unfortunately there is no information provided as to either what the fix is, or which model(s) have received it. It is assumed that new production runs feature the stylus solution, but until either Samsung itself specifies which territories/model variants have been altered, or what exactly has been altered, the only way to check would be to reverse insert, something that is absolutely not recommended under any circumstances.

Still, the fact that Samsung has clearly listened to customer’s complaints and made the minor change(s) necessary to prevent the detection mechanism from breaking is a welcome sign for those new customers who might inadvertently find themselves stuck with a potential problem.