Confirmed: Samsung changes Galaxy Note 5 internals to fix upside-down S Pen issue

Back around the time that the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 first went to market, a few unfortunate owners found that inserting the S Pen the wrong way around would result in a permanently jammed stylus. The culprit? The new clicky mechanism of the updated S Pen getting stuck on an internal switch designed to detect the pen's presence.

Now, following reports in the past day that a subsequent Note 5 hardware revision has fixed the problem, we've confirmed with Samsung that this is indeed the case.

"Samsung can confirm that the Note5 internal S Pen mechanism has been changed to avoid the issue caused by inserting the S Pen incorrectly," A Samsung spokesperson told Android Central. "As always, we recommend following proper instructions for storing the S Pen."

Of course there's still no way to tell whether your Note 5 has the updated internals — at least not without jamming the S Pen in there the wrong way around, or taking it apart. Nor is Samsung saying exactly when this hardware fix was first implemented. So for now, you're best off heeding Samsung's advice, and making sure your S Pen is docked pointy end first.

If you're using a Note 5, hit the comments and let us know if you've run into issues with your S Pen. For more background on the whole saga, hit the link below.

MORE: The sad, short, sorry saga of the Galaxy Note 5 S Pen

Alex Dobie
Executive Editor

Alex was with Android Central for over a decade, producing written and video content for the site, and served as global Executive Editor from 2016 to 2022.