This morning, Samsung has officially unveiled its new Samsung Galaxy S22 and Galaxy Tab S8 series. Focusing on the S22 smartphones, we’ll go over the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus models and the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which is the most powerful and technologically advanced of them all.
Galaxy S22 Ultra
The Galaxy S22 Ultra ($1199+) packs the most advanced mobile technologies, including a garaged Pen and Samsung’s best mobile camera.
The S22 Ultra has a massive 6.8-inch screen and features a different industrial design than the S22 and S22 Plus.
The chassis is more rectangular and reminiscent of the late Galaxy Note series, which the S22 Ultra effectively replaces. The chassis’ shape allows Samsung to carve enough internal space for the garaged pen.
The new camera module design is classy and innovative, featuring a plethora of powerful camera sensors in what I think is a great visual integration. It feels light and organic compared to bulky camera modules that have come to dominate the phone market. Samsung leads in industrial design here, and I bet that copycats will shortly follow.
The S22 ultra camera hardware seems very powerful based on the technical specifications. It is also backed by Samsung’s camera software that offers a very predictable camera user experience (UX), settings, and tuning across the whole line of Galaxy phones.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the new Primary camera sensor can do. The dual-telephoto lens is a substantial escalation and should offer excellent Portrait and Zoom capabilities.
As usual, the S22 ultra chassis is waterproof (IP-68 rated) and protected by a Gorilla Glass Victus Plus glass layer that is the “high-end” in this domain.
Finally, the color options are excellent, with dark grey, white, green, and burgundy. The colors choices show that Samsung expects a high sales volume because it is expensive to propose so many colors at a lower volume.
Below the surface, you’ll find a 5000 mAh battery with 45W fast charging. Although not the quickest charging, it’s pretty quick, and you can expect to have a 50% charge in 30mn.
On paper, the Galaxy S22 Ultra looks like a formidable Android phone and perhaps the best you can find at the moment. Now, keep an eye out for our full review.
Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus
Galaxy S22 Plus, in Black
The new Galaxy S22 (6.1-inch) and S22 Plus (6.6-inch) chassis now feature a glass and metal back cover, which looks more premium than last year’s materials.
Their respective size is the most apparent difference between these two models, so from a functional standpoint, they are interchangeable.
The other difference to look at is the battery size (3700 mAh vs. 4500 mAh), and the S22 Plus can charge a little faster with a 45W charger.
Both phones share the same camera system, with three cameras in the rear and one in the front. The camera capabilities have been improved over the Galaxy S21 and the Primary camera, in particular, looks very interesting, thanks to a new sensor and image stabilization.
The zoom telephoto uses a true optical zoom instead of a sensor crop, which should be appreciably better than last year.
We’ll quantify how better the camera is with our CAMERA HW benchmark, so stay tuned.
Common Galaxy S22 traits
All Galaxy S22 phones share a consistent “feature set” that is an excellent baseline, regardless of which handset you can afford.
If you come from another Samsung phone, you will also immediately find your footing. The company is highly consistent with its OneUI user interface (now at 4.1), and I know many users who stick with Samsung because of this. Samsung Pay is another stickiness factor.
We’ve described the two camera systems of the S22/S22 Plus and S22 Ultra, and we expect both to represent a substantial improvement over last year’s models at their respective price points. The S22 Ultra will be the best S22 shooter, and that’s the one to get if you are a photo enthusiast.
Samsung says that the Galaxy S22 phones will use “advanced 4nm processing”, which is a reference to the AP (Application Processor), also known as the SoC (system on chip).
From the U.S point of view, this AP description refers to the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, which we described in detail and benchmarked.
This Snapdragon chip is a remarkable product that’s undoubtedly the best option we’ve seen at the high-end in terms of computing & graphics power and worldwide connectivity options, including 5G and WiFi-6E.
Samsung features a 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED display on all three phones with ultra-fast touch sampling and blue-light protection. There’s an ultrasonic fingerprint reader underneath the screen.
Availability and launch deals
If you’re ready to get one of these phones, watch Samsung and carriers’ typical launch incentives. AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, US Cellular offer discounts/deals, and you can follow the links to see what they have to propose.
Samsung itself offers unlocked Galaxy phones and often has the best cash deals you’ll find on the market. I’m posting the U.S link, but check your regional Samsung website if you live abroad.
Offers range from free memory upgrades ($100 value) to Samsung credits ($200 value) to trade-in credits that could potentially save buyers hundreds of dollars if fully used.
In case you’ve missed the launch event, you can watch the replay here:
Filed in . Read more about Galaxy S22, Launches, Samsung and Samsung Galaxy.