October 13, 2024

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Galaxy S22: Our early impressions of Samsung’s $800 middle child

Samsung S22

The new Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus retain the same design aesthetic as last year’s S21 line.


Richard Peterson/CNET

With the release of the Galaxy S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra, Samsung cemented its flagship lineup for 2022. It was just a month ago when the South Korea-based phone maker launched the Galaxy S21 FE, a scaled-down, more affordable version of the Galaxy S21 (here’s how the S22 compares to the S21 FE). On Wednesday during a virtual Samsung Unpacked event, Samsung announced the three new phones — the Galaxy S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra — along with the Galaxy Tab S8.

Read more: Where to buy Galaxy S22: Preorder deals for Samsung’s newest phones

The new Galaxy S22 series brings a number of refinements and new features to the S22 and S22 Plus, but it isn’t a drastic change from the S21 series. In terms of design and brand legacy, the Galaxy S22 Ultra underwent the most changes and adopted the design and functionality of the Galaxy Note line, which had its last phone launch in 2020.

Read more: Galaxy S22 Ultra: Samsung’s $1,200 luxury phone fully replaces the Note

Galaxy S lineup prices compared

Phone Storage/RAM US price UK price AU price
Galaxy S21 FE 128GB/6GB $700 £699 AU$1,000
Galaxy S22 128GB/8GB $800 £590 converted AU$1,020 converted
Galaxy S22 Plus 128GB/8GB $1,000 £740 converted AU$1,400 converted
Galaxy S22 Ultra 128GB/8GB $1,200 £885 converted AU$1,680 converted

Essentially Samsung’s current S series puts the Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus in a strange middle-child situation. At $800, the regular Galaxy S22 is $100 more than the $700 Galaxy S21 FE, which, again, is just a month old. That makes choosing between the two a tough decision.

In terms of what’s new, the S22 and S22 Plus both get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip in the US and other markets where Samsung’s Exynos chip isn’t available. The battery on both phones shrinks somewhat, but since both phones are running OneUI 4.1 on top of Android 12, the smaller batteries might not mean a dip in battery life.


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The Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus retain a similar design to the S21 series with a camera bump that melts into the side. The S21’s two-tone color scheme (which I rather liked) is less flashy on the S22. On the whole the body is millimeters smaller which gives the phones a slightly boxy feel. The back of the phone is glass instead of plastic.

The displays still have a 120Hz high-refresh rate, but at 6.1 inches for the S22 and 6.6 inches for the S22 Plus, they’re a smidge smaller than their 2021 Galaxy predecessors. Both phones support 5G and have an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The S22 Plus also has ultrawideband support for things like Samsung’s Galaxy Tag Plus tracker.

In terms of cameras, the ultrawide, telephoto and selfie cameras are largely the same ones the S21 series had. The main camera now has a new 50-megapixel sensor instead of the 64-megapixel one found in the S21 and S21 Plus. That might seem like a step down, but in terms of image quality we’ll have to wait and see how it performs.

Samsung is touting improved low-light performance for both photos and videos and this is mainly due to processing. For photos, the entire S22 series uses a hybrid of pixel binning (combing multiple smaller pixels into a larger one) and high-resolution images to create photos with less image noise and better detail.

For video, Samsung is adopting something Apple does with the iPhone. In low-light situations it will automatically choose the ideal frame rate for the scene and can even change it while recording. The phones can also blend multiple exposures into a single video frame, which can help improve videos recorded in dimmer situations even more.

None of these upgrades seems out of the ordinary for a yearly phone release cycle. On paper the S22 and S22 Plus seem like respectable follow-ups to the S21 and S21 Plus. 

Check out the full specs of the Galaxy S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra below. For more comparisons, here are all the differences between the Galaxy S22 and the S21 (and the Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. the S21 Ultra), and how the Galaxy S22 stacks up to the iPhone 13 Pro and Pixel 6 Pro.

Specs: Samsung Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Plus, Galaxy S22 Ultra

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus Samsung Galaxy S22
Display size, resolution 6.8 inches; QHD+ 6.6 inches; FHD+ 6.1 inches; FHD+
Pixel density TBD TBD TBD
Dimensions (millimeters) 77.9×163.3×8.9mm 75.8×157.4×7.6mm 70.6x146x7.6mm
Weight (grams, ounces) 229g, 8.1 oz 196g, 6.9 oz 168g, 5.9 oz
Mobile software Android 12 Android 12 Android 12
Camera Quad camera with 108MP wide, 12MP ultrawide, dual 10MP telephoto lenses Triple camera with 50MP wide, 12MP ultrawide and 10MP telephoto lens Triple camera with 50MP wide, 12MP ultrawide and 10MP telephoto lens
Front-facing camera 40MP 10MP 10MP
Video capture 8K at 24fps, 4K at 60fps 8K at 24fps, 4K at 60fps 8K at 24fps, 4K at 60fps
Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
RAM/Storage 8GB RAM with 128GB internal storage 12GB RAM with 256GB internal storage 12GB RAM with 512GB internal storage 12GB RAM with 1TB internal storage 8GB RAM with 128GB internal storage 8GB RAM with 256GB internal storage 8GB RAM with 128GB internal storage 8GB RAM with 256GB internal storage
Expandable storage None None None
Battery/charger 5,000 mAh with up to 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging 4,500 mAh with up to 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging 3,700 mAh with 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging
Fingerprint sensor Yes, ultrasonic Yes, ultrasonic Yes, ultrasonic
Connector USB-C USB-C USB-C
Headphone jack None None None
Special features S Pen included, quad camera, ultrawideband location detection tech, 120Hz refresh rate screen Triple camera, ultrawideband location detection tech, 120Hz refresh rate screen Triple camera, 120Hz refresh rate screen
Price off-contract (USD) $1,200 $1,000 $800
Price (GBP) £885 converted £740 converted £590 converted
Price (AUD) AU$1,680 converted AU$1,400 converted AU$1,020 converted

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