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Samsung’s Galaxy S22 is coming – here’s what we know
Samsung’s next flagship release is just around the corner.
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It’s almost the end of the year, which means we’re not far away from the release of next year’s Samsung Galaxy S range. The popular Android flagships always showcase the best of Samsung, in a more traditional form factor to the company’s foldables.
That means the best cameras, the best screens, and the best (and most powerful) CPUs. It also means the best of Samsung’s design team, with a price tag to match.
Here’s what we know already about the new Galaxy S22 range, as well as some of the things we would like to see from the next offering from Samsung.
Price and release date
Samsung is among the first to release any devices in any given year. We don’t expect that to change in 2022. Last year’s Galaxy S21 range was announced in mid-January before we’d even worked off our New Year’s hangover.
This year leaks from Jon Prosser say the Galaxy S22 Unpacked event won’t be until the beginning of February. That’s possibly because of the global supply chain issues that affect everything right now. The delay could also be because the Galaxy S21 FE is still to be announced. We feel Samsung will want to release that before the new flagship range.
READ MORE: Samsung will let you preorder its new Galaxy phones before they’re even announced
We’ve not seen any pricing leaks yet. That could mean similar pricing to the Galaxy S21 range. That would make the base Galaxy S22 start at $799, and the Galaxy S22 Plus start at $999.
The flagship of flagships, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, might be more than last year’s $1,199 starting price as it comes with some new features.
Models and design notes
Samsung likes to have three devices in the Galaxy S range. We expect that to continue, with the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Plus, and Galaxy S22 Ultra. All three are usually built on a common hardware core, with things like the resolution of the display and the number of cameras differentiating the models.
This year, we’re expecting one more differentiator. That’s the Galaxy S22 Ultra gaining the ability to not only use the S Pen, but also to store it inside the body of the device. That change also means the Galaxy Note range won’t be appearing in 2022, with the S22 Ultra becoming its spiritual successor.
It seems the earlier real-life leaks of the S22 Ultra are true, as @hypark22 recently shared some images of a dummy unit on Twitter. Expect a device that looks more like the outgoing Galaxy Note 20. The camera bump is also different from the other two S22 models, with individual lenses coming out of the back instead of a full camera bump.
The last leak of 2021 came courtesy of @evleaks, with what appears to be an official render of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. That render corroborates the earlier leaked dummy device, which is a very Note-like set of dimensions. That’ll be handy with the S Pen, giving users all the space they need to scribble notes.
Leaked renders of the devices, courtesy of Onleaks and Zouton, show similar designs to this year’s Galaxy S21 range. The camera bump is almost identical on the S22 and S22 Plus to the existing S21 counterparts.
Serial leaker @OnLeaks also got into the act, with a Twitter video showing dummy devices for all three options.
The video clearly shows that all three devices have at least three cameras, and was corroborated by a video from Unbox Therapy that has since been delisted. Not before 9To5Google grabbed some screenshots though.
The Galaxy S22 will likely have a polycarbonate back, with the Galaxy S22 Plus sporting a glass back. The other thing to note is that the screen is rumored to be slightly smaller than the current S21, which is good news to those who prefer a smaller device.
A new leak seems to confirm that smaller screen, with a specs sheet for the Galaxy S22 and S22 Ultra showing a 6.1-inch screen for the base model, and a huge 6.8-inch for the Ultra model. WinFuture confirmed those sizes, and also the pixel count.
The 6.1-inch screen in the Galaxy S22 will be 2340 x 1080 pixels, at a 120Hz max refresh rate. The 6.8-inch Galaxy S22 Ultra will have a 3,080 x 1,440-pixel count, and the same 120Hz max refresh rate. The middle device, the Galaxy S22 Plus, will have a 6.6-inch screen, with the same 2340 x 1080 pixel count as the S22.
Performance, camera, battery
Samsung always puts the most powerful CPUs it can find into the Galaxy S range. That’s the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon for the U.S. market, and their own Exynos chips for the rest of the world. More specifically, it means the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 for the U.S. market and the Exynos 2200 for everyone else. Expect those flagship chips to bring Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, and all the 5G bands.
The leaked renders look like the camera modules haven’t changed in design. The hardware inside should be changing with Samsung’s new 50MP sensor replacing the 12MP primary camera on the S22 and S22 Plus. The S22 Ultra will most likely retain the 108MP main sensor and the periscope camera from the S21 Ultra.
The S22 Ultra is also rumored to get a 12MP ultra-wide lens, a new 10MP Sony sensor for 10x optical zoom, and another 10MP Sony sensor for 3X optical zoom. Expect a 40MP selfie camera on the S22 Ultra, and 10MP selfie cameras on the S22 and S22 Plus.
All signs point to a smaller battery this year in the Galaxy S22, as the chassis and screen are smaller. Battery capacities on the other two devices in the range should be similar to this year’s S21 counterparts. A leaked 45W charger for the S22 Ultra might point to faster charging, up from the 25W max that the S21 Ultra tops out at.
Thanks to WinFuture, we’re expecting a 3,700 mAh battery for the S22, a 4,500 mAh battery for the S22 Plus, and a 5,000 mAh battery on the S22 Ultra.
Samsung is also going all-out with the Galaxy S22 Ultra for specs. According to SamMobiles, at least one variant of the flagship will come with 1TB of storage. That’s the first time Samsung has put that much storage into any phone since the Galaxy S10+. The only drawback of that huge internal storage amount? The handset won’t come with expandable storage.
Our wish list
Samsung’s flagships are consistently good but they could always be better. We’d like to see Samsung treat the base S22 as the premium device it is and put a glass back on it.
We’d also like to see faster charging than previous devices, which is inexplicably capped at 25W on the S21 Ultra. Some more striking color options would also be nice, away from the shiny pastels Samsung is known for.
That’s all we know about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S22 range so far. We’ll likely see more leaks in the next month or two leading up to the Samsung Unpacked launch event. As always, we’ll update this page as we hear more.
Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
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