Samsung announces Galaxy S22, S22+, S22 Ultra at Unpacked 2022

Published Feb 10, 2022

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The Samsung Galaxy S22 series -- featuring S22, S22+ and S22 Ultra -- have officially been announced at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday.

As per GSM Arena, the Galaxy S22 and S22+ share the same chipset options. Depending on the market, you'll either get a 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, or a 4nm Exynos 2200 - both feature an octa-core processor with one Cortex-X2 core, three Cortex-A710 cores, and four Cortex-A510 ones. Both S22 and S22+ come in 8/128GB and 8/256GB configurations.

The cameras are also shared between the Galaxy S22 pair. The main one is the 50MP Samsung GN5 with a 1/1.57" imager with 1.0um pixels that binns to a 12.5MP final snap with 2.0um pixels.

There's also a 12MP 13mm ultrawide camera in front of a 1/2.55" 1.4um sensor without autofocus (sigh). There's a 3x zoom camera with a 10MP sensor, not the 64MP digital zoom unit of the predecessors. For selfies, the pair of S22's use a 10MP fixed-focus cam.

The Galaxy S22 now fits a 6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X that's brighter and smarter with its refresh rate. It can reach a peak brightness of 1,300 nits and can adapt its refresh rate between 10Hz and 120Hz (the S21 did 48Hz-120Hz).

Dropping 0.1" compared to the S21's display has allowed the Galaxy S22 to shave 5mm of length, 0.6mm width and 0.3mm thickness, but it weighs about the same.

Another notable difference is the move away from plastic with this year's S series. The rear panel of the S22 is all glass, Gorilla Glass Victus+ at that. In fact, all Galaxy S22 devices have Victus+ glass on all their panels.

Battery-wise, the Galaxy S22 has a smaller, 3,700mAh battery, compared to its predecessor's 4,000mAh. It charges at the same maximum rate of 25W.

The Samsung Galaxy S22+ has a bigger 6.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display that dynamically refreshes between 10Hz and 120Hz but achieves a higher 1750 nits of brightness.

The battery is bigger at 4,500mAh, with faster 45W wired charging. The S22+ also has Wi-Fi 6E, while the S22 only goes up to Wi-Fi 6.

Both new Galaxies come with Android 12 and OneUI 4.1 out of the box. They also have 5G on all their versions. They're IP68 waterproof, and use Samsung's ultrasonic fingerprint for biometric authentication.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ are available for pre-order starting today with actual shipments expected February 25. The S22 is euro 849 for the 8/128GB and euro 899 for the 8/256GB, while the S22+ is euro 1,049 for the 8/128GB and euro 1,099 for the 8/256GB, respectively.

The two phones come in Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green and Pink Gold across third party retailers, while additional Cream, Graphite, Sky Blue and Violet options will be available to those that order via Samsung.com.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone comes with the inclusion of the S Pen from the now-defunct Galaxy Note line.

As per GSM Arena, the Galaxy S22 Ultra features a design similar to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with a flattened front, back, top, and bottom with curved sides. One of the colours (Burgundy) even looks similar to the Mystic Bronze colour of the Note 20. Like that phone, the S22 Ultra also feature a more gently curved display. On the back is the new camera array in a similar arrangement to last year's S21 Ultra but without the large raised island around it.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra uses an aluminium frame and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both the front and the back. The phone as well as the S Pen are IP68 water and dust resistant.

The new integrated S Pen features an updated latency of 2.8ms and AI-based coordinate prediction technology. Samsung has also improved the handwriting to text feature and it now supports 88 languages.

The new Quick Note feature allows you to attach or link content in a Pop-Up note within Samsung's apps like Browser and Gallery. There's also a new Collaboration View feature that enables syncing between a Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Tab S8 Series. This lets you use the S22 Ultra to change your tools while drawing on the Tab S8.

The display on the S22 Ultra is similar to its predecessor. It's a 6.8-inch, 1440p Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate. Samsung claims a 240Hz touch sampling rate, 1,750 nits of peak brightness, and 100 per cent DCI-P3 coverage. The display also includes an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra features the same 108MP F/1.8 main camera as the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Next to it are a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera and a couple of telephoto snappers - 10MP F/2.4 3x and 10MP F/4.9 10x periscope

At the front, you get a 40MP F/2.2 selfie camera. What the company has done instead is introduce a new AI enhancement using the updated NPU to improve photo and video quality in low light as well as add new camera features.

One of the new features is Auto Framing. Using the ultrawide camera on the back, the phone is able to crop in and adjust the shot for the number of people in the frame. It can track up to ten people at once and will automatically zoom out when more people walk in. You can also manually zoom in or track one person in the group and the shot will be framed accordingly.

Samsung has also improved the portrait mode effect, which can now produce cleaner results and better background separation, even on animals. New studio lighting effects have also been added to correct lighting in the edit. A night portrait mode has been added, which turns on automatically while shooting in low light.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra will come with either the new Exynos 2200 SoC from Samsung or the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from Qualcomm. Both these flagship chipsets are based on the new 4nm manufacturing process and feature a similar octa-core CPU design. However, while the Qualcomm chipset includes the company's Adreno 730 GPU, the Exynos chipset will feature the new AMD RDNA2-based Xclipse 920 GPU. Both feature improved AI processing, with Samsung claiming 2x faster NPU over the S21 series.

In terms of memory and storage, the S22 Ultra will start at 8GB memory with 128GB of storage. Other variants will feature up to 12GB of RAM and a choice of either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage.

The S22 Ultra will ship with One UI 4.1 running on top of Android 12. It has a 5000mAh battery with support for up to 45W fast charging using a wired charger and 15W wirelessly.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra will be available in Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, and Burgundy starting February 25 with pre-orders opening today. Additional Graphite, Red and Sky Blue colour options will be exclusive to Samsung.com. Prices start at USD 1199 for the 8/128GB model. (ANI)

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