The Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ are official alongside the S22 Ultra, and as before, they lack a few of the Ultra's specs, but unlike before have all of its premium build quality. The pair of sub-flagships are also slightly smaller than their predecessors, which is particularly crucial for the vanilla Galaxy S22 as it's bound to attract those that value flagship power in compact shells.
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 1.0µm pixels that binns to a 12.5MP final snap with
2.0µm pixels.
There's also a 12MP 13mm ultrawide camera
in front of a 1/2.55" 1.4µm 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 Samsung 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 1,750 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. Unsurprisingly 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
€ 849/£ 769 for the 8/128GB and € 899/£ 819 for the 8/256GB, while the S22+ is
€ 1,049/£ M949 for the 8/128GB and € 1,099/£ 999 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.
