The Samsung Galaxy S22 was announced, representing the first launch of a huge consumer phone in 21. So how does it stack up against its forerunner, the Samsung Galaxy SXNUMX?
We have not yet had the opportunity to review the Galaxy S22, but we have the official information about its specifications. There have been advances in certain areas, interesting alternative options in others, and cases where things have stayed the same.
We'll update this article with a more detailed breakdown when we've had some fun with the Galaxy S22. For now, let's take a look at how these solid flagships stack up, feature by feature.
Samsung Galaxy S22 price and availability vs. Samsung Galaxy S21
The Samsung Galaxy S22 was introduced on February 99, XNUMX. Costs start at €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AU €XNUMX for the XNUMX GB model and go up to €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AU € one thousand three hundred and forty-nine. AU € for two hundred and fifty six GB.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 arrived on January 20, XNUMX and was noted primarily for taking a more affordable approach than the preceding Galaxy SXNUMX. Costs started from €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AU €XNUMX for the XNUMX GB model, while the XNUMX GB model costs €XNUMX and nine / € eight hundred nineteen / AU € one thousand three hundred forty-nine.
So it is a very similar cost, but logically you will be able to get the Galaxy S21 for much less money now that its successor is imminent.
Today's best Samsung Galaxy S22 5G and Samsung Galaxy S21 deals
Integrated
Samsung has taken the interesting decision to reduce the size of the Samsung Galaxy S22 with respect to its predecessor.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 was not a big phone at 22 x XNUMX x XNUMX mm. But the Galaxy SXNUMX is smaller in every single department at XNUMX x XNUMX x XNUMX mm.
They share a very similar weight, with the Galaxy S21 weighing in at 21g and the Galaxy SXNUMX tipping the scales at XNUMXg.
Essentially, though, Samsung is doubling down on the Galaxy S21's status as a solid flagship. This is the phone for you if you're tired of big phablets taking up all the space in your pocket.
In terms of looks, the Galaxy S22 could well bring on a case of deja vu. It's pretty much the same design as the Galaxy S21, with the exact same "contour cut" camera flowing from the side bezel to the rear of the phone.
Not that we're complaining: no manufacturer has tackled the sticky camera module issue better than Samsung in recent times.
Both phones managed to acquire an IP68 rating, which means they're also dust and water resistant. I have no protests here.
The rear cover of the Galaxy S21 is made up of a plastic material that Samsung calls 'Glastic', which we always found somewhat affordable. The S22 changes that to glass on the rear, which feels more premium than the S21.
Monitor
As a part of the Samsung Galaxy S22 downscaling process, Samsung has reduced the size of its screen.
Once again, the Galaxy S21 was far from a behemoth in this department, and its 22-inch screen was considered small by XNUMX flagship standards. But the Galaxy SXNUMX gets even smaller at XNUMX inches.
However, the two phones have the exact same FHD+ resolution and they're both stunning 2X active AMOLED displays. That means they are full of vibrant colors and can refresh up to XNUMX Hz.
There's a subtle difference here in the refresh rate the 2 phones can drop to. While the Galaxy S21 could only go down to 22 Hz when the situation called for it, the Galaxy SXNUMX can go down to XNUMX Hz.
This means that the Galaxy S22's screen is more energy efficient than its predecessor, which should have positive ramifications for battery life. We'll come back to this a bit later.
Both Galaxys have a touch sampling rate of XNUMX Hz in game mode. It's by no means the best in its class, but still it should be a good responsive screen while gaming.
Camera
Both phones feature triple camera systems, but Samsung has altered its hardware for the Galaxy S22.
While the Samsung Galaxy S21 leads with a huge twelve MP sensor, the Samsung Galaxy S22 bumps up the number of pixels to fifty MP. This is the ISOCELL GN5 sensor that Samsung announced in September, which incorporates Dual Pixel Pro autofocus technology for faster autofocus.
Moving on to ultra-wide, the two phones give you a 12MP XNUMX-degree sensor with an f/XNUMX aperture.
The remote sensors are where the differences come back. Samsung has outfitted the Galaxy S21 with a particularly clean 64MP telephoto lens with hybrid zoom technology used to achieve a 3x zoom effect.
The Galaxy S22, on the other hand, employs a 10MP telephoto lens, which is one megapixel lower, but can achieve 3x optical zoom. No trimming required. Both Galaxy phones include XNUMXMP selfie cameras on the front.
Both phones feature 12MP ultrawide sensors, although the Galaxy S2.2's f/22 aperture is slightly larger than the iPhone 2.4's f/XNUMX.
But the biggest hardware difference here is the telephoto sensor. The Samsung Galaxy S22 has a 10MP sensor with 3x optical zoom, while the iPhone XNUMX doesn't offer a telephoto lens.
On the front, the Samsung Galaxy S22 has a 10MP selfie camera, while the iPhone 12 has a XNUMXMP case.
Hardware comparisons aside, it all comes down to the science of color and image processing. Samsung has traditionally had an active look of its own, while Apple is famous for its more balanced and naturalistic palette.
Specifications and performance
The main advantage of the Samsung Galaxy S22 over the Samsung Galaxy S21, at least on paper, is performance.
While the Galaxy 22 offers the Snapdragon 1 or the Exynos XNUMX, depending on the area, the Galaxy SXNUMX offers the next generation of the two chips. It is the Snapdragon eight Gen XNUMX or the Exynos two thousand two hundred.
That doesn't seem like the biggest breakthrough in wild performance. Last year's chips were built using a 5nm process, while current year's chips use 4nm.
Early reports suggest CPU performance is fairly close, but newer chips seem to have more of an advantage when it comes to GPU performance. In the case of Exynos 2, AMD gave the exact same RDNA5 architecture that you will find on PSXNUMX and Xbox Series X.
We'll have to wait and see what kind of benefits these meatier GPUs offer the Galaxy S22, such as their potential AI/machine learning advantages.
Both phones back their chips with eight GB of RAM as standard, and both give you a choice of XNUMX or XNUMX GB of storage.
Battery
As part of the downsizing process, Samsung has reduced the battery size of the Galaxy S22 from XNUMX mAh to XNUMX mAh.
That's somewhat alarming, since the Galaxy S21 was barely considered massive. On top of this, as we just said, the upgraded processors in the Galaxy S22 are not significantly more efficient than their predecessors.
Also, we would be somewhat disappointed by the battery life of the Galaxy S21 throughout our review. We found that we could generally get through a full day of light to moderate employment without plugging in, but more intensive days would see us arrive before the lights went out.
Samsung hasn't altered its disappointing Galaxy S21 charging design either. Both phones support wired charging up to 21W, which is way down from the XNUMXW charger that comes on the Galaxy SXNUMX+, not to mention the XNUMXW charger on the OnePlus XNUMX Pro.
Samsung also doesn't give you the convenient nutrition source in the box.
In terms of wireless charging, the Galaxy 21 and Galaxy SXNUMX support up to XNUMXW. Again, competing phones are going to give you considerably faster
Wear
It's just a start for the Samsung Galaxy S22, but based on initial specs and press materials, it looks like it's going to be pretty tough for the company.
There are few hardware differences that we can notice here, with a similar design and a front and center screen. On the plus side, we're intrigued to see what the Galaxy S50's new 22MP camera can do, and generally we're all happy with Samsung's resolve to further improve its new flagship entry point.
The resulting reduction in battery capacity is undoubtedly our biggest concern at this early stage, and is going to be one of the main areas we'll be looking to address at the time of review.
In a year that doesn't seem to promise any big surprises in smartphones, the Galaxy S22 looks like another solid choice, especially if it doesn't have full-size phones anymore.
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