A few days ago, I wrote about the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, singing the praises of an amazing red version that Samsung had exclusively hidden away on its website.
"It's so much prettier than all the other shades," I wrote in my gushing phone post, praising its "warm, energetic feel." I wanted one
Well, apparently he was dead wrong. Avid Samsung fans reached out to let me know: The bright red Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra isn't so red after all.
Red...more like
After my article about the Galaxy was published, many people who had bought the red phone wrote to let me know their feelings about it (if you wrote, thanks for reaching out; we received so many comments that we couldn't reply to all of them). , but we appreciate it!).
Almost every email we received was from someone who had purchased the device, writing to express their disappointment in how the phone looked in real life. It's apparently not the same vibrant hue as the images on Samsung's website show: one descriptive word that appeared in a surprising amount was "coral."
Apparently, the red Galaxy S22 Ultra looks more coral, or pale orange-red, than vibrant fiery red, and that's obviously disappointing for people who wanted an exciting crimson smartphone.
Sure, there's nothing wrong with coral, but if you're buying something red, you want it to be… well, red.
The problem of exclusives
The problem with exclusive colors online is that it's impossible to know exactly what they look like; you can't just go to your local phone store to see what they look like.
Companies sometimes try to entice you to buy directly from them, rather than third-party vendors or retailers, by offering unique and interesting color options you won't find anywhere else.
Pictures online won't tell you much, a problem I clearly had with my initial cover. The hue depends not only on the screen you're viewing it on, but also, to a lesser extent, on the camera used to capture the press photo in the first place and any edits made prior to publication.
Most of the time, that's not a problem: if you buy a black phone, you can already predict how it will look. But for the most vibrant colors, like Samsung Red, even the slightest changes in the color accuracy of a photo or screen can dramatically affect how people look.
With high street migrating online in recent years and many retailers, like Samsung, launching exclusive colors online, this means it's all too easy for people to buy a phone they think they'll like, only to find out they don't. it is in everything they expected.
So if there's a big enough outcry, it's possible that Samsung will drop its exclusive colors online in the future. It seems unlikely, as the company has been doing it for a while, but we can live with hope.