GOODBYE GALAXY NOTE! The Samsung Galaxy S22 series officially launched. S22 Ultra includes S-Pen.


Reminds us of some Sony phones and even the Note 20.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with S-Pen.

Today is the day of the Galaxy Unpacked event. It’s a hyped one considering this is where Samsung will finally ditch the Galaxy Note series and introduce the sadly underwhelming Exynos 2200 chip with AMD’s RDNA ray tracing technology. There are three phones in the series: Galaxy S22, S22 Plus, and finally, the actually flagship, S22 Ultra with S-Pen.

Samsung Galaxy S22 | S22+

Samsung Galaxy S22+ on Samsung Philippines’ website.

Starting with the first two devices, the S22, and S22+. These two are essentially minor upgrades to the S21 but in spite of that, there are notable advantages that set them apart from their predecessor.

Firstly, the Samsung Galaxy S22 is actually slightly shorter than the Galaxy S21 but is still a full-fledged flagship with a premium design made using premium materials, notably, a robust glass build.

Depending on where you’re from (In the Philippines, almost every Samsung Galaxy S and Note series get a Qualcomm chip so the same may apply here), all S22 variants may get an Exynos 2200 chip or a Qualcomm 8 Gen 1 chip. This chipset is paired with 8GB RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of internal storage.

SMALL EDIT/DISCLAIMER: The Philippines variant, according to our friends at Yugatech, would get a so-called Snapdragon 895 chip. No other sources have confirmed this other than the Caribbean branch of Samsung on their Twitter account. Well wait until Samsung confirms the chip used for it.

The two phones actually slightly differ in height. The vanilla S22 is more compact at 6.1in. while the S22+ is larger at 6.6in. Both have a flat SAMOLED panel that’s dynamic and have a resolution of FHD+ and an adaptive refresh rate of 10-120Hz. Another differing factor is their peak brightness. The S22 peaks at 1300nits while the S22+ peaks at 1750 nits, identical to the S22 Ultra. These panels are protected by an enhanced version of CG Glass Victus called Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Plus.

Galaxy S22+ camera

The cameras for these two are also similar if not identical. Both have a triple camera setup consisting of a 50mp main camera, a 12mp ultrawide, and a 10mp telephoto with 30x digital zoom. The front camera has a resolution of 10mp.

Battery is also another major difference between the two phones. Due to its compact size, the Galaxy S22 has the smallest battery among the three. The battery has a capacity of 3700mAh while the S22+ has a capacity of 4500mAh. Also, the S22 only has 25W fast charging while the S22+ has 45W.

In terms of connectivity, both phones obviously have 5G services but the Galaxy S22 only has support for Wi-Fi 6 but the S22+ has support all the way to Wi-Fi 6E, which is slightly faster. Also, both of these phones have an IP68 water/dust resistance rating. Now you don’t have to worry if you accidentally dropped the phone into a pool or something.

They all boot with OneUI 4.1 based on Android 12 out of the box and use Samsung’s ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner that can read your fingerprint at ultra-fast speeds, faster than the blink of the eye.

Both phones come in four colours: Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, and Pink Gold (otherwise known as “Rose Gold”)

Both of these are now available for pre-order on Samsung Philippines’ website. The Samsung Galaxy S22 starts at Php45,990 for the 8/128 configuration and Php49,990 for the 8/256 configuration. Meanwhile, the S22+ starts at Php49,990 for the 8/128 configuration and Php60,990 for the 8/256 configuration. In accordance to Samsung tradition, there’s also a trade-in program as well as an installment option in case you couldn’t pay the phone in full. Trading your old device also rewards you discounts for both devices.

Source: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

The real highlight of the launch and the most anticipated. Of course, in order to attain a large audience, you need to also include some “filler” handsets that have similar specs and/or features but also with some small differences or compromises to differentiate them. That is always the case for the Samsung Galaxy S and Note series.

Samsung has officially killed the Galaxy Note and fused it with the Galaxy S series. The Notes are redundant nowadays anyway so merging it not only saves manufacturing costs but also helps consumers in deciding their flagship phone. Essentially the existence of the Fold and the Z Flip made the Note less relevant as a flagship.

The main feature of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is its sharp squarish design reminiscent of the Galaxy Note as well as the S-Pen. The design also got rid of the large camera hump and is now more linear and unified. Like the first two phones, this one is built and protected with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Plus. The S-Pen is also IP68 certified.

The display is a 6.8in. curved QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x with an adaptive refresh rate from 1-120Hz. Like the S22 Plus, it has a peak brightness of 1750nits. Also, like the aforementioned devices, the S22 Ultra is also IP68 water/dust resistant-rated.

In terms of cameras, there are four useful cameras for the S22 Ultra. The main camera is 108mp, the second one is the 12mp ultrawide, and the other two are 10mp telephoto cameras, one with 3x optical zoom, and the other with 10x optical zoom. Like the S22 and S22+, these telephoto cameras along with the main camera, have OIS in them, as typical for a flagship. The selfie camera has a higher resolution of 40mp versus the latter two phones. While it appears Samsung has removed the periscope camera, it’s actually still there as the telephoto cameras can zoom digitally up to 100x. Samsung even calls this “space zoom”

The battery is the largest among the three phones. It also has the fastest charging rate. The S22 Ultra is powered by a 5000mAh battery with 45W fast charging.

Like the other two phones, the S22 Ultra would be equipped with either the Exynos 2200 chip or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, depending on the region. Here in the Philippines, we’d more likely see the Qualcomm variant similar to the previous S series phones released. The phone is also paired with either 8 or 12GB RAM with storage options starting with 128GB all the way to 512GB for the Philippine market.

SMALL EDIT/DISCLAIMER: The Philippines variant, according to our friends at Yugatech, would get a so-called Snapdragon 895 chip. No other sources have confirmed this other than the Caribbean branch of Samsung on their Twitter account. Well wait until Samsung confirms the chip used for it.

Burgundy colour of the S22 Ultra

The S22 Ultra is now available for pre-order. It starts at Php68,990 for the 8/128 version, Php72,990 for the 8/256 version, and Php80,990 for the 12/512 version. It comes in four colours. The unique Burgundy is its main colour, along with Phantom black, Phantom White, and Green. Pre-ordering would also give you freebies such as a Php10,000 voucher, silicon cover, strap, and a lootbox. A literal lootbox.

Source: Samsung