It’s been almost a month since Samsung unveiled the new S22 line at their unpacking event on the 9th of February 2022. Shipping of the new units started on the 25th of February for the North American, South Korean, and European markets, and orders for the rest of the world should start rolling in after the 10th of March. Samsung promises that pre-orders before the 10th of March will receive a free pair of Galaxy Buds Live along with the option to get the benefits of Samsung Care+ for a once-off payment of R499, which would be a great deal. For some people, pre-ordering might not be the best way because there is something to love about doing all your research, sleeping on it, and hunting for the best possible deal from your favourite dealers like Game, Incredible connections, and the Pick n Pay catalogue.
This year the phones look almost identical to the older S21 series, with the exception of the S22 ultra. From the specs sheet, the changes in the materials used, the smaller screens, and smaller batteries on the S22 and S22+ seem like losses. But, when you account for the faster SoCs(System-On-Chip), better software, and how almost everything seems to have been dialled up, it becomes clearer that there might be something that lives up to the brand’s reputation.
Design & Feel
- No camera notch – so there won’t be any problems with it wobbling on a table if it’s not in a case.
- Better form factor – the S22 line now has glass on an aluminium frame, visible once you look at the back of the phone where it is covered in Gorilla Glass Victus+, giving the devices a more premium feel.
Display
- Smaller Screens – S22 has a 6.1-inch and S22+ 6.6-inch screen.
- Brighter displays – up to 1,300 nits and 1750 nits now
- Refresh rate – can go down to 10Hz, which is better than the S21s, which only went as low as 48Hz.
Camera
- Better Camera sensors – allowing for better daytime and nighttime portrait mode photos, “nightography”, and image stabilization for both main and selfie camera setups.
Battery
- Smaller Batteries – 3,700mAh and 4,500mAh batteries, respectively.
- Better Fast Charging – S22+ has stepped up its fast charging to 45W wired charging.
Processor
- Better Performance – smaller 4mn Exynos 2200 SoC from Samsung’s partnership with AMD that uses the RDNA2-based Xclipse 920 GPU or the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from Qualcomm with the Adreno 730 GPU Samsung claims both are 2x faster NPU over the S21 series.
Software
- More extended Support – The new Galaxies come with Android 12 and OneUI 4.1 with 5G on all their versions. And for the first time, Samsung promises up to 4 years of software support.
What Hasn’t Changed
- Pricing – same pricing formula as last year with the S22 starting at $799 just like the S21 last year,
- Storage and Ram – same 8GB RAM on 128GB storage coming as standard
In Conclusion
The new Samsung S22 lineup is a worthy upgrade as it builds on all the gains that made the S21 phone of the year in 2021. This time around, South Africa is lucky to be getting the Snapdragon versions according to AndroidAuthority, so we can’t wait to test it. All the innovations that Samsung has been rolling out since the MWC on 28th February 2022 have us excited as the S22 will have more products it can seamlessly be used with for better productivity and an improved lifestyle.
