Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: the rumors were right

Samsung has announced its Galaxy S22 range of telephones and Galaxy Tab S8 single tablet Unpacked event on Wednesdays, and the top of the range Galaxy S22 Ultra was the star of the show. The size, design and stylus of the S22 Ultra position it as the successor to the now discontinued galaxy note phone.

“The Galaxy S22 Ultra takes the beloved functionality of the Galaxy Note and the most famous aspects of the S series and merges them for a truly unique mobile experience,” said TM Roh, president and head of Samsung Electronics Mobile Experience in a statement. Press release.

Here’s everything we know about the Galaxy S22 Ultra. For a wider overview of the entire Galaxy range, check out our Galaxy S22 overview. And here how to preorder galaxy s22 phones.

The S22 Ultra will be released on February 25 for $1,200

There is good news for fans. Despite rumors of possible delaythe Galaxy S22 Ultra will be available for purchase on February 25. Pre-orders for the top-end Galaxy model begin immediately.

When it comes to pricing, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the most expensive phone in Samsung’s new lineup. The Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at $1,200 (£1,149, AU$1,849) with no device trade-in, similar to the base price of the Galaxy S21 Ultra. However, the price increases as the storage capacity increases.

Here are the prices for the Galaxy S22 lineup, for reference.

Read more: How to buy a new iPhone or Android phone in 2022: CNET’s top shopping tips

How the S22 Ultra compares to the Galaxy Note

Samsung seems to have looked to its past for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. For the first time since the Galaxy Note 20, Samsung’s latest high-end phone has a physical slot on the smartphone for the S Pen stylus. Samsung has also made improvements to the S Pens feature by offering lower latency and the ability to transcribe handwritten notes to text in 88 languages. Last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra was the first Galaxy S phone to support the S Pen, but there’s no place to store the stylus and you have to buy it separately.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra also sports an angular Note-like design with sharper edges, which is very different from the softer look of the standard Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus. The large 6.8-inch screen of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is also reminiscent of the Note.

For comparison, here’s a photo of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Galaxy S22 Ultra cameras

At a quick glance, the The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera specs are pretty similar to last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra. But Samsung claims to have made significant improvements under the hood to improve the overall quality of the camera.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra features a 108-megapixel wide lens, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, and two 10-megapixel telephoto lenses, similar to the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Both Ultra models are also equipped with a 40-megapixel selfie camera. But, this year, Samsung’s Galaxy S line comes with internal camera upgrades that should make it possible to take pictures in the dark (Samsung calls it Nightography) and better frame the subjects. We’ll know more when we test the new S22 Ultra for ourselves, but our first impression of the S22 Ultra’s cameras is… not inspiring.

Read more: Best camera phones for 2022

How many colors is the S22 Ultra available?

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is available in four different colors: black, white, green and burgundy. The base Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus are available in black, white, rose gold, and green.

Processor, battery life and other key details

Samsung typically uses both its own Exynos chips and Qualcomm’s processors in its phones, depending on the region, and it did the same this year. It means US version of S22 series works on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1which the chipmaker says should bring improvements like the ability to capture 8K video at 30fps and 30% faster graphics rendering.

Samsung new Exynos 2200 processor was unveiled last month. The new chip is said to be a gaming powerhouse and features an all-new graphics processing unit that it built in conjunction with AMD, which the company says will bring a big boost to games and overall graphics performance. However, it is not known whether the Galaxy S22 has this chip.

When it comes to battery life, the S22 Ultra has a lot in common with its predecessor. The S22 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery, just like the Galaxy S21 Ultra, but comes with 45-watt fast wired charging.

Samsung’s Ultra phones also typically include more memory and storage than their cheaper siblings, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra followed that trend. The base version of the S22 Ultra comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Other options include a model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB of storage.

All told, the Galaxy S22 Ultra looks like a viable successor to Samsung’s popular Galaxy Note. It also makes it easier for Samsung to distinguish the Ultra from the regular Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus. To find out more, here how the three Galaxy S22 phones compare to each otherthe Galaxy S22 versus S21 (and S22 Ultra versus S21 Ultra), Galaxy S22 vs. S21 FEand how the The Galaxy S22 compares to the iPhone 13 Pro and the Pixel 6 Pro.