Enlarge / The Galaxy S22 Ultra. It has a pen. (credit: Samsung)
February is officially new phone season, and Samsung is kicking things off with the launch of the Galaxy S22. After all the leaks, the big news items today are the prices and release date. The phones cost the same as last year: $799.99 for the S22, $999.99 for the S22+, and $1,199.99 for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Preorders for the phones start today, and the ship date is February 25.
On the base and "Plus" models, there aren't many design changes to talk about. The Ultra model is getting a big change, though—it's basically turning into the Galaxy Note. Samsung killed the stylus-equipped Note line in 2020, choosing instead to focus on foldable smartphones rather than launching two nearly identical slab smartphones every year. The Galaxy S22 Ultra isn't called a Note, but it's picking up the design and features of one, with taller corners and an integrated S-Pen. The Ultra model also has a new look for the camera bump, which goes with individual lenses instead of last year's big corner bump.
There are a ton of cameras on the back of the S22 Ultra. (credit: Samsung)
Figuring out the differences from year to year is mostly a game of millimeters. The base-model S22 is a bit smaller than last year's version; it has a 6.1-inch, 120 Hz, 2340×1080 display and a 146×70.6×7.6 mm body (down from 6.2 inches and 151.7×71.2×7.9 mm from last year). It also has a smaller battery—3700 mAh versus the 4000 mAh battery of the S21. The phone has 8GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage. You get three rear cameras on the base and plus models: a 50 MP main camera, a 12 MP ultra-wide, and a 10 MP 3X optical zoom camera. There's a 10 MP front camera.
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