Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Vs Samsung S21 Ultra – Battery life, Cameras and Prices | Detailed Comparison
Compared to the S21 Ultra, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will be the beginnings of an entirely new market niche for Samsung – a Note-style phone with a built-in stylus that is part of the S-line series. Therefore, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and Samsung S21 Ultra can only be indirectly compared.
Aside from the regular annual specification changes, the S22 Ultra will always have one edge over the S21 Ultra: the S Pen silo. Even though the S21 Ultra specs also mention S Pen doodling capability and the S22 Ultra’s likely price decrease, it could be the preferable phone for Samsung fans.
Price comparison between Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
- The base 128GB edition of the S21 Ultra costs $1199.99.
- The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at $1299.99 for the 256GB variant and $1479.99 for the 1TB model.
Samsung has removed all direct ordering options for the Galaxy S21 Ultra from their website. That goes for the T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint versions of the S21 Ultra, and it’s yet more sign that, like the S20 series, Samsung may cancel the phone when the S22 Ultra arrives. According to reports, Samsung may increase the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s price by $100 over its predecessor, so we can’t expect a $1200 beginning price for the lowest storage model.
The use of Amperex batteries was one of the reasons Samsung was able to reduce the S21 series’ production costs and, as a result, lower the models’ prices dramatically compared to their predecessors, but that’s about all we can hope for from the S22 models. The S22 Ultra price could be more because it will include an S Pen stylus silo, a new rear design, and double the base storage compared to the S21 Ultra.
Colours and design of S22 Ultra vs S21 Ultra
- The colours of the Galaxy S22 Ultra include black, white, red, and green.
- Black, Silver, Navy, Brown, and Titanium are the colours available on the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
All the information we have about the Galaxy S22 colour options: Samsung is working on a new rear design for the Galaxy S22 Ultra that isn’t dictated by the presence of an S Pen silo. On the Galaxy S22 Ultra, or whatever Samsung calls it, there appears to be no camera island in the classic sense.
Instead, the primary 108MP, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP telephoto and periscope zoom cameras will be housed in their silos, with only their lens rings protruding from the back surface.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra concept photos, designed by Technizo Concept (Parvez Khan), depict Samsung’s upcoming flagship phone’s new LG Velvet-inspired raindrop camera design. The lenses aren’t in descending order of size, so it’s not quite a raindrop, but it’s still an intriguing design.
With the S22 Ultra, Samsung may say goodbye to camera islands.
In terms of looks, the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s new camera design leaves something to be desired in terms of practicality, as cases would now have to be drilled for each camera lens ring, or lint and debris may get stuck between the close ones. The camera strap across the back is not as revolutionary as the Google Pixel 6 series. Still, we applaud the change nonetheless, as the island-in-the-left-corner design is becoming old.
Moving to the front, the symmetry of the display bezels is another significant change between the S22 Ultra and the S21 Ultra. Samsung is working to make its Galaxies genuinely “all-screen” by reducing the bottom bezel even more than the Galaxy S21 series, which already has a vanishingly small bottom bezel compared to the competition. This has allowed Samsung to modify the aspect ratio from the S21 Ultra’s tall 20:9 to the S22 Ultra’s slightly shorter and broader 19.3:9. Internally, the project is known as Border Reduction Structure (BRS), and Korean media have verified that it will be deployed as soon as the S22 series is completed.
The price for preserving the battery size and adding a built-in stylus is a little more single-handed S22 Ultra pain, but we’d gladly take it over the S21 Ultra, which is no less of a spade, to begin with.
Because of the shorter S22 Ultra bezels and increased width, Samsung preserved the same 5000mAh battery pack despite the inclusion of the S Pen silo, resulting in a better screen-to-body ratio and more great actual display space doodle on with the S Pen. Overall, the S22 Ultra outperforms the S21 Ultra in terms of design.
The display quality of S22 Ultra vs S21 Ultra
The Galaxy S22 Ultra vs S21 Ultra display specs comparison may appear useless, with equally resolute QHD+ panels of the same 6.8″ dimension. On the other hand, Samsung has already begun mass production of the new generation of LTPO OLED screens. The Galaxy S22 Ultra reportedly being the first to benefit from a peak display brightness of 1800 nits. Granted, such brightness levels are only attainable while watching HDR content in bright environments, but the same criteria apply to the S21 Ultra’s panel, which can achieve “just” 1500 nits.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra may also get a more coarse refresh rate adjustment down to the single hertz, resulting in more efficient display power use. Both displays contain active digitizer layers that allow them to respond to Samsung’s S Pen. The S22 Ultra’s stylus is permanently integrated into the phone, whilst the S21 Ultra is a tack-on in a separate (and bulky) case. Another victory for the S22 Ultra.
Cameras; S22 Ultra versus S21 Ultra
The Galaxy S22 Ultra camera specs appear similar to its predecessor: a primary 108MP camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and 10MP telephoto or periscope zoom sensors. On the other hand, Samsung is expected to equip the S22 Ultra with a next-generation 108MP primary sensor with a wider aperture and, as a result, a brighter lens on top. The S22 Ultra’s new generation of 108MP ISOCELL line has purportedly allowed it to improve detail capture and low-light sensitivity.
Furthermore, compared to the Galaxy S21 Ultra predecessor, Samsung delivers a massive improvement in picture stabilization, with a remarkable 48 per cent shake reduction and movement correction.
It’s unclear whether Samsung will achieve this by technology similar to what Apple calls Sensor-Shift stabilization in the iPhone 13 models or through another method. Still, it’s evident that the S22 series, and the Ultra, in particular, will be vying for Apple’s video capture crown.
The S22 Ultra will replace the Snapdragon 888 processor present in the S21 Ultra with a 4nm Snapdragon 898; however, the Exynos version of the S22 Ultra will be the more interesting one for the first time. In Europe, the S22 Ultra, S22+, and S22 may all have an Exynos 2200 variant that Verizon sought – that will eventually ship with an AMD graphics subsystem and whose specs were just released.
While every tech behemoth and their chihuahua has jumped on the homemade mobile chipset bandwagon, Samsung has been at it for a while, with different degrees of success. Its later Exynos CPU iterations were plagued by thermal and performance concerns compared to Qualcomm Snapdragon competitors, owing to the package’s stock ARM-Mali graphics. All of that could change with the next Exynos chipset. The Exynos 2200 is expected to be the first to bear the fruits of Samsung and AMD’s collaboration in the form of an RDNA graphics engine that is as efficient as it is substantial compared to its Mali equivalents in Exynos chipsets.
Benchmark results for the Exynos 2200 and Snapdragon 888
Although at a significantly lower clock frequency, the alleged Exynos 2200 scores are only slightly higher than the Galaxy S21 benchmarks. We might safely expect a speedier S22 performance than the S21 in their Exynos counterparts, given that both the engineering prototype and the chipset software management will likely be refined more.
However, when comparing the Exynos 2200 vs Snapdragon 888 results, the new Samsung chipset triumphs considerably because Qualcomm’s processor clocks at a similar frequency. However, the Galaxy S22 will use a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, so the Exynos 2200 advantage may be moot.
We’ll be absorbing to see how the Exynos 2200-equipped Galaxy S22 performs in pure graphics subsystem scores, AMD RDNA GPU, etc. Pure synthetic benchmarks, of course, are only one part of the issue; sustained performance, as well as throttling under duress, are the most important factors to consider. Unfortunately, Samsung has reportedly delayed the Exynos 2200 announcement to coincide with the Galaxy S22 Ultra Unpacked event. It may also be experiencing yield issues, as only a few European countries will receive an Exynos S22 Ultra, while the rest of the world will receive a Snapdragon S22 Ultra.
Battery life and recharge speeds of Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Both phones have massive 5000mAh batteries. The Galaxy S21 Ultra has already proven to be the longest-lasting Android flagship phone in its top-tier specs category, so the S22 Ultra should be no different. A minor increase in battery life should be expected because it will have a more efficient processor and display.
The S22 Ultra will also be able to support rapid 45W charging speeds, bringing it on par with its Chinese counterparts. Why should they be equal when they’re already at 65W or even 120W?
Given the speeds Samsung achieved with the regular 25W brick in our S21 Ultra battery tests. About an hour for a full 5000mAh battery charge. When Samsung announces the entire Galaxy S22 Ultra support for its fast 45W charger. It will most likely be able to achieve the revered half-hour or so to a full charge on average that the central Chinese competitors boast.
In the race for Android market share, charging speeds were the sole weak feature of Samsung’s flagship phones. So, correcting this issue will seem extremely good, not just on paper.
