Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra release date, rumours, specs and features

Posted by admin on

Samsung's Galaxy S21 range - consisting of the standard S21, S21+ and the S21 Ultra - was revealed in January 2021, meaning its successors aren't due for a few months yet.

That hasn't stopped speculation about the Galaxy S22 range though. There are already plenty of rumours surrounding the devices - expected for now, to be the Galaxy S22, S22+ and S22 Ultra. 

We've covered off the standard Galaxy S22 and S22+ in a separate feature, but here we are focusing on everything we have heard so far about the top-of-the-range Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Release date and price

  • Possibly January 2022
  • From £1149/$1199?

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra was revealed in January 2021, as we mentioned above, though this was earlier than the company's typical timeline for its Galaxy S series launch. Prior to 2021, the range was revealed in February and made available by March.

It's not currently clear whether January is the new timeline for the Galaxy S range or whether Samsung will return to its previous pattern. It's also of course possible there will be a different timeline altogether for the Galaxy S22 range, especially as there is no Galaxy Note 21 this year.

In terms of price, the Galaxy S21 Ultra starts at £1149 in the UK and $1199 in the US. It's likely the respective successor will keep within a similar ballpark, but it's too early to say for now.

Design

  • Prominent camera housing
  • S Pen support
  • Punch hole camera

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is rumoured to see a bigger design change in terms of the rear camera housing than the standard S22 models are expected to compared to their predecessors.

Leaked renders suggest the S22 Ultra will offer quite a prominent camera housing with three lenses and a flash in a square, while a fourth lens sits below, making for an unusual look. There has also been the suggestion of a built in S Pen, rather than just support for it.

We'd expect a premium handset in the S22 Ultra, with a glass rear and leaked renders suggest a punch hole camera in the centre of the top of the display, rather than an under-display camera like the Galaxy Z Fold 3 offers. Waterproofing is expected, as is USB Type-C charging.

Display

  • 6.81-inch, Quad HD+
  • 120Hz variable refresh rate
  • Slimmer bezels?

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has a 6.8-inch display. Rumours suggest Samsung could reduce the size of its displays in the S22 range, so it's not currently clear what screen size the S22 Ultra may offer. There are claims of slimmer bezels, and more rounded corners on the displays too.

We'd expect the S22 Ultra to continue to offer a higher resolution and a curved display, than the standard S22 and S22+, though that's speculation for now.

Support for HDR and a variable 120Hz refresh rate are expected on the S22 Ultra again, like the S21 Ultra offers.

Hardware and specs

  • Next-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon and Exynos chipsets
  • At least 12GB RAM
  • No charger in box

At the moment, it's not clear what the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will offer in terms of hardware, though it's likely to have the next flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon processor on board - which will probably be revealed in December and has been called Snapdragon 898 in rumours - or the next-gen Exynos 2200 chipset with AMD, depending on the region.

In terms of other specs, it's likely that the S22 Ultra will offer at least 12GB of RAM, like its predecessor, and come in a base model of at least 128GB of storage. The S21 range doesn't have microSD support so we suspect it's unlikely that the S22 range will reintroduce this unfortunately.

It's pretty much a sure thing that all the S22 handsets will be 5G compatible and we'd expect the S22 to offer support for fast charging and fast wireless charging. Samsung has confirmed that the charger will not come in the box though - a move Apple made for its iPhone 12 series and continued with for the iPhone 13 series.

Rumours claim the Galaxy S22 Ultra will have a 5000mAh battery - like the S21 Ultra, though there are claims it will support 45W fast charging.

Camera

  • 200MP sensor for S22 Ultra?
  • Collaboration on the cards?
  • Similar setup to S21 Ultra

There have been claims Samsung is working on a 200-megapixel camera sensor, which might be placed into the Galaxy S22 Ultra and there have been some reports suggesting Samsung and Olympus are also in talks regarding a collaboration.

Additionally, other rumours suggest Samsung is looking at sensor shift technology, like the iPhone 13 range offers and there's been some chatter about a new periscope lens that can move the lenses freely between 3X and 10X zoom coming to the S22 Ultra. 

Other rumours claim the Galaxy S22 Ultra will have a quad rear camera, consisting of an improved 108-megapixel main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture and two 10-megapixel telephoto lenses, one with an f/4.9 aperture and 10x zoom, and the other with f/2.4 aperture and 3x zoom. If true, it looks like there won't be a huge amount of difference in the camera setup to the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra rumours: Here's everything we have heard so far

This is everything we have heard so far about the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

27 October 2021: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra camera specs have leaked in full, there's not much change

According to a tweet from @UniverseIce on Twitter, the S22 Ultra's camera system will take the same approach as the S21 Ultra, offering a quad camera system with two zoom lenses.

25 October 2021: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra could come with 45W fast charging

Samsung's 2022 flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will come equipped with 45W fast charging support and a 5,000mAh battery, according to leaks from Ice Universe.

22 October 2021: Samsung Galaxy S22 lineup tipped to feature separate versions with Exynos and Qualcomm chips - again

Tech reporter Max Weinbach suggests the upcoming Samsung S22 flagship phones will again include models which feature both Qualcomm and Exynos chips.

24 September 2021: This is what the Galaxy S22 Ultra will look like, launching early 2022

Leaker @OnLeaks published a series of renders with @digitindia showing an early look of what is said to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. 

24 September 2021: Samsung Galaxy Note no more? Built-in S Pen for Galaxy S22 rumour suggests so

Leaker Ice Universe claimed on Twitter that the Galaxy S22 Ultra will have a stowaway S Pen.

17 September 2021: Samsung Galaxy S22 to feature smaller battery than S21?

GalaxyClub reported that the battery capacity of the Galaxy S22 series will be smaller than that of the Galaxy S21 series. Only the Galaxy S22 Ultra is reported to remain the same.

14 September 2021: Samsung Galaxy S22 won't have an under-display camera says tipster

Leaker Ice Universe claimed on Twitter that Samsung will opt for a hole punch camera rather than an under display camera for the Galaxy S22 range.

17 August 2021: Samsung Galaxy S22 series leak details camera, battery and display specs

Leaker Ice Universe revealed some details of what was expected to be coming to the Samsung Galaxy S22 range in terms of display, camera and battery specifications. 

16 June 2021: All three Samsung Galaxy S22 series phones to see reduction in size?

Twitter user @MauriQHD suggested that Samsung will downsize all three models in the Galaxy S22 family, compared to the S21 series. Meaning: the regular S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra will all have smaller screens than their predecessors. 

6 May 2021: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra tipped to have "best" zoom camera yet

Leaker Ice Universe revealed on Weibo that Samsung's electromechanics and semiconductor arms have joined forces on a new continuous zoom solution that could be adopted by next year's flagship.

It uses a periscope lens unit that can move the lenses freely between 3X and 10X zoom, greatly increasing the optical zoom capabilities.

27 April 2021: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra could have a 200MP camera

Samsung is said to be working on a 200-megapixel camera that could come to the S22 Ultra.

27 April 2021: Samsung's upcoming phones could launch with super-speedy 65W charging

A Samsung 65W fast charging adapter appeared on India's BIS database which works similarly to FCC or TENAA. The charger suggests Samsung could be looking to offer 65W fast charging to future smartphones, like the S22.

19 April 2021: No ToF sensor on Samsung Galaxy S22

Sammobile reported that ET News claimed Samsung has chosen not to include a ToF sensor on the Galaxy S22 models.

12 April 2021: Is Samsung working on its own sensor shift phone camera?

Samsung is hoping to build sensor shift technology into its upcoming smartphone cameras according to report on Dutch site, Galaxy Club.

12 April 2021: A Samsung and Olympus collaboration could be on the cards

Reports are circulating that Samsung has been in discussions with Olympus over the possibility of collaborating on smartphone camera tech. 

15 January 2021: No chargers in box for future models

In a Q&A report on Samsung's Mobile Press page, Samsung confirmed it would not include chargers in the box for future devices.

15 October 2020: Samsung claimed to be working on new Exynos processors

Leaker Ice Universe claimed on Twitter that Samsung was working on new Exynos processors, including the 9855 and 9925 - the latter of which may be with AMD GPU.

Share this post

← Older Post Newer Post →