The Samsung Galaxy S22 series launch is still several months away but there are a few hints circulating about what may be in store for the 2022 flagship series.
As has been the release cycle for many generations, Samsung is expected to unveil three models, a standard Galaxy S22, a Galaxy S22+, and a Galaxy S22 Ultra. Leaksters have reveled the display sizes for the three models with reports from the Korean blog Naver and Twitter tech informant, Mauri QHD indicating that the standard Galaxy S22 will likely feature a 6.06-inch display, while the Galaxy S22+ may have a 6.55-inch display, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra a 6.81-inch display.
Galaxy S22 Ultra Glass Exclusive?
The Galaxy S22 Ultra, in particular, may be the only model of the three to have a truly premium build, as the sources say the device may feature a LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline silicon) display. It may also be the only device of the series to have a glass back panel. The standard Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+ are expected to feature polycarbonate plastic, Naver said.
While, media reports indicate that Samsung has not made any final decisions on the design and materials of the Galaxy S22 series, they also note that a polycarbonate frame would help lower production costs for Samsung and would in turn aid in lowering prices on the consumer side. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S22 Ultra as the most premium of the line could easily be priced high without much criticism.
Samsung’s Plastic History
This harkens back to the early years of the Galaxy S series. In a stroke of irony, Samsung was criticized during that time for having phones that sold for over $600 that were made of plastic. The manufacturer would transition to a glass and metal design with the Galaxy S6 in 2015, using polycarbonate to differentiate between its high-end and its mid-range to lower end devices. Now, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is considered a lower cost version of the Galaxy S20 series. It sold for $749 at launch featuring a polycarbonate casing, in comparison to the $999 price tag for the base model Galaxy S20, which features a glass back.
Galaxy S22 Series Other Specs
Other possible specs for the Galaxy S22 series include a Qualcomm SoC for some markets and an Exynos chip for others. Rumors suggest that the Samsung chip could be the Exynos 2200 and that it could feature an AMD Radeon GPU, which could give it especially high performance graphics. The Qualcomm chip could be a Snapdragon 895, featuring custom Kryo 780 CPU cores based on the ARMv9 architecture as well as an Adreno 730 GPU. The chup may also support quad-channel LPDDR5 RAM.
Reports also suggest a major focus on camera technology for the Galaxy S22 series. There have been long standing rumors that Samsung may partner with the camera brand, Olympus; however, any details of the partnership remain unknown. Devices in the series may also use a sensor-shift camera technology to focus on stabilization of the camera sensor as opposed to the lens and aids with image quality. This technology is already featured on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Currently there are conflicting reports on whether Samsung will implement an in-display camera for the front-facing lens. Meanwhile, the manufacturer may be considering the removal of the ToF sensor from the Galaxy S22 series due to a lack of use cases.
Galaxy S22 Series Release Date
Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S22 series in January 2022, similar to how it launched the Galaxy S21 series in 2021. It remains to be seen if the Korean manufacturer will host a live event for the Galaxy S22 series unveiling. One of the main reasons Samsung decided to host its live streamed event for the Galaxy S21 unveiling in January 2021 was due to uncertainty brought on by the pandemic.
Many companies followed suit throughout the year and and have found a great convenience in hosting single-day events and multi-day conferences, completely live streamed online.
Many tech companies remain hesitant to host or participate in events or conferences, with Samsung saying in May it will attend Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress virtually, even though the conference will have an in-person portion.
However, 2022 and beyond may bring a different perspective to companies hosting events.
