Samsung Galaxy S22 leak hints at a spec compromise
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Last week, we reported about Samsung's plans to unveil the Galaxy S22 series at the first Galaxy Unpacked event for 2022. The event, which is likely to be held on February 8, 2022, will see the company announce the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy S22, S22 Plus, and the S22 Ultra devices to replace its existing S21 series. Samsung's official blog post announcing the event also dropped subtle hints that point toward the likelihood of the top-end Galaxy S22 Ultra being a veritable Galaxy Note replacement.
Even though there were initial rumors about the Galaxy S22 series likely receiving a price cut in 2022, newer reports have more or less negated such a possibility. In fact, recent reports indicate the probability of the Galaxy S22 series costing $100 more than its predecessors in the U.S. However, European Galaxy S22 buyers might be luckier in this regard if we are to believe popular (and trustworthy) tech writer and info leaker Ronald Quandt. In a recent tweet, Ronald revealed pretty much everything a prospective European Galaxy S22 buyer needs to know about the pricing of the Galaxy S22 series.
The key takeaway from his tweet is Samsung seems to have decided against raising the prices of the Galaxy S21 lineup in Europe.
What's the catch?
Eagle-eyed Samsung fans were quick a note a discrepancy in Ronald's tweets. The tweet talks about an "entry-level" Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, which will supposedly ship with just 8GB of RAM. This is quite a downgrade from last year, when even the base model of the S21 Ultra shipped with 12GB RAM. There is also no mention of a top-of-the-line SKU that shipped with a colossal 16GB of RAM last year. What concerns most users is whether Samsung's decision to keep the prices unchanged comes with the side effect of having to bear with downgraded specifications.
Also evident from Quandt's tweet is that we will see two SKUs of the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22 Plus in Europe with a starting price of EUR 849 and EUR 1049, respectively. The Galaxy S22 Ultra, on the other hand, gets three different SKUs with the base variant likely to be priced at EUR 1249 and the top variant going up to EUR 1449. Even though Samsung is yet to officially announce the date for the impending Galaxy Unpacked 2022 event, there have been several reports which indicate it could happen as early as February 8, 2022.
What do we already know?
Thanks to a series of leaked materials, we can safely assume that the Galaxy S22 and the S22 Plus series shall be very nearly visually identical to their predecessors. That may not be the case with the Galaxy S22 Ultra which is likely to sport a distinctive look to set it apart from its lower-priced siblings. Samsung's recent statement also hints at the likelihood of the S22 series getting a major boost when it comes to their low light imaging prowess, and this certainly will have to do with the company's decision to use newer, better sensors apart from making incremental improvements to Samsung's camera software.
There has also been some early (still unofficial) talk about the Galaxy S22 Ultra scoring high on the durability front with a completely new generation of Corning Gorilla Glass technology. Rumor has it that Gorilla Glass Victus+ will be making its debut with the S22. Insider tips also suggested (in that same report) that improvements have also been made to the aluminum frames used on the phones with all phones claimed to be 10% more durable than the Galaxy S21 lineup.
In the U.S., the Galaxy S22 lineup will likely be released with the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip from Qualcomm. The phone will also likely run Samsung's OneUI 4 atop an Android 12 core. It remains unclear at this time if the European and some Asian variants of the Galaxy S22 lineup will get the much-maligned Samsung Exynos chipset.