I’ve owned the Galaxy S21 Ultra for a while now and have just recently purchased and tested the brand new S22 Ultra. Samsung has done an amazing job with both of these phones, as they usually do, and I would be happy to recommend either option. So, If you are deciding whether or not to upgrade from the 21 to the 22, or if you’re deciding which of these phones to purchase, this article should answer your questions! We’ll go over the similarities between the two phones, their differences and my personal review of both. If you’d prefer to watch instead of read, check out the full video on the State of Tech YouTube channel here:
More details about both phones here:
https://jerad.link/galaxys21ultra
https://jerad.link/galaxys22ultra
Let’s dive in!
Similarities
These devices have small differences in how they appear. Overall though, the two phones look very similar. The S22 Ultra is slightly boxier, making it look a bit more like a Galaxy Note hybrid. Both phones have a 6.8” quad HD display. I love the displays on these phones. They’re bright, crisp and have a premium look to them with the hole punch style. Both displays have a 120hz adaptive refresh rate. The adaptive refresh rate gives your phone the full 120hz feel when you need it, but slows it down when you don’t to save battery.
Both phones offer 12gb of RAM. The S21 Ultra also offers a 16gb RAM option for it’s 1tb storage option. This boost in RAM is mostly there to support the greater amount of storage, so it doesn’t really affect the overall performance.
Both phones have a 5,000 milliamp battery, which is fantastic, and neither of the phones have micro SD card slots. It seems as though Samsung has done away with that feature.
The quad camera cluster on the rear are very similar. Both phones have two ultra wide telephoto lenses, a wide-angle lens, and an ultra wide lens. The front-facing camera is exactly the same on both devices with a 40mp hole punch camera.
Both phones are IP68 dust and water resistant. I’ve been very impressed with Samsung’s IP68 certification. I’ve used many of their phones in the water, out in the mountains, at the beach, and have yet to see any form of damage or wear.
Lastly, both phones support 5g and wifi 6.
Differences
Okay, so we’ve discussed all of the things these devices have in common. Now, let’s talk about how they are different. The first, and most notable, difference is the S pen on the S22 Ultra. Samsung has effectively combined the Galaxy Note lineup of phones with the S series of phones into the S22 Ultra, which is a fantastic hybrid of the two lineups. This is a feature that the S21 Ultra does not have.
When it comes to design, the S22 Ultra, as I mentioned before, has more of a squared off body, which is reminiscent of the Note lineup design. The style of the camera cluster is also slightly different. The S22 Ultra is also slightly thinner and slightly heavier.
The adaptive refresh rate that we discussed earlier is also different on the two phones. The S21 Ultra has an adaptive refresh rate range of 10-120hz while the S22 Ultra has a range of 1-120hz. This extra range is going to give the S22 Ultra an extra boost in battery life and phone efficiency. The S22 Ultra also has a higher level of HDR10 called HDR10+. This means that the display will be a bit brighter and will have slightly better color clarity in bright situations. The S22 Ultra has a feature called Eye Comfort Shield which is an AI assisted screen color tool that adjusts the color of the display depending on the environment you’re in. This is a fantastic new feature that is great at night or in darker situations. The AI also helps to preserve accurate colors when you’re using the phone for gaming.
Lastly, the S22 Ultra offers fast charging at 45 watts while the S21 Ultra only offers 25 watts.
Performance
I ran some GeekBench tests on both of these phones to test their performance capabilities. You can see the results in the images below:
The results essentially show that there has definitely been a huge increase in performance between these two phones. These tests aren’t necessarily a true comparison because the two phones I have are different RAM options. Overall though, both phones were incredibly fast and incredibly powerful.
Camera Performance
To test the cameras, I did my best to take similar pictures with each phone to compare them side by side. Check out some of those images below:
What I found with my camera tests were that both phones take pretty amazing images. It truly is hard to tell the difference between the two, as you can see in some of the side by side shots. The one area where I felt the S22 Ultra performed slightly better was when I took an image and then zoomed way in on it. The S22 Ultra is slightly sharper. You can see what I mean in this zoomed in picture of the flowers.
My Experience
In my opinion, I like the square body of the S22 Ultra more than the rounded body of the S21 Ultra. It feels like it just fits in my hand a bit better and it’s a bit easier to hold. The square body also makes me feel like I’m getting more real estate out of my display. I haven’t noticed much of a difference in display quality. Both phones have great displays.
Now, the S pen is something that I have never truly adopted into my daily life. I like having it. I like the option of using it as a stylist for marking up screenshots and drawing in social media apps, but other than that, I really don’t utilize it as much as others may.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience of using both phones quite a bit. I would be happy to recommend either option.
Final Thoughts
Samsung is changing things up with the S22 Ultra. It’s an amazing hybrid between the S series and the Note series. I’m excited to see where they’ll take the lineups over the next few years. I hope this article helped you see how the phones are similar and how they’re different. To choose the best option for you, I would advise that you decide which features are most important and then choose the phone that best fits those needs. If you’re interested in more Samsung Galaxy content, check out these videos on the State of Tech YouTube channel:
