The gap has only grown with the release of the iPhone 14, which runs on a modified version of the A15 Bionic that powered the iPhone 13, and the iPhone 14 Pro, which features an even faster A16 Bionic. While the Galaxy S22 can still hold its own against most Android phones, any recent iPhone outmuscles Samsung's one-time flagship. Samsung phones have traditionally struggled with one of our real world tests in which we use Adobe Premiere Rush to transcode a 4K video into 1080p. It took last year's Galaxy S21 more than 1 minute to finish the task, but the Galaxy S22 improves that time to 47 seconds. That's still longer than the iPhone 13's 26-second time, but faster than the 49-second result the Pixel 6 turned in. The Galaxy S23 shaves another 8 seconds off the S22's time, with the help of its more advanced processor.

While the cameras of the Galaxy S22 are slightly better overall, there are some interesting things to note here as not the entire module is an upgrade over the previous model and there are some unexpected downgrades with some sensors. The overall sensor design is superior in the S22, which is always great to see - the main lens goes from 12 MP to 50 MP too. But then the telephoto lens goes from 64 MP to 10 MP for some unknown reason. At least the optical zoom is now bumped up to 1.3x here from 1.1x. We know that megapixels aren't everything, but it's still a huge drop in photo resolution. Still, the overall photo quality is very satisfying. For their enthusiasts, the Single Take and Dual View modes are still here too.Instead, the Galaxy S22 seems aimed at people who have older phones — at least two years old, though people still using a phone from 2019 or earlier will see the biggest improvements when they upgrade to the Galaxy S22. This is a solid step ahead for Samsung, with the improvements to the display and the camera particularly noticeable.

The Galaxy S22 features the same basic camera setup that Samsung used for the Galaxy S21, but with some notable improvements to the hardware. The main camera now has a 50MP rating instead of the 12MP wide-angle shooter used in last year's phone. The sensor is 23% larger, too, to let in more light, as Samsung makes a push to improve camera performance in low light.If you are someone who prefers Android, has a lavish budget and prefers large displays over compact form factors, then the S22 Ultra is certainly a no-brainer among the 2022 models. Featuring an almost undeniably beautiful design, the S22 Ultra comes with a 6.8-inch AMOLED display, running at 3088 x 1440 pixel resolution and resulting in a 500 per-pixel-inch clarity. With a dynamic refresh rate that goes from 1Hz all the way up to 120Hz, it offers fantastic functionality and vivid colours with everything you may possibly do on the phone. With the peak brightness of 1750 nits and Samsung's Vision Booster technology, the display performs great even under direct sunlight and stays comfortably bright whenever you may need it. Moreover, there is an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner placed on the bottom half of it and said to be quite secure. Cameras: No More Contour Cut You only have to look at the Galaxy S23 to see how Samsung missed the mark with battery life on the Galaxy S22. The newer flagship rides the power efficiency of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset to a 10 hour, 27 minute result — and that's with the adaptive refresh rate on the display turned on. That 2.5-hour difference in battery test results is one reason to pay up for the Galaxy S23 over the Galaxy S22. Like every phone we test, we set the Galaxy S22's screen to 150 nits and had it surf the web over cellular — 5G, in this case — until it ran out of power. The results did not impress, as the Galaxy S22 managed 7 hours and 51 minutes of battery life — a little more than two hours worse than the average smartphone. Turning off adaptive refresh rate improved matters a little, with an average time of 8 hours and 2 minutes, though that's still short of what we'd expect from a premium phone like the Galaxy S22. The Galaxy S22 debuted with Samsung's One UI 4.1 interface for Android 12, but Android 13 should now be available through Samsung's One UI 5 update. In fact, the One UI 5.1 update that debuted with the Galaxy S23 should be available for the Galaxy S22 at this point. If you wind up getting a Galaxy S22, be sure to look at our guide to the S22 features to enable and disable right away. We've also got a look at the top hidden features on Samsung phones, including the S22. Samsung Galaxy S22 review: How it compares to the Galaxy S23