Initial Review Verdict: The Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ finally get the processor that fans and users in the Philippines have been clamoring for, along with multiple quality of life improvements for 2022.

Pros

• New 50-megapixel sensor
• Gorilla Glass Victus protection on both sides
• Variants for the Philippines uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor

Cons

• Design is the same as last year’s iteration
• Nothing really ground-breaking specs-wise
• The battery is a little low on the vanilla S22

Samsung Galaxy S22 Philippines Specs

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor
• 8GBGB LPDDR5 RAM
• 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• 6.1-inch Full HD+ Dynamic AMOLED display, 120hz refresh rate, 240hz touch response rate
• 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with OIS and Dual Pixel AF, 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with OIS and 3x optical zoom
• 10-megapixel f/2.2 selfie camera
• 4G, LTE, 5G
• WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS
• In-display fingerprint scanner, IP68 Rating, stereo speakers
• 3700mAh battery
• 25w wired charging, 15w wireless charging
• Android 12, One UI 4.1

Samsung Galaxy S22+ Philippines Specs

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor
• 8GBGB LPDDR5 RAM
• 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• 6.6-inch Full HD+ Dynamic AMOLED display, 120hz refresh rate, 240hz touch response rate
• 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with OIS and Dual Pixel AF, 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with OIS and 3x optical zoom
• 10-megapixel f/2.2 selfie camera
• 4G, LTE, 5G
• WiFi 6e, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS
• In-display fingerprint scanner, IP68 Rating, stereo speakers
• 4500mAh battery
• 45w wired charging, 15w wireless charging
• Android 12, One UI 4.1

As good as they were, Samsung’s top-end S-series flagships always had one glaring flaw for the Philippine market: they came with Exynos chips. While the Exynos chipsets were essentially flagship SoCs, they couldn’t hold a candle to equivalent Qualcomm chips when it came to performance and thermal management. This year’s crop of phones finally has Snapdragon processors when they come to the Philippines, which addresses the biggest concern of people looking to grab Samsung’s S-series phones.

Design

If you’ve seen the Galaxy S21 series of phones, you have a good idea of what the Galaxy S22 and S22+ look like. There really aren’t any glaring differences design-wise between the flagships of 2021 and 2022, since most of the changes are done under the hood.

You’re still getting a mostly symmetrical design (sans the camera module) with a flat front and back, along with curved corners. The overall dimensions of the phones (70.6x146x7.6mm for the S22 and 75.8×157.4×7.6mm) make them easy to handle one-handed.

The front and rear of the phones are protected by Corning’s toughest glass protection, Gorilla Glass Victus, and for the first time, both devices use Samsung’s armor aluminum for the frame, giving both phones extra rigidity and toughness for everyday use.

The camera module on both phones is made out of aluminum, and has the same coloration as the rest of the body, unlike the color-blocked module on the S21 series.

Controls and ports are still the same, and the phone still uses an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on the display so both phones still retain the same-sized buttons as before. Both phones also have IP68 water resistance as well.

Samsung will be offering the two phones in four colors: Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, and Burgundy.

Display

Samsung’s displays for its top-end phones rarely disappoint, and that’s still the case with the S22 and S22+. The S22 has a 6.1-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display that has an intelligently shifting refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz, as well as a 240Hz touch sampling rate in Game Mode. The S22+ has a slightly bigger display, coming in at 6.6-inches big. There’s a 10-megapixel front camera housed in a halo notch near the top of the phone.

Both phones use flatscreen panels, a far cry from Samsung’s previous experiments with curved displays. While I was a fan previously of phones with curved panels, the accidental touches on the sides proved bothersome and annoying (even with strong touch-rejection built-in). You don’t get that kind of problem with the displays of both phones.

Cameras

The biggest change for the new batch of flagships will be the cameras – both the Galaxy S22 and S22+ will get a new, 50-megapixel rear camera that sports dual pixel AF, OIS, and an aperture of f/1.8. There are 12-megapixel ultra-wide cameras as well with an f/2.2 aperture, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, OIS, and an f/2.4 lens.

Samsung emphasized that they’re laser-focused on providing users all the tools necessary to shoot awesome videos and photos even at night, thanks to the 50-megapixel main shooter, low aperture opening and OIS. Here are some sample shots:

Performance and battery

Samsung’s always made a point to offer the Exynos version of their flagship S series phones in the Philippines for a few years now but that’s finally changed – Philippine customers will be getting Snapdragon-powered S22 and S22+ when they’re officially released in the next few days.

Both phones get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, the top-end offering of Qualcomm as far as consumer mobile chips go. The company calls it their most advanced 5G platform as of writing, capable of pushing speeds up to 10 Gbps, as well as sporting features like Wi-Fi 6 & 6E.

The new chip is built on top of a 4nm lithography and has advertised CPU clock speeds of up to 3.0GHz. We’re not about to go into the nitty-gritty of what the new chip offers, but from what we could tell during our short time with the phone that it’s more than enough to handle everything from everyday productivity apps to top-end Android games.

Samsung isn’t going to be offering insane configurations of the Galaxy S22 and S22+. In fact, the company is offering only one RAM configuration for the new flagships, with both devices sporting only 8GB of RAM. Storage options range from 128GB for the entry-level version of the S22 and S22+, going up a tier to 256GB.

Samsung’s One UI makes a return here, layered right on top of Android 12. The phone feels very smooth with the UI, and there are plenty of customizations available to spruce up the look of the UI if you don’t like how it looks.

The Galaxy S22 only has a battery capacity of 3700mAh, which is a little underwhelming, considering what its competitors offer nowadays. The Galaxy S22+ has a slightly bigger battery capacity at 4,500mAh, which is still a little under the de-facto 5000mAh capacity we see on other smartphones.

The Galaxy S22 also has slower charge speeds compared to its bigger brother, with the smaller phone topping out at 25W for wired charging. The S22+ almost has double the charging speeds though at 45W. Both phones have 15W wireless charging capabilities.

Samsung is optimistic that the more efficient Snapdragon processor on their phone will be able to provide all-day battery life to both the S22 and S22+, though we’ll have to see in our full review to check that claim.

Wrap-up and initial verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ finally get the powerplants that they deserve, which gives us hope in our quick review for the phone in terms of greater adoption for the Philippines.

We’re a little iffy with the small-ish battery size on the phones, though again we’ll need to see in our full review of the Galaxy S22 and S22+ are able to last a whole day with plenty of use.

Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ Review Price Philippines

The Samsung Galaxy S22 has a price of just Php 45,990 for the 8GB/128GB variant, while the 8GB/256GB variant will have a price of Php 49,990.

The S22+ has a price of Php 56,990 for the 8GB/128GB variant, with the 8GB/256GB having a slightly higher price tag of Php 60,990.

Those who will pre-order either phone via Samsung.com until March 3 will get a Php 10,000 voucher, Silicone Case with Strap, and a Lucky Box Strap. Those who will pre-order via through Samsung Experience Stores, select Authorized Samsung Stores, Lazada, Shopee, Abenson.com, and MemoXpress Online will get a pair of Galaxy Buds2, Silicone Case with Strap, and a Lucky Box Strap.