Samsung Galaxy S22 vs S21 Ultra

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S22 (with Exynos 2200) that was released on February 9, 2022, against the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is powered by Exynos 2100 and came out 1 year and 1 month before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S22
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • 30% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1398K versus 1074K)
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
  • The phone is 1 year and 1 month newer
  • Weighs 60 grams less
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 5 mm narrower
  • 8% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1600 and 1486 points
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
  • Comes with 1300 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3700 mAh
  • Shows 31% longer battery life (22:05 vs 16:55 hours)
  • Delivers 18% higher peak brightness (1025 against 865 nits)
  • 21% higher pixel density (515 vs 425 PPI)

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S22 and S21 Ultra crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
68.9
(Good)
Value Index
32.0
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.8 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1440 x 3200 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 425 ppi 515 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (10-120 Hz) Yes (10-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 780 nits 1500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1300 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 88.6% 89.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.3% -
PWM 239 Hz -
Response time 10 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S21 Ultra
6.8″ (20:9 ratio) = 17.3 in2
Galaxy S22
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~22% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
865 nits
1025 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146 mm (5.75 inches) 165.1 mm (6.5 inches)
Width 70.6 mm (2.78 inches) 75.6 mm (2.98 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 167 g (5.89 oz) 227 g (8.01 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Pink, Purple, Yellow Black, Silver, Gray, Blue
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
88.6%
89.5%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S22 and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2200 Samsung Exynos 2100
Max clock 2800 MHz 2900 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.82 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.52 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 1 core at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-X2
- 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache 4 MB -
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Yes
GPU
Graphics Xclipse 920 Mali-G78 MP14
GPU shading units 384 448
GPU clock 1306 MHz 854 MHz
FLOPS ~1003 GFLOPS ~765.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S22 and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 6870
Single-core score 1600 1486
Multi-core score 3840 3800
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S22 +30%
1398273
CPU 462329 420330
GPU 376985 186151
Memory 231805 193925
UX 327154 273776
Total score 1398273 1074182
Samples [11 tests] [11 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 65% -
Graphics test 6 FPS -
Graphics score 820 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability 66% -
Graphics test 14 FPS -
Section 1 17 FPS -
Section 2 14 FPS -
Section 3 11 FPS -
Graphics score 3751 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 66% -
Graphics test 10 FPS -
Graphics score 1830 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 11192 -
Video editing 7372 -
Photo editing 21608 -
Data manipulation 11423 -
Writing score 14877 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S22
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-21 -> MOLANGAnTuTu 121628220
📘 2026-09-21 -> MOLANGBattery lifeSOT 5:35 / 7:27
📘 2026-09-21 -> MOLANGGeekbench 6 GPU10630
📘 2026-09-12 (Ogurchik))AnTuTu 121628220
📘 2026-09-09 (Hangal)AnTuTu 111587642
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-30 -> fh_hxx19AnTuTu 121191592
📘 2026-09-30 -> fh_hxx19AnTuTu 121191592
📘 2026-07-22 (Squizzyyy)AnTuTu 11857016
📘 2026-06-02 (My name)AnTuTu 111271841
📘 2026-06-02 (Tim)AnTuTu 111213515

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock - 2750 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15)
ROM One UI 8.0 One UI 7.0
OS size 30.2 GB 26.4 GB
OS updates 4 years 2 years
Security updates 5 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 3700 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging No -
Fast charging Yes (63% in 30 min) Yes (54% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:03 hr 1:11 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 05:42 hr 07:58 hr
Watching video 10:16 hr 13:59 hr
Gaming 04:06 hr 05:14 hr
Standby 90 hr 111 hr
General battery life
16:55 hr
22:05 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 108 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 12000 x 9000
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 10x
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS Up to 24FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 108 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Telephoto: 10 MP
4) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 108 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung GN5 Samsung S5KHM3
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.33" (≈ 0.75 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 10 MP 10 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/4.9
Focal length 70 mm 240 mm
Sensor Sony IMX772 Samsung S5K3J1
Sensor size 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/2.65" (≈ 0.38 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.22 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX713 Sony IMX563
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 70 70
Preview 72 67
Zoom 126 106
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S22 from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 40 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 7864 x 5200
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor CMOS Samsung S5KGH1
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/2.65" (≈ 0.38 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 0.7 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 133
Video - 140

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.2 5.2
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- USB-Host mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 24
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
89.5 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2022 January 2021
Release date March 2022 February 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $1200
Successor - - Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
SAR (head) - 0.71 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.58 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included -
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the camera, performance, gaming, and software are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S22. But if the display and battery life are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
319 (33.4%)
636 (66.6%)
Total votes: 955

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