Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus vs S21 Ultra

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus (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 Plus
  • 36% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1456K versus 1074K)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
  • The phone is 1 year and 1 month newer
  • Weighs 32 grams less
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • 31% higher pixel density (515 vs 393 PPI)
  • Shows 14% longer battery life (22:05 vs 19:24 hours)

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus 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
60.0
(Average)
Value Index
33.4
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.6 inches 6.8 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1440 x 3200 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 393 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 1750 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 89.7% 89.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.2% -
PWM 240 Hz -
Response time 5 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Peak brightness test (auto)
1085 nits
1015 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 157.4 mm (6.2 inches) 165.1 mm (6.5 inches)
Width 75.8 mm (2.98 inches) 75.6 mm (2.98 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 195 g (6.88 oz) 227 g (8.01 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
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

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus 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 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 10293 6870
Single-core score 1592 1486
Multi-core score 3845 3800
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1456410
CPU 514609 420330
GPU 391890 186151
Memory 210533 193925
UX 339378 273776
Total score 1456410 1074182
Samples [3 tests] [11 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 73% -
Graphics test 6 FPS -
Graphics score 866 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability 66% -
Graphics test 15 FPS -
Section 1 18 FPS -
Section 2 15 FPS -
Section 3 12 FPS -
Graphics score 3972 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 64% -
Graphics test 11 FPS -
Graphics score 1918 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 10564 -
Video editing 7378 -
Photo editing 19931 -
Data manipulation 12336 -
Writing score 15666 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-08 (Nyamka)AnTuTu1496095
📘 2026-05-06 (Максим)AnTuTu1422388
📘 2026-03-01 (Unknown)AnTuTu1456410
📘 2026-01-18 -> Gind1kAnTuTu1549060
📘 2025-08-27 -> reiGeekBench GPU9335
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-22 (Squizzyyy)AnTuTu857016
📘 2026-06-02 (My name)AnTuTu1271841
📘 2026-06-02 (Tim)AnTuTu1213515
📘 2026-01-18 (Adhamious)AnTuTu1123155
📘 2025-12-31 (onegear)AnTuTu1074182

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 28.6 GB 26.4 GB
OS updates 4 years 2 years
Security updates 5 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 45 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)
Fast charging Yes (64% in 30 min) Yes (54% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:01 hr 1:11 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 06:28 hr 07:58 hr
Watching video 11:26 hr 13:59 hr
Gaming 04:41 hr 05:14 hr
Standby 106 hr 111 hr
General battery life
19:24 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 Samsung S5K3K1 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 75 70
Preview 66 67
Zoom 121 106
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus 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 6E (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
91.3 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2022 January 2021
Release date March 2022 February 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $999 $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 Plus. 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?
436 (39.1%)
680 (60.9%)
Total votes: 1116

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
Al Winston April 15, 2022 at 02:57 PM
You forgot one big thing: The S22 Ultra has the highly annoying 'curved screen', which makes it impossible to find a case to protect it and all but guarantees it will crack the first time you drop it. It's why I went to Pixel phones. Still, the S22 plus does not have that issue, so that's another advantage to the plus over the Ultra-stupid design.
+89 Reply
Avatar
Oliver May 27, 2022 at 04:57 AM
This is comparing The S21 Ultra with the S22 Plus not the S22 Ultra with the S22 Plus. So why mention something about the S22 Ultra?
+160 Reply
Avatar
Al Jolieh December 27, 2023 at 08:33 PM
Indeed, I agree. The curved screen was a poor design decision, as it exponentially increases the chance of the screen breaking. My Samsung Note's screen is currently broken, and the cost for an original replacement is prohibitive. I will certainly never purchase a smartphone with a curved screen again!
+10 Reply