BREAKING: This is the Galaxy S22 Ultra, come check it out!

Well, it's finally happening, or should we say it's happening a little earlier than usual this time around: The first live photo of Samsung's next Galaxy S flagship has hit the internet, almost three months before it's expected to go official. Pictures showing the Galaxy S22 Ultra and its updated rear-facing design and a built-in S Pen slot have been published by the folks over at FrontPageTech.

Galaxy Note 10 reborn

The Galaxy S22 Ultra — as seen in these first real-life photos — looks more like a Galaxy Note than a Galaxy S model. It's almost as if Samsung went back to the drawing board after the launch of the Galaxy Note 20 and decided to update and bring back the Galaxy Note 10 design for a new generation.

Unlike the Note 10 series though, the back panel has a matte finish and six circular cutouts for the main cameras, the laser autofocus module, and the LED flash. The dedicated S Pen holster is there — on the left side of the phone. It's hard to tell, but the back panel might be made of plastic.

The main camera setup should comprise a 108MP main shooter, a 12MP ultra-wide sensor, and two 10MP telephoto cameras with 3x and 10x zoom capabilities. The selfie camera is contained in an Infinity-O display cutout, as UDC (Under-Display Camera) technology is not yet ready to drop its Galaxy Z Fold 3 exclusivity.

After a bit of back and forth regarding the possible release of the Galaxy S22 series, we now know — as reported exclusively — that Samsung will launch it in February.