Galaxy S22 Ultra vs Note 20 Ultra: Is the rumored price increase justified?

The future of the Galaxy Note brand is uncertain, but the spirit of the iconic S Pen flagship will live on through the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The latter model will adopt many Galaxy Note traits, such as a built-in S Pen holster and a boxier design with squarer corners. So, at least on a design and functionality level, the Galaxy S22 Ultra should appeal to Galaxy Note fans that can look past the name. But whether or not the Galaxy S22 Ultra will successfully fill the shoes of the Note series remains to be seen, as one of the main deciding factors will surely be the launch price.

It so happens that we may have learned the Galaxy S22 series' launch prices for Europe earlier today. The Galaxy S22 Ultra will reportedly cost €1,249. That would be the starting price for the model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage, whereas the 12GB + 256GB / 512GB models will reportedly cost €1,349 and €1,449, respectively.

As a reminder, Samsung released the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in August 2020 in two memory configurations rather than three. The base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage debuted for €1,299, and the variant with 512GB of storage went on sale for €1,399.

In essence, this means that the Galaxy S22 Ultra with the same memory configuration as the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra will be €50 more expensive, regardless if you pick the 256GB of 512GB variant. So, will it be worth it?

Does the Galaxy S22 Ultra bring anything new aside from the usual yearly upgrades?

The Galaxy S22 Ultra will be technically superior to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra because it's a newer phone, and the mobile world advances every year. But as far as pricing goes, the usual yearly advancements rarely justify a higher cost. Releasing a new chipset every year is the mobile world's natural order, and a new SoC rarely calls for a considerable bump in price. Otherwise, with over a decade of yearly advancements, our smartphones would've been a lot more expensive than they are now.

So, rather than discussing the anticipated yearly advancements that nobody expects to drive phone prices up like crazy every year, why not look for any extra features the Galaxy S22 Ultra might have over the Note 20 Ultra and try to determine if the higher-by-€50 launch price is justified in any reasonable way?

And, once again, just to make sure we're all on the same page, by “extra features,” we're not referring to the usual yearly upgrades everyone expects at no significant extra cost — such as a newer chipset, newer firmware, improved display brightness, a newer Bluetooth standard, etc.

What we're looking for, in particular, are features that the Galaxy S22 Ultra has and the Note 20 Ultra lacks altogether, as well as upgrades that are expected to arrive at some point in the future but aren't a part of the yearly upgrade cycle (such as faster charging). Without further ado, here they are, based on leaks and rumors:

• The Galaxy S22 Ultra has an additional 10MP telephoto camera, increasing the number of rear-facing shooters to four.
• The Galaxy S22 Ultra has an extra 500mAh battery capacity (5,000mAh total).
• The Galaxy S22 Ultra could support 45W super-fast charging, up from 25W (the charger will be sold separately).
• The Galaxy S22 Ultra might be getting a Bespoke Edition with lots more color options. This has yet to be confirmed, and it's unclear which S22 variant might be getting special treatment.

Is the Galaxy S22 Ultra's (purported) €50-higher price tag justified?

If you really need a 10MP telephoto camera, faster charging, or any of the other additions mentioned above, then, well, you could say it's up to you to justify the €50 higher price. It's all subjective, so if a 10MP telephoto shooter was the only thing missing from the Note formula, well, here you have it.

But as far as Samsung's pricing philosophy and the Galaxy S22 Ultra's bill of materials are concerned, I'm on the fence regarding the higher price.

Granted, Samsung spends quite a lot of money on camera systems for its flagship phones. For example, the Galaxy S20 Ultra's camera setup had cost Samsung $107.50 and accounted for 1/5 of the phone's bill of materials.

Add to that the cost of the larger, faster-charging battery for the Galaxy S22 Ultra, along with the possibility of a Bespoke Edition, and the €50 higher price still seems a bit excessive, though perhaps easier to digest. Unfortunately, it isn't.

That moment when the record scratches and silence follows

Samsung hasn't said anything about the contents of the Galaxy S22 Ultra retail box, but we're confident that the device won't ship with a wall charger or a pair of wired earbuds in the retail box. The Galaxy Note 20 didn't have a pair of earbuds in the USA, where customers had to ask for one at checkout, but it had this accessory everywhere else. It also shipped with a 25W fast charger, while the Galaxy S22 series will likely be accompanied by a USB-C cable.

So, while it may not be too difficult to justify the Galaxy S22 Ultra's rumored price hike purely from a spec point of view, the lack of accessories in the retail box puts a different twist on the whole equation. Those savings could've covered the cost of hardware upgrades without needing to increase the phone's MSRP. But those savings don't seem to have been passed on to the customer in any visible way, and instead, the phone's price seemingly went up while the contents of the retail box are dwindling. Who knows?! At this pace, the Galaxy S22 Ultra could very well ship without a screen protector, like the Galaxy S21 FE.

If these rumored prices are correct, then, in my opinion, the Galaxy S22 Ultra doesn't deserve the higher price over the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Perhaps the price bump could've been justified if the S22 Ultra had accessories in the box, but without them, arguing in favor of Samsung seems futile. Let's hope for the best next month at Galaxy Unpacked.

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra long-term review

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