Samsung Galaxy S22+ vs Galaxy S21+: Should you upgrade?

The Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra were made official today. All three high-end smartphones offer various improvements over their predecessors, and they will be among the best high-end devices released this year. But if you already have the Galaxy S21+, should you upgrade to the Galaxy S22+? Let us find out how the Galaxy S22+ compares with the Galaxy S21+.

Galaxy S22+ has a more premium build and brighter display

Even though the Galaxy S21+ and the Galaxy S22+ feature a similar design, the latter feels more premium due to Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the back. In comparison, the Galaxy S21+ uses a plastic back. Gorilla Glass Victus+ covers the Galaxy S22+’s front as well, so it will be slightly better at protecting the screen. Both smartphones use metal bodies and have an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. They also use an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader.

The Galaxy S22+ has a 6.6-inch display, slightly smaller than Galaxy S21+’s 6.7-inch screen. The bezels are thinner and more uniform on the newer phone. Both devices use Dynamic AMOLED 2X panels with Full HD+ resolution, HDR10+, and up to 120Hz refresh rate. However, the Galaxy S21+ only goes as high as 1,300 nits peak brightness, while the Galaxy S22+ offers up to 1,750 nits peak brightness. The new phone also offers a better variable refresh rate (10-120Hz) than the Galaxy S21+ (48-120Hz).

Samsung has also improved primary, zoom cameras with its new phone

Cameras are pretty important for almost everyone, and Samsung has made multiple improvements on that front. The Galaxy S21+ debuted with a 12MP primary camera with OIS, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 64MP camera with 3x hybrid zoom. Its successor, the Galaxy S22+, comes with a bigger and higher resolution 50MP (1/1.57-inch) sensor, complete with dual-pixel autofocus and OIS. It results in better images and videos in all conditions.

It also uses a 10MP telephoto camera with a 3x optical zoom lens and OIS, which means that the Galaxy S22+ should offer better image and video quality when you zoom in. There might not be any difference in ultrawide photos and selfies because the Galaxy S22+ uses the same ultrawide and front-facing cameras as its predecessor.

Both phones offer 4K 60fps video recording from all their cameras and 8K 24fps video recording through the rear-facing camera setup.

Exynos 2200/Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 offers better gaming and day-to-day performance

The Galaxy S22+ uses a new 4nm processor (Exynos 2200 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, depending on the region. It should offer faster processing, improved gaming, and better power efficiency than the Galaxy S21+’s 5nm chipset (Exynos 2100 or Snapdragon 888). Both smartphones have 8GB RAM and 128GB/256GB internal storage, but they miss out on a microSD card slot for storage expansion.

Galaxy S22+ will get longer software update support

The Galaxy S21+ came running Android 11-based One UI 3.1 out of the box and is eligible to receive updates up to Android 15. The Galaxy S22+ runs Android 12-based One UI 4.1 out of the box and will get four OS updates, so it will run Android 16 sometime in late 2025 or early 2026.

Both smartphones have 5G (mmWave and sub-6GHz) and LTE connectivity, GPS, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, Samsung Pay, and a USB 3.2 Type-C port. The Galaxy S22+ gets a slightly newer version of Bluetooth (v5.2), which should help with slightly better connection reliability and range, but most people might not notice a significant difference.

Galaxy S22+ has faster charging, but battery life might disappoint compared to Galaxy S21+

The Galaxy S22+ is powered by a 4,500mAh battery, a noticeable drop from the Galaxy S21+’s 4,800mAh cell. Despite power efficiency improvements through the processor, the Galaxy S22+ might not match its predecessor’s battery life. Of course, we will test the real-life battery performance once we get our hands on the Galaxy S22+.

The new phone offers much faster charging speeds (45W), which should negate battery anxiety. According to Samsung, the Galaxy S22+ offers 50% charging within 20 minutes, and a full charge would take up to an hour. In comparison, the Galaxy S21+ was limited to just 25W fast charging. Both phones offer 15W fast wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging.

So, should you upgrade to the Galaxy S22+?

The Galaxy S22+ offers a more compact design, a more premium build, faster performance, better cameras, newer software, longer software update support, and faster charging. If you don’t want to miss out on these improvements, it makes sense to upgrade to the Galaxy S22+.

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Galaxy S22+

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Galaxy S21+

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