Photo: Samsung.com
By: Nick Gambino
Samsung held its 2022 Unpacked event on Wednesday where they unveiled all their newest flagship mobile products.
There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to when Samsung holds their annual big tech reveal events. Sometimes they’re in August and sometimes they’re in February. I guess it’s whenever their newest Galaxy phones are ready to take center stage. Or when the rumors are spoiling all the best surprises, which might be the case here.
Let’s look at what the tech giant introduced at the Unpacked event this year.
First up?
PHONES
These popular smartphones always come in pairs. They announced the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus which, unsurprisingly, are just slightly better versions of the S21 and S21 Plus. They’re not reinventing the wheel here, but those who love their Galaxy phones and enjoy trading them in every year will like the improved main sensor and optical zoom.
Screen size has taken a hit here with the S22 coming in at 6.1 inches and the S22 Plus at 6.6 inches. That’s about an inch smaller than the S21 and S21 Plus respectively.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra was the most anticipated reveal of the event. The new phone sports a 6.8-inch…get ready for a mouthful…WQHD+ AMOLED 2X display. It’s fitted with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor just like the S22’s, but there’s a lot more power in the camera with a 4-camera module. It includes a 108-megapixel, ultrawide and two telephoto lenses.
The Ultra, as it’s basically the newest Note, allows you to use the S Pen stylus and even comes with a built-in holder on the phone to store it.
Prices: S22 ($800), S22 Plus ($1,000) and S22 Ultra ($1,200)
You can pre-order the Galaxy S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra now. They’re expected to ship on February 25.
Next up?
TABLETS
Following the path laid out by Samsung’s smartphones, the tablets are seeing a similar rollout. The company unveiled the Galaxy Tab S8 and Tab S8 Plus. The smaller of the two features an 11-inch LCD display while the S8 Plus bumps it way up with a 12.4-inch OLED display.
In terms of the guts, they are both running on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, just like the three new S22 smartphones. As these are low to midrange tablets, they’re not investing a lot in the cameras, so these guys come with respectable but not mind-blowing 13MP front-shooting cameras.
The S8 Ultra is trying to go head-to-head with the iPad Pro by bringing it with a 14.6-inch OLED screen and two front cameras best for 4K video calls. This latter feature highlights their intention to target the professional crowd and those who work a lot from home. There’s also an optional keyboard attachment.
Prices: Tab S8 ($700), Tab S8 Plus ($900) and Tab S8 Ultra ($1,100)
You can pre-order all of the Samsung tablets now with an expected shipping date of February 28.
That’s all she wrote at the Unpacked event. A solid offering but nothing earth-shattering.
