Update: a new Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus leak reveals all about the cameras. And camera upgrades are one of our five most wanted upgrades in the Galaxy S22.
We've heard a lot about the Samsung Galaxy S22 range's rear cameras, but very little about the front cameras. Until.
Sources speaking to GalaxyClub claim that the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22 Plus (possibly also named the S22 Pro) will have 10MP selfie cameras, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra will use a 40MP sensor. Those megapixel counts are the same as the Galaxy S21 series and the Galaxy S20 series range. If you're disappointed by these specs, don't worry, as there's likely more to this story than just the sensors' megapixels.
- Samsung Galaxy S22 release date, price, specs and leaks
- Capture your best side with the best camera phones
- Plus: Hey Siri — I think you need to give better directions in iOS Maps
While looking at these rumored resolutions gives the impression that Samsung's not changed anything, this may not be the case. You can improve or change cameras in more ways than just the megapixel count.
One option would be to increase the sensor size. Another would be to or alter the aperture size, as Samsung did when moving from the Galaxy S10 to the Galaxy S20. That's to say nothing of possible software upgrades, something Samsung has reliably introduced with new handsets and subsequent OS updates, which can also influence camera performance or add new features.
As such, while the selfie cameras on the Galaxy S22 range may not have a bump in megapixel count, there could be some changes to field of view or aperture. And we'd place a good bet that Samsung will work on improving the image processing and photography software to improve selfie snaps and video.
Speaking of cameras, the rear suite of snappers for the Galaxy S22 Ultra have also been the subject of rumors that there will be zero or limited change from last year's model. It's tipped to have a 108MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide camera and two 10MP telephoto cameras, just like the Galaxy S21 Ultra. However, the sensors are tipped to get an upgrade, plus Samsung's said to be reworking the 108MP high-resolution camera mode to give better super-detailed shots.
The cameras rumored for the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus are a little different from their Galaxy S21 equivalents. These are tipped to use a 50MP main camera (possibly the same one found in the Google Pixel 6), a 12MP ultrawide camera and a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.
While the resolution of the main and telephoto cameras have decreased (from 64MP and 48MP respectively), these new sensors are likely larger and more sensitive than the previous versions, which will make for overall better images. Plus, the telephoto sensor's 3x optical zoom would be a big improvement from the 3x hybrid zoom of the S21 and S21 Plus.
You could argue that Samsung, by not upgrading the resolution of its selfie cameras since the Galaxy S10 (excluding the introduction of the Ultra models), is stagnating, or being lazy. However given that its Galaxy S phones still rank highly on our best camera phones guide, clearly this hasn't proved an issue for photo quality. One could make the same point about Apple's iPhones. The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro uses the same 12MP resolution for all rear cameras that have appeared on iPhones for years, while still coming top of the class for phone photography.
There's more than just the cameras to look out for when the Galaxy S22 series emerges, likely in February of next year. All models are all said to be equipped with a new chipset, either the Snapdragon 898 or the Exynos 2200 (rumored to feature an AMD GPU), and are also tipped to receive a resize, with the S22 and S22 Plus shrinking overall and the S22 Ultra increasing in width.
Part of the S22 Ultra's width increase could be due to another rumor — a built-in S Pen stylus. The Galaxy S21 Ultra was capable of using a separate S Pen as an optional accessory, but the rumored inclusion of one as standard that can be stored within the phone's body is particularly exciting since it positions the S22 Ultra as effectively the next Galaxy Note.
