Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Galaxy S20 Ultra — should you upgrade?

 The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and Galaxy S20 Ultra appear to be very similar phones, but there are still quite a few differences between these super phones. Two years is a long time in the smartphone world, and the S22 Ultra brings several improvements to the S20 Ultra’s template.

Maybe the two-year contract on that Galaxy S20 Ultra you bought in 2020 is about to expire, and you’re wondering if it’s worth upgrading to the Galaxy S22 Ultra. We’ve broken down the features of both phones below.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs Galaxy S20 Ultra price and availability

The Galaxy S20 Ultra cost $1,399 when it debuted. That’s still a surprisingly expensive price, even for a high-end flagship phone.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Galaxy S20 Ultra design

The two phones look similar from the front, with large curved displays and a central punch-hole selfie camera. However, the Galaxy S20 Ultra has a slightly larger screen at 6.9 inches compared to the 6.8-inch S22 Ultra.

The difference is greater at the back. The S20 Ultra has a large rectangular camera bump in the top left corner of the phone, while the S22 Ultra’s cameras are embedded individually in a p-shaped array on the back of the phone. But the biggest difference comes in the form of the S22 Ultra’s integrated S Pen. The S20 Ultra can’t even take a stylus, let alone make room for it in the body.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs Galaxy S20 Ultra display

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a slightly larger screen at 6.9 inches than the 6.8-inch S22 Ultra. Both panels offer QHD resolution, and both have a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. However, there are key differences in how these refresh rates and resolutions work.

The Galaxy S20 Ultra has a static refresh rate, meaning you can set it to 120Hz or 60Hz with no room for adjustment in between. Also, if you set the phone to 120Hz, the phone will default to FHD resolution instead of full QHD to save a bit of battery life.

Although the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s display has a maximum refresh rate of no more than 120Hz, it can still maintain a QHD resolution. Plus, its refresh rate is adaptive, meaning the phone can drop the refresh rate all the way down to 1Hz when the display isn’t moving, saving battery life when you don’t need the smoothness. When you’re doing something that benefits from a fast refresh rate, the screen rises again.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Galaxy S20 Ultra cameras

On its back, you’ll find a 108MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, a 48MP telephoto camera with 4x optical zoom, and a time-of-flight sensor for measuring distance. The S20 Ultra also has a 40MP selfie camera on the front.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera is similar but improved compared to its earlier predecessor. You still get a 108MP main camera, but it now has a larger sensor and an ultra-sharp lens that improves low-light shots without flare. There’s also a 12MP ultra-wide camera, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a second 10MP telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom. at last. The S22 Ultra also offers a 40MP selfie camera.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Galaxy S20 Ultra performance

The Galaxy S20 Ultra features a Snapdragon 865 chipset, 12GB or 16GB of RAM, and a choice of 128GB or 512GB of storage.

The S22 is equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a chip from the same family as the 865 but two generations newer. For memory, choose from 8GB, 12GB, or 16GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. That means you can opt for worse RAM specs than the S20 Ultra if you want, but you can also get more if you’re willing to pay for it.

There’s a clear gap between the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Galaxy S20 Ultra, whether it’s computing performance, graphics processing, or video rendering.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Galaxy S20 Ultra battery and charging

Both Ultra phones are powered by 5,000 mAh batteries and support 45W charging. However, the S20 Ultra ships with a 25W charger in the box. The S22 Ultra does not come with a charger.

With the regular adaptive refresh rate enabled, the S22 Ultra lasted 9 hours and 50 minutes on a single charge on our custom battery rundown test. Fixed at 120Hz, the Galaxy S20 Ultra ran for 9 hours and 13 minutes, which shows that while the S22 Ultra has improved, it’s not as much as we’d like.

In terms of charging, the S20 Ultra charges from 0% to 63% in 30 minutes using its included 25W charger. The S22 Ultra charges to 58% in the same amount of time using a 25W charger, even with the same battery capacity.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Galaxy S20 Ultra software

As you might expect, both phones use Android through Samsung’s One UI interface, although the S20 Ultra starts with Android 10 and One UI 2.0, while the S22 Ultra starts with Android 12 and One UI 4.1.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Samsung battery