Samsung's new S22 lineup delivers on style and sustainability

San Jose, California - Samsung is back with three new flagship phones. The latest generation of the best-selling Galaxy flagships brings a range of minor updates and some bigger changes, including more stylus action.

Samsung went for a more reserved set of colors for the S22 phones.
Samsung went for a more reserved set of colors for the S22 phones.  © Collage: Samsung

The trio of new phones is led by the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which the tech giant says combines the high-end camera and performance regularly seen in its S Series with the power and built-in S-Pen stylus from the popular Note Series of phablets.

Last year, Samsung chose to release a new range of foldable smartphones instead of a new Galaxy Note – the large-screen phone which comes with the S-Pen stylus built-in – as part of a shake-up of its device portfolio.

Now, the larger screen and stylus have been added to the S22 Ultra, which comes with a 6.8-inch Edge QHD+ display and 120Hz screen refresh rate for smoother scrolling, as well as an improved quad rear camera system, a large battery and fast charging.

Meanwhile, the base model S22 has a 6.1-inch FHD+ screen and the S22+ has a 6.6-inch FHD+ display. Both devices have the 120Hz screen refresh rate also seen on the Ultra and house triple rear camera systems.

The tech giant confirmed that S22 and S22+ will be available on March 11, with the S22 Ultra coming slightly earlier, on February 25.

Sustainability goals

Samsung has goals and pledges to reduce its climate impact.
Samsung has goals and pledges to reduce its climate impact.  © Collage: Samsung, IMAGO / blickwinkel

Samsung has some ambitious-sounding pledges on how it will bring down its environmental impact.

Goals include moving completely away from plastic packaging by 2025, which would be huge for a company that shipped 275 million smartphones in 2021 alone.

The company also plans to drop the amount of waste from its products in landfills to zero by 2025, and have recycled plastics in all of its phones by the same year.

The S22 lineup also features more sustainable practices by using up to 20% recycled fishing nets for its frames, which Forbes reports would stop an estimated 50 tons of nets from ending up as ocean waste.

That may be a drop in the ocean compared to the 640,000 tons of fishing nets that end up as floating garbage each year, but it's a start.

The good news is that Samsung stopped pumping up prices for a device that releases every year, and is working to make its products greener. But by 2025 the company will have to walk the walk to prove it's not just all talk.

Cover photo: Collage: Samsung

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