Samsung Galaxy S22 review

One UI 4.1 on top of Android 12

It should come as no surprise that the entire Galaxy S22 family ships with Samsung's latest One UI 4.1 on top of Android 12. Our unit also has January 1 Android security patches. That's an incremental "point one" upgrade over the One UI 4 the Galaxy S21 generation currently has. Even so, Samsung didn't debut any particular general software addition with the Galaxy S22. Instead, you get the familiar UX with all of its customizability and added-value features. Naturally, the Ultra gets some additional "Note-like" software goodies on account of its S Pen accessory, but the vanilla S22 is all familiar ground.

Before we start the mostly familiar software tour, though, Samsung did make one major announcement alongside the Galaxy S22 family. It promised four OS updates and five years of security patches for its 2022 and even retroactively its 2021 flagships. That includes the Z Fold3, Z Flip3 and the Galaxy S21 family, including the S21 FE. Extra point for effort and arguably an even better eco-friendly initiative than the recycled plastics one.

Despite the lack of any major UX changes, users upgrading from a few-year-old Samsung device might still notice some new additions and changes. Most of these debuted with One UI 4, though, like new widgets with rich customization options and new emojis and GIFs available on the keyboard. Improved privacy is also part of OneUI 4 with a new privacy dashboard with various controls and new ways for monitoring permissions. Other interesting features, notably Color Palettes, are actually part of the Android 12 core.

Keeping all of this in mind, we'll just do a quick overview. The lock screen looks the same as before with two monochrome shortcuts - dialer and camera.

The under-display fingerprint reader will likely be the primary method of unlocking for most, but you can still use face unlock either instead of or alongside it. It can be more convenient in certain situations, but it generally is less secure since it's just using the selfie camera, meaning tricking it isn't too hard.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ • S22

Always-on display is available - it's the simplified version from One UI 3. You can choose between a few clock styles or opt for an Image Clock. Music info is also supported. The feature can be always-off, always-on, scheduled, shown only when new notifications are available, or you can opt for tap-to-show for 10s.

Always-on display options

The lock screen is largely unchanged, as mentioned, and has a lot of customization options available.

Lockscreen options

OneUI 4.1 looks even cleaner than v.3.x, but its logic remains the same - there are homescreen, widgets, notification center, task switcher and an app drawer.

OneUI 4.1

Samsung has some nifty Smart Widgets that can combine a few different pieces of data and take up less space. They are also much more customizable. As we mentioned, the Samsung keyboard is now even more feature-rich and customizable than ever with the inclusion of more emojis and stickers.

Smart Widgets and new emojis

One of the new One UI 4 features is Color Palettes. This is the implementation of the vanilla Android 12's Wallpaper colors. There are usually four Color Palette suggestions in addition to the default One UI Blue/Black one. Those are picked automatically by the software, depending on your current wallpaper. The color you choose will become the main one in the newly created theme (think Windows' "accent color").

These accent colors are applied on the dialer, the quick toggles, and other tiny UI bits. You can choose to apply them to the app icons as well.

Color palettes

The dialer allows you to pick between two layouts for the in-call screen. You can also set up a background image or video for that screen, though it's going to be all the same for all of your calls - you can't have a different one on a per-person basis.

Dialer

The Settings menu contains a new Privacy Dashboard. Here you can easily see which apps are using some of the most important (for privacy) permissions. You can control the camera and control access across apps, opt for clipboard access alerts (useful if you copy passwords, social security numbers, IBANs, among others), and there is, of course, a full-blown permission manager of you like to dig deeper.

Privacy Dashboard

You get a whole bunch of options for using your Galaxy with other devices to enable various use cases. DeX is the proprietary feature that lets you use the phone as the 'computer' and add a monitor and a keyboard for added productivity - it works wirelessly or over HDMI.

Alternatively, the Link to Windows feature provides you with an interface to your phone from your computer so you can exchange images, manage notifications on your PC or even make calls from it.

Another option along those lines but with more limited potential is Continue apps on other devices. This requires you to be logged in to your Samsung account on both devices, hook them up to the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth enabled and use Samsung Internet browser or Samsung Notes. You'll then be able to copy and paste text and images across and open the same tabs in the browser.

DeX • Continue apps on other devices • Link to Windows

Other staples of proprietary Samsung software include the Edge panels - the panes that show up when you swipe in from the side and provide tools and shortcuts to apps and contacts. Game launcher, the hub for all your games, which also provides options for limiting distraction when gaming is here to stay as well.

Otherwise, the software package is similar to other Samsung phones, with an in-house Gallery app, the Game Launcher app, and a proprietary file manager. Samsung's Internet web browser is also available on the Galaxy S22.

Gallery • Game Launcher • File manager • Internet • Edge panel

The Gallery is where you'd find the new Object Eraser feature. Once you enter photo edit mode, you can opt for object eraser from More options. This is a fancier way of saying smart delete - you either paint over an object or tap on it for automatic selection. And then you hope for the best - if the object's surroundings aren't too complex, you will get a good outcome. Otherwise - it's a mixed bag. Samsung now offers shadow and reflection erasers in beta as well.

Object Eraser now with Shadow and Reflection eraser in Labs tab

Beyond all of this, the S22 comes loaded with a standard set of apps from Samsung, Microsoft and Google.

Pre-installed apps

Granted, the list has gotten a bit extensive, but there is nothing here that we would consider bloat in the traditional sense. Anything you don't personally like or appreciate having on your device can be easily uninstalled or, failing that - disabled.

Out of pure curiosity, we did try to use the S Pen from a Galaxy Note and the S22 Ultra on the S22, just like we did the S22+. It doesn't work, which is not a surprise since Samsung's stylus requires extra display hardware. Still, if anyone asks, "but have you tried?" - Yes, we did.

As always, One UI runs incredibly smooth and provides a truly industry-leading custom Android experience, chock-full of extra features and customizability.

Performance and benchmarks

Samsung tends to frequently glance over chipsets in their phones. That has been kind of the norm for a while now, though, with Apple arguably pioneering the current approach of focusing on features and experiences above all else in product reveals and advertisements. The chipset situation is arguably one of the most interesting bits in the Galaxy S22 family. As usual, European countries (check your local retailer just in case) get an Exynos chipset, whereas the rest of the world gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. In this particular case, the new flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

Our European Galaxy S22 review unit has Samsung's new Exynos 2200 chipset at tits heart alongside 8GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It is a 4nm chip, just like its Qualcomm sibling. One of the first chips to integrate an Armv9 core. The octa-core processor has a single powerful Cortex-X2 core, clocked at up to 2.8GHz, three Cortex-A710 units, working at up to 2.5GHz balancing performance and efficiency, and four Cortex-A510 at up to 1.8GHz little cores for power efficiency. Basically, the same general configuration as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, though with slightly different core clocks.

However, the more interesting bit about the Exynos 2200 is its GPU. Samsung has been collaborating with AMD and leveraging their excellent RDNA2 architecture for the Xclipse 920 GPU inside the Exynos 2200. Samsung is calling it a "one-of-a-kind hybrid graphics processor" that brings advanced features such as ray tracing and variable rate shading on mobile - the first smartphone chip to do so. While all of this sounds exciting, it is worth noting that additional work is required to properly support new rendering technologies from game developers. Failing that, a driver-level blanket solution to leverage at least some of their benefits is also possible, but there is no real official info on the matter as of yet-a rather underwhelming introduction of otherwise promising hardware. But, we digress.

The Exynos 2200 also has a shiny new NPU, with double the performance of the one inside the Exynos 2100. Some other specs on the Exynos 2200 include support for up to 200MP single camera, 8K video recording, 4K displays at up to 120Hz or QHD+ ones at 144Hz. We already went over the impressive list of connectivity options the S22 offers as well.

Before we get into the actual benchmarks, we should note that these numbers were achieved after the recent software update seeded by Samsung. The one that, among other things, addressed a recent "controversy" around throttling certain app performance. We maintain that Samsung's original approach was way more sound for delivering actually good and stable performance with prolonged loads, but that is a topic for a whole other discussing. In any case, the Game Launcher now has options to switch the behavior any way you want. Though, by default, the S22 is now tuned to force it to push harder and more aggressively initially, mostly disregarding longer-term thermal-throttling and stability concerns. Since benchmarks are relatively short in general, higher burst performance scores are achievable, as evidenced by the difference in numbers between the S22 and the S22+, which we reviewed and tested prior to this update. By the way, this is not related to the "Max processing" mode still buried in the battery menu and still mostly doing nothing in practical terms.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9 Pro
  3708
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  3682
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  3657
• Xiaomi 12
  3652
• Asus Zenfone 8
  3604
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  3549
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  3540
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  3528
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  3521
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  3518
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  3515
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  3476
• vivo X70 Pro+
  3469
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  3441
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  3296
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  3294
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  3244
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  3239
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  3238
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  3191
• Realme GT Neo2
  3186
• Xiaomi 12X
  3168
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  3049
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  2715
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  2697
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  2603

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9 Pro
  1231
• Xiaomi 12
  1187
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  1180
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  1171
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  1165
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  1130
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  1129
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  1126
• Asus Zenfone 8
  1118
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  1117
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  1117
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  1109
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  1107
• vivo X70 Pro+
  1106
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  1096
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  1095
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  1091
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  1032
• Realme GT Neo2
  1019
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  988
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  979
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  950
• Xiaomi 12X
  943
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  906
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  904
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  880

Benchmarks can only paint a rough, intentionally-controlled picture of a phone's performance. It hardly comes as a surprise that with an Exynos 2200 at its core, the Galaxy S22 performs on a flagship level. Even so, it is great to see that it makes the most out of the chipset despite its smaller size. Now that Samsung yielded to pressure and allowed performance ta ramp up even higher, we understandably get even more impressive results from the Galaxy S22.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• iQOO 9 Pro
  862324
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  745496
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  722495
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  688720
• Asus Zenfone 8
  676001
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  657273
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  657150
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  635918
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  630726
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  622276
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  607423
• Xiaomi 12X
  598003
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  596866
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  584055
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  571312
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  566529
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  564907
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  543986
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  525029
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  514485
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  508760

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• iQOO 9 Pro
  997948
• Xiaomi 12
  985115
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  968359
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  886916
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  881428
• vivo X70 Pro+
  837833
• Asus Zenfone 8
  799738
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  794016
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  761067
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  752218
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  749132
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  735588
• Realme GT Neo2
  726039
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  725839
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  719696
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  714395
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  708394
• Xiaomi 12X
  690298
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  682223

The Xclipse 920 GPU is still experiencing some performance inconsistencies and "growing pains" for lack of a better word. Despite the occasional shaky performance, the Galaxy S22 still posts very high GPU test numbers.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  53
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  50
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  43
• Asus Zenfone 8
  41
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  40
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  37
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  36
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  36
• iQOO 9 Pro
  36
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  34
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  33
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  33
• Realme GT Neo2
  33
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  32
• Xiaomi 12X
  32
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  30
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  25
• vivo X70 Pro+
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  24
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  23
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  23
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  22

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  41
• iQOO 9 Pro
  40
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  28
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  28
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  27
• Asus Zenfone 8
  27
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  27
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  27
• vivo X70 Pro+
  27
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  27
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  24
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  22
• Realme GT Neo2
  22
• Xiaomi 12X
  22
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  20
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  20

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  51
• Asus Zenfone 8
  45
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  44
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  42
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  37
• iQOO 9 Pro
  37
• Xiaomi 12X
  35
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  34
• Realme GT Neo2
  33
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  29
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  29
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  29
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  29
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  27
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  26
• vivo X70 Pro+
  26
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  25
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  25
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  24
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  23
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  22
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  20
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  18

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  45
• iQOO 9 Pro
  44
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  35
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  34
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  31
• Asus Zenfone 8
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  29
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  29
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  29
• vivo X70 Pro+
  29
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  28
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  28
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  26
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  25
• Realme GT Neo2
  24
• Xiaomi 12X
  24
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  23
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  22
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  19
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  14

Just a casual reminder that only off-screen performance numbers are comparable across different devices with potentially different display resolution.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  75
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  69
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  68
• Asus Zenfone 8
  61
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  56
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  54
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  54
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  54
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  53
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  51
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  51
• Realme GT Neo2
  49
• Xiaomi 12X
  47
• iQOO 9 Pro
  46
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  45
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  44
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  43
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  42
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  40
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  37
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  34
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  33
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  33
• vivo X70 Pro+
  33
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  33

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9 Pro
  95
• Xiaomi 12
  84
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  76
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  76
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  74
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  70
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  69
• Asus Zenfone 8
  69
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  69
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  69
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  68
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  66
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  66
• vivo X70 Pro+
  66
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  64
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  60
• Realme GT Neo2
  59
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  57
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  57
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  55
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  55
• Xiaomi 12X
  55
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  52
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  51
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  51
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  50
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  50

Mind you, in its current state the Xclipse 920 GPU inside the Galaxy S22 doesn't offer much improvement in performance over the Galaxy S21 and its Mali-G78 MP14 GPU.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  117
• Asus Zenfone 8
  105
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  103
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  100
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  98
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  97
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  95
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  94
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  92
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  91
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  90
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  86
• iQOO 9 Pro
  84
• Realme GT Neo2
  84
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  79
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  77
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  76
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  74
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  71
• Xiaomi 12X
  70
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  60
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  58
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  58
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  58
• vivo X70 Pro+
  58
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  53
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  40

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  164
• iQOO 9 Pro
  160
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  120
• Asus Zenfone 8
  117
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  116
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  113
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  111
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  111
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  109
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  109
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  109
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  108
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  107
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  105
• vivo X70 Pro+
  105
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  103
• Realme GT Neo2
  99
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  97
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  94
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  91
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  89
• Xiaomi 12X
  89
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  86
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  86
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  85
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  80
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  71

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  128
• Xiaomi 12
  121
• Asus Zenfone 8
  119
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  118
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  118
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  118
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  117
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  116
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  116
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  116
• iQOO 9 Pro
  115
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  114
• Realme GT Neo2
  113
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  108
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  107
• Xiaomi 12X
  106
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  104
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  102
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  101
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  98
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  96
• vivo X70 Pro+
  94
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  93
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  88
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  86
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  84
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  64

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9 Pro
  236
• Xiaomi 12
  236
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  182
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  174
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  173
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  168
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  166
• Asus Zenfone 8
  164
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  155
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  154
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  150
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  149
• vivo X70 Pro+
  147
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  144
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  143
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  142
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  142
• Realme GT Neo2
  142
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  136
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  133
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
  128
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  127
• Xiaomi 12X
  127
• Galaxy S20 (120Hz, 1080p)
  125
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  124
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
  116
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  100

As usual, 3DMark tends to paint a better and well-rounded and more comparable picture of the graphical performance of a device. It mostly paints the same picture - the Galaxy S22 is a true flagship performer that makes the most out of its Exynos 2200 chipset. Now that Samsung has revised its default performance curve, it is evident that burst loads, like benchmarks get a small but noticeable boost, which is why the S22 scores higher than both the S22+ and S22 Ultra, which were tested before Samsung rolled-put its performance patches.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9 Pro
  9673
• Xiaomi 12
  9535
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  7526
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  7437
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  7405
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  5807
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  5757
• Sony Xperia Pro-I
  5753
• Sony Xperia 5 III
  5742
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  5691
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  5676
• Asus Zenfone 8
  5666
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
  5635
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  5556
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (SD)
  5547
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  5432
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
  5412
• vivo X70 Pro+
  5332
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
  5261
• Xiaomi 12X
  4320
• Realme GT Neo2
  4250
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (SD)
  4194

The Exynos 2200 and particularly its Xclipse 920 GPU clearly have a lot of potential. Some early kinks still have to be worked out, but even with those it place the Exynos 2200 is nothing short of an excellent, all-around flagship chipset. Any potential future adoption and proper use of its ray tracing and variable ray shading features can only sweeten the deal further, but for the time being those remain in the shadows partially due to Samsung's need to ensure parity between the Exynos and Qualcomm variants of its devices.

We chose to remain positive on the matter. Though, having said that, if you are after a more straightforward and consistent experience, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is still the way to go. Granted, minus all of the fancy new RDNA2 goodness. Not that most users will get to freely choose between the two chipset variants at all, making this kind of a fringe point.

Thermal throttling

Peak burst chipset performance is the most popular metric for analyzing silicon for a few reasons, not the least of which being convenience. Also, in practical terms, there are few real-world scenarios that stress a phone's chipset to 100% and pin in there for a prolonged time. Since few users are crunching Pi or rendering out hour-long videos, the closest we have is gaming, and that's the primary reason we look at thermal-throttling on mobile chipsets. We couldn't skip putting the Exynos 2200 through a torture test to see how it behaves.

CPU Throttling test

Looking at the numbers, the Exynos 2200 does lose a fair chunk of its maximum performance with prolonged stress. Not ideal, but also far from the worst we've seen. Plus, keep in mind that the S22 is a compact device with not a lot of thermal dissipation surface.

The more important observation to make is that the Galaxy S22 managed to ramp down its performance gradually and gracefully, avoiding sudden jarring drops down, which lead to stutters. It even managed to do so after Samsung's software update re-tuning the performance curve to a more aggressive version. Honestly, that is the most crucial aspect of a thermal performance profile on a smartphone, in our view. Sudden drops in performance cause stutters in-game and ruin the experience. A graceful and controlled ramp-down as heat builds up will likely not be felt by the player at all, especially given how adaptable and scalable modern mobile game engines are.

We did observe a big dip around 40 minutes into an aggressive all-load stress test, but that kind of load is unrealistic to begin with.

Throttling test

The surface of the S22 can get toasty under prolonged load but never actually uncomfortable to the touch, which is a lot more than what we can say about some of the other devices we've tested with comparable performance characteristics. Most of them are nowhere near as small as the S22 either.

Samsung Galaxy S22 • S22+

All things considered, it hardly comes as a surprise that the Exynos 2200-powered Galaxy S22 is an excellent all-around performer. It chews through everything you can throw at it and does so with impressive stability. One UI 4.1 is slick and feature-rich and runs incredibly smooth on the S22.

Achieving parity between its Snapdragon and Exynos variants has always been one of Samsung's major challenges with its flagship launches. Admittedly, this has presented varying degrees of challenge over the years and was handled with varying degrees of success. There's no point beating about the bush here - the Exynos 2200 and particularly its Xclipse 920 GPU are shaping up to be a bit of a challenge to deal with. Despite the small issues here and there and some shaky early GPU numbers, we like the overall performance and chose to remain hopeful that future updates will only polish the already solid experience further.