The Galaxy S22 Plus went on sale February 25 in the US, March 3 in Australia and March 11 in the UK. The S22 Plus’ screen is a 6.6in Dynamic AMOLED 2X affair, which feels noticeably larger in use than the comparatively dinky 6.1in display on the standard S22. Specifications remain the same, however, with a maximum FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and a touch sampling rate of 240Hz. These new displays also have a lowered minimum refresh rate of 1Hz, which in theory should help to increase battery life. Sitting slap bang in the middle of the range in terms of price, it’s a decent option, but it doesn’t really stand apart from the rest, either. The bigger screen is a nice bonus, as is the chunkier battery, but sadly I can’t see many of these flying off the shelves. HDR, Panorama, Bokeh Mode, Night Mode, Portrait Mode, Scene Detection, Slow Motion, Time Lapse, Stereo Recording

SIM Free Samsung S22 5G 128GB Mobile Phone - Black SIM Free Samsung S22 5G 128GB Mobile Phone - Black

Naturally, one of the S22 Plus’ biggest differentiators is the battery size. The S22 Plus comes with a large 4,500mAh battery, while the S22 has to make do with a cut-down 3,700mAh cell. Sadly, while I’m yet to test the regular version, the S22 Plus’ stamina doesn’t paint a positive picture. On that note, I was also impressed with the S22 Plus’ Night mode. Again, there’s plenty of definition to images, and the phone’s AI algorithms did a good job at boosting the brightness without adding any unnatural colour tints or visual noise. There’s one caveat, however: you often have to hold the phone steady for a few seconds – not ideal if you’re taking night-time pictures in freezing temperatures with your gloves off. All that said, despite its positives, the Galaxy S22 Plus is in danger of falling out of the limelight. With the S22 Ultra catching admiring glances and the regular S22 shaping up to be a great-value option, the Plus is a bit of an oddity.That camera combination is somewhat of a remix of the S21’s sensors, with only the ultra-wide and front-facers the same, and the most notable difference is the jump from a 12MP to 50MP main camera. It’s a similar story in terms of graphics processing. Topping out at the screen’s maximum refresh rate, the GFXBench Manhattan 3 onscreen score is flawless, although the off-screen result is actually slightly weaker than last year’s model. This is all quite disappointing, especially if you were hoping to upgrade from the S21. However, I’m going to caveat this with the fact that these speeds are still extremely good. The S22 Plus doesn’t feel sluggish in operation – far from it – and I didn’t notice a single instance of slowdown throughout my testing. Either way, that’s a supremely expensive smartphone - but then again, Samsung’s S-series devices aren’t designed for people on a budget. The Exynos 2200 performed well in our benchmarks, although the speed gains are negligible compared to last year. In the Geekbench 5 single- and multicore CPU tests, the S22 Plus scored 1,144 and 3,488, which, as you can see from the graph below, is pretty much identical to the previous Exynos 2100 found inside the S21 Plus.

SIM Free Samsung S22 5G 128GB Mobile Phone - White SIM Free Samsung S22 5G 128GB Mobile Phone - White

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus comes with Android 12, with Samsung’s One UI laid over the top. At the S22 launch, Samsung pledged that its new phones would get at least four years of software updates, which will take you to Android 16 in 2026. That’s not 45W charging, and we’re not the only reviewers who’ve found issues with Samsung’s claims of 45W charging. It seems that the powering speed is closer to 20W, which really isn’t good for a phone that costs this much. Proximity Sensor, Hall Effect Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope Sensor, Accelerometer (G-Sensor), Magnetometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor Both chipsets are paired with 5G modems, so both of these phones let you connect to next-gen networks which is useful for streaming and gaming on the go.Samsung’s Galaxy S devices used to be industry-leading for its amazing-looking displays. While the S22 Ultra gets to keep this title, we’re not sure the S22 Plus deserves it. That’s not to say the display is bad looking, but it doesn’t stand out from the crowd.