Xclipse is also one of the first mobile GPUs to support hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Simply put, this is an advanced method of simulating the way in which light travels around the environment, with more realistic reflections and shadows rendered in real time. However, while this might look pretty great, as we’ve seen with full-fat games consoles and desktop graphics cards, there’s a strong chance that this feature will have a negative impact on frame rate. Elsewhere, the Galaxy S22 Ultra comes in four flavours. To start with, there’s the “cheapest” model, which comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The further three models all come with 12GB of RAM, with your storage choices being 256GB, 512GB or 1TB. The S22 Ultra doesn’t allow for microSD expansion, so choose wisely.

The theme of AI runs through a lot of what Samsung is doing with the camera here. It uses artificial intelligence in night photography to steady the camera when you’re shooting video. The tech worked great during testing, offering me very impressive and stable results; automatically switching the frame rate and altering the strength of the bokeh blur in portrait mode as the situation required. Bixby service availability may vary depending on country. Bixby recognizes select languages and certain accents/dialects. Availability of Bixby features and content providers may vary depending on country or language. Data/Wi-Fi required to fully operate Bixby features. As long as you're looking at Samsung's big-camera heavy hitter, you should probably give Apple's biggest iPhone a look as well. It's got the most powerful camera setup you'll find on an Apple device, and can give Samsung's Ultra a run for its money. Let’s discuss why Samsung has decided to consolidate its two flagship lines. Putting on my tinfoil hat for a second, my biggest guess is that Note sales weren’t all that great when the Note 20 launched in 2020 and Samsung had to make a tough decision about what to do with the Note moving forward. What’s more important though is that Samsung is seriously supporting this phone when it comes to updates. There’s a promise of five years of updates and four major OS updates – that means the S22 Ultra will still be supported when Android 16 rolls around. Considering how many big Android phones only get two major OS updates, this is huge news and shows that investment should last for a number of years.Part of Samsung’s new S22 lineup, but looking nothing like its siblings, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is to the casual observer a Galaxy Note in a shiny, new coat. It does have a much bigger and bolder camera array (lifted pretty much intact from the S21 Ultra), but it’s otherwise a canny adjustment of the Note aesthetic or, as Samsung might call it, the “Note Experience.” Still, this adjustment leaves it as easily the best Samsung phone. Around the front, there’s a 40-megapixel selfie camera that captures nice snaps with good skin tones and not too much overbearing sharpening or smoothing. Part of this has to do with the stabilization, which at 100x, basically takes control of the lens and holds a subject (like the moon) in the frame. It can feel a little like you’re no longer in control of the lens, but it does do a good job of countering your shaky hands. After canning the cult-favourite Note series a few years ago, Samsung has been trying various ways of adding a few of the series’ best traits into its other phones. The cameras don’t just look similar – they’re almost the same. There are two 10MP telephoto lenses: one is f/2.4 with a 36-degree field of view (FOV) and the other is f/4.9 with an 11-degree FOV. There’s also a 12MP ultrawide with a 120-degree FOV, and then there’s the 108MP main wide camera (f/1.8) with an 85-degree FOV.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra, for example, was the first device not designated a Note to support the sort-of-handy S Pen stylus – even if it was an additional accessory that didn’t live in the phone itself.

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I’m not quite sure why this stuff, including control over white balance and ISO, can’t be built smartly into the main camera app – but maybe Samsung wants to keep that as simple as possible. Performance Putting the focus on one flagship really ought to pay off for Samsung – and you’re now getting a lot more extra stuff if you go for the Ultra over the other S22 models. The design is an echo of, but also more forward-leaning than, Samsung’s last Note device. It really is a hybrid. There will be no complaints about the ultra-high-resolution, 6.8-inch screen, which offers brilliant colors and smooth motion at 120Hz, but is smart enough to stop down all the way to 1Hz, when that’s all you need, to save on battery life.

The S Pen is back, and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the right place for it

As you’d expect there’s 5G support, plus Wi-Fi 6 and 6E connectivity for those with a supported router and UWB for devices that work with ultra wideband such as Samsung’s Smart Tag. Samsung is great at using the latest tech and standards and that’s very much at play here. IP68 rating is based on test conditions for submersion in up to 1.5 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes. Rinse residue/dry if wet.