Samsung Unpacked 2022 recap: Everything you need to know about Galaxy S22 and Tab S8 series

Battle of the Ultras

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is not just an upgrade to the Ultra line. It’s a redesign that takes the Ultra line into Samsung Galaxy Note territory. Still, it’s worth comparing the S21 Ultra that was with the S22 Ultra that is.

The S21 Ultra supports the S Pen, but the S22 Ultra integrates it. Is that what consumers wanted? This post compares the last generation Ultra to the new one but notes just how much the S22 Ultra actually pulls from the older Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.

Before you decide if the new Note – we mean Ultra – is right for you, you might want to read this to better understand exactly what Samsung did here.

Let’s get a deal

Samsung’s new Galaxy S22 line is here and now that you’ve read up on exactly what the updates bring to the venerable line of Android phones, it might be time to start shopping.

There are, it turns out, already a lot of juicy deals for both the Samsung Galaxy S22 and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Many of them are talking about free storage upgrades, and there are a sizeable number of excellent trade-in deals.

Samsung Galaxy S22 vs iPhone 13

With all the Galaxy S22 news on the table, the most obvious question left to ask is: Should I buy a Samsung Galaxy S22 or an iPhone 13? The truth is, with only our early hands-on looks to go by, we don’t know either.

What TechRadar can do, though, is slam these two handset series together in the field of battle, looking over all the details we know. In this article, we compare them on displays, design, cameras, and more. Which one wins? It’s too soon to say, but all this information does help put the competing phones in perspective.

A game-changing app for Android tablets?

An announcement you may have missed during the frenzy of Samsung’s latest Unpacked was the confirmation of a new app that’s about to arrive on Android tablets.

Lumafusion has been a mainstay on Apple’s iPads for years, and is one of the very few pro-level video editors. With the news that the app is finally making it ways to Android, and paired with the enormous screen of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, there could be a mobile editing revolution just around the corner.

Apple needs to bring Pencil to iPhone

So, Samsung has brought stylus support to its flagship smartphone series. Will others follow suit? What phone would you love to see get stylus support?

Our US Editor-in-Chief, Lance Ulanoff wants Apple to bring its Pencil to iPhone – specifically the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

“The extra 0.6 inches you get over the 13 Pro (6.1 inches) is an open invitation not just to Netflix bingeing and Cinematic video creation – it’s a giant blank canvas, crying out for creativity” he writes.

Do you agree? Read the full article via the link below and hit Lance up on Twitter.

See the Galaxy S22 Ultra in action

Or are you more intrigued by Samsung’s super-flagship – the new Galaxy S22 Ultra. It’s the ultimate blend of high-end S series and the retired Note brand, bringing the S Pen to the firm’s flagship line for the very first time.

Find out more about the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra in our hands on video below.

Hands on with the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus

Prefer to see these phones in action? We’ve got a hands on video of the Samsung Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus here.

That’s it! That’s the end of the event. We’ll be updating you here with more as we continue covering these new devices, but that’s everything we heard about the new smartphones and tablets.

A full hour long event there, which is quite short for a Samsung launch. There weren’t many surprises after numerous leaks, but it’s good to hear all of the official details directly from the company.

Turns out BTS weren’t performing during the launch, but they were making a new clip for the company’s Galaxy for the Planet initative. It involved them showing signs about plastic use.

One of the most interesting elements here is that four years of software updates have been promised for Samsung products. You can read more about that below.

We’re back onto the company’s new policy for repurposing ocean bound plastics. The company wants to take over 50 tons of plastic out of the ocean before the end of the year. You can read more about that below.

Now Samsung is moving onto its One UI 4 software. This is the company’s version of Android 12 software. The company has been remarkably good at updating its devices throughout 2021 and 2022.

If you already own a recent Samsung phone, you may find this software will be coming to your existing smartphone. It’s available immediately on the Galaxy S22 series.

New Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 watch straps are on the way, but we don’t yet know when those will be on sale. Samsung is also talking through all those updates that we told you about earlier today.

Onto prices. The Galaxy Tab S8 starts at $699 or £649, the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus starts at $899 or £849 and the Tab S8 Ultra starts at a huge $1,099 or £999. These devices are coming to Australia, but the company has yet to announce prices.

Samsung is talking through the tablet’s processor, which is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 around the world. There’s no Exynos processor in any of these, which you may not expect.

Apparently the S Pen latency has been improved by 30% compared to the Galaxy Tab S7 series.

Interestingly, the Samsung Galaxy S22 series release dates differ around the world. If you live in the UK, you’ll have to wait until March 11 to be able to get your hands on the Galaxy S22 or Galaxy S22 Plus.

Those phones are on sale on February 25 in the US, while those in Australia will get the devices on March 4.

The Batman is now being used to promote the brand new tablets. There are three new model for 2022, which are the Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy Tab S8 Plus and the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.

The Ultra model is the most unique with a 14.6-inch screen that is larger than any iPad.

Apologies for the delay – we just had some technical difficultities, but hopefully we’re back online now. The launch is still talking about the benefits of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, including partnerships with YouTube.

Nightography is making a return here. It automatically kicks in when you’re using the phone in a low-light setting. A lot of the details are vague at the moment, but we’re excited to try out what this is like.

It’ll be particularly interesting to see how this compares to the night mode features on the Google Pixel 6 Pro or the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

100x Space Zoom makes a return on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which first debuted on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. This allows for some of the best camera zoom on the market… we don’t recommend uploading those photos to social media though.

We’re now onto a big bit about the new chipset inside the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It’s important to note here that if you live in the US, you won’t get the Exynos 2200 inside your phone.

Instead, you’ll get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset inside. That’s the same for those in Asia, while those around the rest of the world will get the Exynos inside.

You’ll have the option of 8GB or 12GB of RAM inside. There’s no 16GB RAM variant, which we saw on the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

These are the four color options for the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra – we believe they’ll all be available in the US, UK and Australia.

There’s new Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ technology on the front and rear of the phone. That should make it stronger than any other phones from Samsung. We don’t yet know how that compares to the iPhone 13 series, which uses a similar but different technology.

Samsung has also confirmed the phone features a 120Hz screen with dynamic refresh rates that mean it fluctuates between 1Hz and 120Hz depending on what you’re viewing.

Apparently the S22 Ultra “breaks the rules”. We’re not entirely sure how it does that… we’ve seen a very similar phone in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, so this is hardly a rulebreaker.

This is the first Galaxy S model with a built-in S Pen. It isn’t the largest upgrade we’ve seen on a smartphone series before, but there is more detail to come here.

Now we’re onto the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, which is the headline phone here. Expect a handset that takes a lot of what made the Galaxy Note series great, but made into a Galaxy S series phone.

Nightography is one of the big improvements on the Galaxy S22 series, which the company claims will improve its night mode photography. We’ve yet to be able to test this out throughly though, but we’re excited to play around with it in our full reviews.

There we have it, this is the Samsung Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus. If you want to know what they’re like, check out our hands on reviews that you can read above.

The opening is now a tie-in with Netflix TV show Bridgerton, and one of the characters is the first person to say the words “Samsung Galaxy S22”. This sure is a unique way to announce a smartphone.

“Welcome to Samsung Galaxy Unpacked” was just said on stage… it’s 9 minutes in… what have we been watching all this time?

Oh, we spoke too soon. The image of a big S22 just appeared on screen!

There’s more talk of the company’s partnerships with companies such as Netflix and Microsoft. There’s little here so far about the new products, which we believe will be coming up soon.

We didn’t expect so much United Nations related information at the start of this launch.

First up, we’re getting some details from Samsung’s mission such as improvements in e-waste. Galaxy For The Planet is its year old scheme to help improve with its environmental impact.

The company has reaffirmed its use of ocean bound plastics in its devices, which is recycled material from plastic found in the sea. We don’t yet know where these plastics are being used, but the company confirms that all its products from today will be using them.

The event is only just starting, but we have all the details about the Samsung Galaxy S22 family and the Galaxy Tab S8 tablets. You can read all about them below: 

Right, let’s get started! It’s time to hear all about the Samsung Galaxy S22 and more.

The placeholder for this year’s show is a look at the holding images from previous Unpacked shows. These go all the way back to the 2009 event through to this 2022 show.

10 minutes to go until the big launch. 

Some of us are settling down to watch on the normal live stream, while Tom is currently trying to use the company’s own virtual Decentraland tool. 

He is currently bumping up against a door and trying to work out how to get into the building. We’ll have more breaking news, as it happens…

TechRadar’s Deputy Phones Editor Tom Bedford is watching Unpacked in a slightly different way – via Decentraland.

You can do it too via Samsung’s Decentraland if you want, though it’s much easier just to do it via YouTube (unless you like making your own avatar to attend).

So, what are we expecting to see at today’s event? So far, six gadgets have leaked in their entirety and we know almost every detail about each one. There are three new smartphones and three new tablets, according to numerous leaks.

• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra – The company’s top-end handset with an S Pen stylus embeded in the phone, similar to the company’s Galaxy Note series.
• Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus – Two other top-end phones that are smaller than the Ultra, but offer top internal specs and powerful cameras.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra – A brand new addition to the company’s tablet line with a huge screen. Rumors say it’ll be over 14-inches big, which is larger than any iPad.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 and S8 Plus – Two sequels to the company’s existing tablets with new processors, improved cameras and big, bright screens

So far, we’ve yet to hear rumors of any other devices. We may see new additions to the company’s computing, audio or fitness products, but if those are coming that hasn’t yet been leaked.

Samsung has celebrated 12 years of Galaxy S phones with a blog post on its newsroom website celebrating ’10 innovative Galaxy smartphone technologies’.

Some of these are certainly ones Samsung can attribute to itself – it popularized styli in smartphones, and is one of the major drivers of foldable phone technology. However we’re not sure ‘having an IP rating’, ‘using a bespoke user interface’ or ‘using sustainable materials’ are really Samsung innovations, not when other brands did them first or better.

The event is set to start in just over an hour’s time. Are you planning to watch along? Here’s the live stream you’ll want so you can see what is happening on stage. 

Olivia Tambini, Audio & Music Editor for TechRadar, says, “I’m not particularly expecting to see any new Samsung Galaxy Buds today, but it’s always a possibility – the company is pretty prolific when it comes to releasing new true wireless earbuds in the range.There have been five models in the Samsung Galaxy Buds range since the original earbuds launched in 2019 – and we’re not sure that rapid release schedule has worked in Samsung’s favor. 

“Each model has shown an incremental improvement upon its predecessor, but no Galaxy Buds have managed to topple Apple’s domination of the true wireless market. Saying that, Samsung’s latest earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 2, were its best yet. 

“These entry-level pair of in-ear headphones come with active noise cancellation, improved audio, and a stylish design compared to the originals.In spite of those improvements, they’re no more expensive than their predecessors, making them an attractive option for anyone who wants to take a chance on Samsung’s AirPods rivals. 

“We’ll be keeping a keen eye on all the developments from Unpacked today just in case Samsung decides to release another pair of AirPods rivals.”

We don’t expect to hear about the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 today at Unpacked, but we may hear about the company’s latest Watch 4 update that is rolling out from today.

Fitness Editor for TechRadar, Cat Ellis, says, “The addition of ‘sleep animals’ to the Samsung Watch 4 is an interesting choice, and I’m interested to see how it works in practice. If you cast your mind back to December 2021, you might remember Fitbit testing an almost identical feature for its watches. 

“Upon waking, Fitbit Premium subscribers can see whether their sleeping patterns best match those of a bear, parrot, tortoise, hedgehog, or giraffe, and the Fitbit app will provide tips to help you get a better night’s rest in the future.

“It’s not clear yet whether Samsung’s sleep animal feature will also provide advice to help you slumber like a contented grizzly, but we’ve got our fingers crossed. The icons we’ve seen are cute, but there’s so much more that could be done with them.”

Not every Unpacked launch has a musical performance, but it’s looking likely the Galaxy S22 event will feature one from one of the biggest bands in the world. 

Fans of BTS might want to tune in even if they’re not interested in Samsung’s upcoming tablets and phones, because the company has teased that BTS will be making an appearance, with the tweet above.

The tweet doesn’t reveal what capacity this South Korean sensation will be appearing in though. Will it be a live performance? A promotional video? A special BTS edition of one of the products? We don’t know, and that makes this one of the few mysteries that remains about Samsung Unpacked 2022.

Will we see any new computing products today? Computing Writer for TechRadar, Jess Weatherbed, says, “We’re not expecting any new entries to the Samsung Galaxy Book family of laptops at this event, though it’s not impossible that a new model will be teased. 

“There’s been no talk on the grapevine of an upcoming release, plus, Samsung typically keeps its phone and tablet related announcements separate to its computing ones, and it held a dedicated Galaxy Book event in April 2022 so we’re probably a few months off getting anything new.

“If we did see some new hardware teased then Samsung will need to bring it’s A-Game. The 2021 Galaxy Book Pro is impressive in both style and performance, but this was overshadowed by the poorly received Galaxy Book Go, which left us feeling a more than a little underwhelmed by what the South Korean tech giant was bringing to the table.”

Here’s a weird one; Samsung just accidentaly confirmed the Galaxy S22 name. The company has been clear a new Galaxy S series smartphone was coming at Unpacked 2022, but we haven’t heard the name directly from Samsung… until now.

In the new Watch 4 update changelog, it specifically refers to the Galaxy S22. We’ve seen sources leak this name time and time again, but this is the first time it has appeared in an official piece of information from Samsung.

That update is rolling out around the world to anyone who has a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, so the company is pushing the name of its new smartphones to many devices ahead of the big reveal.

Gerald Lynch, Executive Editor for TechRadar says, “Don’t go expecting to see any Samsung TV hardware at today’s Galaxy launch event – or home cinema gear for that matter. 

“Samsung is relatively rigid on the cadence of its TV tech reveals, keeping its big blowout for the CES conference in January and IFA conference in the third quarter of the year.

“With the dust barely settled on CES 2022, Samsung’s TV division will take a backseat for a few months. However, don’t be surprised if there’s an appearance from the recently-revealed Samsung Freestyle projector, which would make nice forward-thinking partner product to the Galaxy range – and a mighty up-sell.”

Do you own a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4? If you do, you’ll be getting some updates from today. It’s unclear if you’ll get them right away, but the company has said they’ll be rolling out on February 9.

The new software includes improvements to sleep insights as well as a 30-day trial to fitness app Centr. That’s the app that you’ve seen the adverts with Chris Hemsworth in.

Part of the update also brings in some a ‘sleep animal’, which tells you what type of sleeper you are. These include Unconcerned Lion, Sensitive Hedgehog, Nervous Penguin and our personal favorite the Easygoing Walrus.

Planning to watch along with our live blog? You’ll find the stream will get started later today. That starts at 10am ET / 7am PT / 3pm GMT on February 9, or at 1am AEST on February 10 for those in Australia.

Welcome to our live blog where we’ll be talking you through everything new from Samsung throughout the day.

The truth is, we know a lot about the upcoming products. That’s thanks to an extraordinary amount of leaks that have given us a clear picture of the Galaxy S22 series, and the Galaxy Tab S8 tablets as well.

We’re still excited to hear the information directly from Samsung though, and we’re hoping to get a few surprises from the company along the way as well. 

Over the next few hours, we’ll give you rundowns of the products we’re expecting to hear about, and any last-minute news that breaks. Be sure to come back at 10am ET / 7am PT or 3pm GMT to hear all about the actual launch itself.