Samsung Galaxy S22

Modest improvements over the S21, but this is the Samsung phone to buy if you want a high-end experience

- PHILIP MICHAELS

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PRICE 128GB, £641 (£769 inc VAT) from samsung.com/uk

Samsung’s new entry-level smartphone lacks the premium features of the top-end Galaxy S22 Ultra (see issue 331, p46), and the larger screen of the Galaxy S22+ (see opposite). But it has the same CPU as those flashier options, plus a great display and an impressive camera.

Pricing starts at £769 for the base model with 128GB of storage, or an extra £50 for the 256GBmodel. Order directly from Samsung and you can get £200 off when you trade in your old Android phone, plus extra colour options – the standard phantom black, phantom white, green and pink gold finishes are joined on the website by exclusive graphite, cream, sky blue and violet trims.

While the price is reasonable, the design is upmarket, with an aluminium band around the edge and a back that’s coated in Gorilla Glass Victus Plus. It feels compact, is comfortable to use with one hand and easily slips into a pocket, even though the 6.1in AMOLED display is generously sized.

That display isn’t as bright as the Plus and Ultra variants, but it’s certainly not dull: in SDR mode we measured a peak brightness of 672cd/m2, and an excellent 1,152cd/m2with HDR turned on. Colours are vivid too, covering up to 110% of the sRGB colour spectrum and scoring a fantastic 0.25 Delta-E rating in Natural mode. To top it off, the Galaxy S22 outshines other phones in its price range with an ultra-smooth 120Hz refresh rate, dynamically clocking down to 48Hz when there’s no onscreen action to preserve battery life.