Skip to main content

Massive Galaxy S22 series leak shows Samsung’s lazy design attempt

Samsung is merely weeks away from the official debut of its Galaxy S22 series flagships, but in a traditional Samsung fashion, a ton of leaks covering the unreleased trio have already popped up online. The latest, which comes courtesy of leakster Yogesh Brar, unravels the Galaxy S22 trio in all its glossy glory for the first time. Brar told Digital Trends that the devices are most likely dummy units for case makers, which means they are supposedly an accurate depiction of the real thing.

The alleged live image of the Galaxy S22, its Plus variant, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra — also possibly known as the Galaxy Note 22 — shows the trio in both black and white trims. And thankfully, there’s no trace of a gaudy gradient finish to be seen here. The two phones will reportedly arrive in olive green and red color options. The glass back in a solid pearly white and deep black shades give the Galaxy S22 and S22+ a minimalist appeal, but that’s about it. The core design is virtually identical to their respective predecessors in the Galaxy S21 family, save for the two-tone camera island finish.

Recommended Videos

Here's something for Samsung fans.

Galaxy S22 is 🔥 pic.twitter.com/iRkddK3pML

— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) December 13, 2021

As for the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it sports what appears to be a matte texture. The camera lens array has a very divisive layout, hovering between satisfyingly clean and extremely weird. However, the rest of the design language appears to have been lifted straight from the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra or the Galaxy Note 10 series. The sides slope alongside the vertical edges, forming a smooth curve and meeting the metallic frame, while the top and bottom edges are flat. The design screams Galaxy Note. And rightfully so, since the Galaxy S22 Ultra is supposed to replace the Galaxy Note in 2022. And to really send home the message, the phone will come armed with a S Pen slot, the biggest complaint about the S21 Ultra, as it could be equipped with a S Pen but had nowhere to keep it.

Come on, Samsung, you can do better!

The design is far from bad, but it is definitely lazy. Samsung appears to be firmly following in Apple’s footsteps of using the same fundamental design for at least two generations. Buyers forking out north of $800 will definitely feel a bit disappointed here, as almost every Android phone maker offers a fresh design language with each new flagship generation. And on top of it, the likes of the Google Pixel 6 and the iPhone 13 have already narrowed the breathing space for Samsung in the $700-800 price bracket, both in terms of sheer value and aesthetics.

While the stale design might be somewhat of a bummer for potential buyers, the internal hardware is anything but. Qualcomm’s latest-and-greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will be at the heart of the Galaxy S22 series, and we might even get the next-gen Exynos chip with the highly-anticipated AMD graphics upgrade. The camera hardware is reportedly due for an upgrade as well, with a 50-megapixel sensor leading the charge. And if the leaks are anything to go by, we might finally get support for 45-watt fast charging as well.

Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is a tech and science journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started…
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge could have a surprisingly solid camera
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Dummy Video

One of Samsung's upcoming best smartphones is getting closer and closer to its rumored release date, and as we get there, more and more specs begin to leak out. Today, we learned that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge might have a camera that will rival some of its much larger rivals.

The leak comes from SammyGuru, which managed to spot an interesting detail on a Samsung shipping manifest. According to the publication's findings, the S25 Edge will have the same selfie camera as other phones in the S25 lineup, which would spell good news for the Android flagship. After all, being more compact, one might expect the camera to take a hit, but so far, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Read more
I tested Galaxy S25 Ultra and Find X8 Ultra cameras, this one wins
The camera on the Oppo Find X8 Ultra in White

Samsung wasn’t the first company to popularize the concept of a periscope telephoto lens on a smartphone, but its incredible marketing prowess has redefined what we expect from the best smartphone cameras. 

Since the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the term "Ultra" has been used to describe the best smartphone cameras a company has to offer. With the popularity of Samsung’s Ultra lineup, it was inevitable that rival phone makers would also launch competing offerings.

Read more
Samsung just blurted out the Galaxy S25 Edge’s ‘official’ pricing and storage options
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge dual camera array

Samsung has been quite a tease with its upcoming razor-thin (only, figuratively!) phone, first showcasing it at the Unpacked event back in January. Since then, the barrage of leaks has been let loose, giving us practically every piece of information -- though mostly unverified -- about Galaxy S25 Edge. Although the Edge was set to launch in mid-April, it was pushed ahead by a few weeks, with the latest rumor pointing at a May 13 announcement in Korea. Just a day after we learned that, we have learned about the Galaxy S25 Edge's official pricing and storage options, and the leak comes not from a third party but Samsung itself.

Samsung's Canadian website briefly listed the prices of the 256GB and 521GB variants of the Galaxy S25 Edge as part of a promotion for the recently launched Galaxy S10FE tablets. The webpage, as captured by trusted leaker Roland Quandt, shows what could possibly be the official MSRP of the upcoming slim phone. Quandt shared the screenshot on Bluesky, a social media platform built to replicate what Twitter used to be before Elon Musk bought it and rebranded it to X.

Read more