Skip to main content

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. OnePlus 10 Pro

OnePlus 10 Pro apps screen.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

OnePlus has recently launched the OnePlus 10 Pro. It packs a lot of interesting specifications and features, making it one of the best Android smartphones you can buy for under $1,000 right now. But you might wonder whether your money is better spent on a different and flagship smartphone: The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. We’ve compared both of these phones to help you decide whether you should save some money and get the OnePlus 10 Pro, or go for Samsung’s more expensive offering instead.

Specs

OnePlus 10 Pro Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Size 163 x 73.9 x 8.6mm (6.42 x 2.91 x 0.34 inches) 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm (6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 inches)
Weight 201 grams 228 grams
Display 6.7-inch AMOLED 6.8-inch AMOLED
Screen resolution 3216 x 1440 pixels (525 pixels per inch) 3088 x 1440 pixels (500 ppi)
Operating system Android 12, OxygenOS 12.1 Android 12, OneUI 4.1
Storage space 128GB, 256GB 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
MicroSD card slot No No
Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
RAM 8GB, 12GB 8GB, 12GB
Camera 48-megapixel wide, 50MP ultrawide, 8MP telephoto rear
32MP front
108MP wide, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP telephoto, 10MP periscope telephoto rear
40MP front
Video 8K at 24 frames per second, 4K at 30/60/120 fps, 1080p at 30/60/240 fps 8k at 24 fps, 4K at 30/60 fps, 1080p at 30/60/240 fps
Bluetooth version Bluetooth 5.2 Bluetooth 5.2
Ports USB-C USB-C
Fingerprint sensor Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Water resistance T-Mobile version only Yes
Battery 5,000mAh 5,00mAh
App marketplace Google Play Store Google Play Store
Network support T-Mobile All major carriers
Colors Volcanic Black, Emerald Forest Phantom Black, White, Burgundy, Green, Graphite, Red, Sky Blue
Price $899 $1,199.99
Buy from T-Mobile Samsung
Review score 4 out of 5 stars 4.5 out of 5 stars
Recommended Videos

Design, display, and durability

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra looks more like a device from the company’s Note series, rather than a member of the S22 range. Being about 9mm thick and weighing 228 grams, it’s a bulky and heavy mobile. Also, it’s wider than most of the smartphones out there, making it hard for people with small hands to use it with just one of them. The OnePlus 10 Pro’s dimensions in comparison are all but similar to its predecessor, the OnePlus 9 Pro. It’s somewhat lighter, thinner, and narrower than Samsung’s phone; however, it still feels chunky to hold — especially for people with tiny hands.

Both these phones look quite different from the rear. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s cameras don’t sit in a dedicated module and are housed directly on the phone’s back panel. In contrast, the OnePlus 10 Pro has a big camera module at the rear with Hasselblad branding on the left side.

On the front, both smartphones use an HDR 10+ certified screen with LTPO 2.0 technology, for an adaptive refresh rate of 1Hz to 120Hz. These are among the best displays you’ll find on smartphones available today. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra sports a 6.8-inch dynamic AMOLED panel with a screen resolution of 3088 x 1440 pixels. Its peak brightness touches a maximum of 1,750 nits, so using the phone under direct sunlight should be fine. OnePlus’s display is no less impressive either. It comes equipped with a negligibly smaller 6.7-inch fluid AMOLED screen with a screen resolution of 3216 x 1440 pixels. You don’t get S22 Ultra-like crazy high brightness levels, but it goes up to a respectable 1,300 nits.

To protect your smartphone from scratches and minor drops, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra boasts the latest Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection on both the back and front sides. The OnePlus 10 Pro, on the other hand, comes with Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and Gorilla Glass 5 on the rear. Also, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has an IP68 rating for protection against dust and water. The OnePlus 10 Pro also has an IP68 rating, but only if you purchase it from T-Mobile.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra wins this round since it’s got an IP rating no matter where you buy it from, a brighter display, and newer-gen Gorilla Glass protection.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Performance, battery life, and charging

Playing Asphalt 9: Legends on the OnePlus 10 Pro.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Both the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the OnePlus 10 Pro are powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, paired with an Adreno 730 GPU, and either 8GB or 12GB of RAM. You can expect top-notch performance from these smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is available in a variety of variants. It comes with either 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of internal storage. The OnePlus 10 Pro misses out on the 1TB storage variant and comes in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB options. Though, as of now, only the 128GB variant is available in the U.S. Furthermore, there’s no expandable storage in both these phones, so make sure to choose the one that’s sufficient for you.

Talking about battery life, you get a 5,000 mAh cell in the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the OnePlus 10 Pro. Both these smartphones last a day or two depending on your usage, and you can expect the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s battery life to be on a bit better side.

However, the OnePlus 10 Pro takes the lead in charge time — it gets 65W fast-charging support in the U.S. markets, whereas the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s fast charging tops at just 45W. The former takes around 35 minutes to juice up, and the latter charges fully in about an hour.

Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra gets more internal memory than the OnePlus 10 Pro, and the battery lasts longer. However, the latter takes almost half the time to fully charge. More importantly, performance should be similar, so this round’s a tie.

Winner: Tie

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra carries a quad-camera setup at the back, consisting of a 108-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultrawide sensor with a 120-degree field of view, and twin 10MP telephoto lenses for up to 3.3x optical zoom. On the OnePlus 10 Pro’s rear, you’ll see a triple-camera setup comprising a 48MP primary lens, a 50MP ultrawide sensor with a 150-degree field of view, and an 8MP telephoto for up to 3.3x optical zoom. The front side of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a 40MP selfie shooter, while the OnePlus 10 Pro gets a 32MP camera.

According to our reviews of these devices, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra stands out as one of the best camera smartphones out there. The camera hardware is mostly similar to last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra, but regardless of that similarity, the phone captures beautiful-looking images with vibrant colors and great balance. At 3x and 10x zoom, however, color accuracy and exposure could have been a little better. Overall, the cameras do not fail to impress.

By contrast, the OnePlus 10 Pro’s main camera with Hasselblad for Mobile software does a great job of capturing attractive images full of details and vibrant colors. There’s room for improvement in images captured from other cameras (ultrawide and telephoto) though, as they may sometime lack vibrancy and contain noise.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra wins this round, as it has a more dependable camera system that captures better images, and can zoom all the way up to 100x.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Software and updates

The Galaxy S22 Ultra held in hand.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the OnePlus 10 Pro, both ship with Android 12 out of the box. The former runs Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top, while the latter runs OxygenOS 12.1. OxygenOS has received plenty of praise from users over the years, but since it has been merged with ColorOS now, the experience has become worse. Samsung’s One UI, though, remains one of the better Android skins.

When it comes to software updates, Samsung’s flagship smartphones are ahead of almost all other Androids. The company promises four years of Android updates and five years of security patches, and the same is the case with the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Also, Samsung’s smartphones are usually among the first ones to receive security patches every month.

The OnePlus 10 Pro in contrast will receive three years of software updates and four years of security patches. And, unlike the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the phone will get bimonthly security patches.

Thanks to better software support, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra wins this round.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Special features

Using the S Pen on the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Similar to Samsung’s now discontinued Note series, the Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with an in-built S Pen. Its predecessor, the Galaxy S21 Ultra, also supported one, but it didn’t have an in-built slot for housing the stylus. Compared to it, the S22 Ultra’s S Pen has a 70% lower latency, so writing or scribbling on the phone should feel more natural and better.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Price and availability

The OnePlus 10 Pro costs $899 and only comes in the 8GB/128GB variant as of now. You can get your hands on the phone as it’s available for purchase via T-Mobile. There’s also an unlocked version, which is available on Amazon and Best Buy, but it will miss out on an official IP rating.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is priced on the higher side, as it starts at about $1,200 for the 8GB/128GB variant, and can be bought from all major carriers and retailers.

Overall winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is a better smartphone overall, as it has better cameras, a brighter display, an in-built S Pen stylus, better software support, and is more durable. The OnePlus 10 Pro charges the phone faster, but that’s the only thing it does better. However, this doesn’t mean the OnePlus 10 Pro is a bad smartphone. For its price, it offers a lot, which makes it worth considering, too.

Hinshal Sharma
Hinshal is a Tech Journalist covering tech news and feature pieces for over four years. Apart from Digital Trends, he has…
Samsung Galaxy S25 users are not loving the new magnet case
The The back of the Galaxy S25 Ultra Magnetic Charging Cover attached to the phone and the box

The Samsung Galaxy S25 has been out for less than week, and with its release comes a wave of new cases to help protect your new phone. However, there's one phone case that's getting more flack than the others: Samsung's official Magnetic Wireless Charging Case.

The company released the clear magnetic phone a few days ahead of the launch of the Galaxy S25, and its owners are not too happy about the case's functionality -- or apparent lack thereof. The case, which takes after the MagSafe cases designed for the iPhone, is currently sold out on Samsung's website, but it has received 2.5 out of 5 stars based on four mixed user reviews on its page.

Read more
iFixit calls the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra “the most repairable Galaxy in years”
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Although Samsung has a history of taking a more consumer-friendly approach to repairing devices, it hasn't always been an easy task. And in some cases, Samsung doesn't take the friendliest view of third-party components. The Galaxy S25 Ultra has taken a step forward, as iFixit has dubbed it the "most repairable Galaxy phone in years" in a recent press release. Here's why.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra uses four small tabs to hold the battery in place. If you need to remove it, you just pull those tabs up and the battery releases with ease. It's a much simpler method than iPhone's electrochemical release, but there's still a long journey ahead before Galaxy phones are as repairable as they should be.

Read more
When can you buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge?
Galaxy S25 Edge TV and sign at Galaxy Unpacked 2025

With the Samsung Galaxy S25 series now available, the company's attention is turning to its next handset, the Galaxy S25 Edge. The phone is expected to be a game-changer and will likely be marketed against Apple’s upcoming iPhone 17 Air. Now we know better when the Samsung phone could be released.

According to tipster Max Jambor (via Android Headlines), the new phone should be available for purchase during the year's second quarter. Previous rumors suggested the phone would be available sometime around April, so the tip seems to confirm this.

Read more