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I’m going to get some heat for this, but I don’t care.
Come at me, Samsung fans. Give me everything you’ve got. Because trust me – this is totally indefensible.
It isn’t your fault, either – in fact, if you’re a fan of Samsung, that company is letting you down, big time, with this product.
I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra for nearly two months now. I loved it at first; Samsung’s it-definitely-isn’t-a-Note flagship device was a phone that seemed to have everything going for it.
However, things quickly turned sour, and I can’t hide my frustration any longer.
It was supposed to be so easy
We decided to dust off the BBQ over the Easter weekend. I love this time of year; as the mercury gently rises and the trees begin to bloom once more, everything just feels better. The first BBQ of the year is the epitome of that.
As I tucked into my second beer and marvelled at the burgeoning feast in front of me, all was going rather swimmingly. Until I asked the S22 Ultra to do more than one thing at a time.
While turning my lovingly prepared chicken wings on the grill, I spotted the perfect opportunity for an addition to that day’s Instagram story. Long Train Runnin’ by the Doobie Brothers had just been unleashed from Spotify on my S22 Ultra, and it felt like the ideal soundtrack to the sizzling scene in front of me.
So, I headed over to Instagram and opened a new Story composition. I then pulled down the control centre screen (which stuttered and took a moment to register my swipe – standard) and hit the ‘back’ button to return Long Train Runnin’ to the start.
Nothing. The Doobie Brothers didn’t so much as blink as they continued hurtling down the tracks towards the end of the song.
That’s odd, I thought, because the S22 Ultra seems to have registered the touch and is now apparently playing from the start. Even though it isn’t.
A few more taps and a mild amount of swearing eventually resulted in the track starting from the beginning again. That meant I had mere seconds to switch back to the Instagram Story composition if I was to hit the ‘record’ button and zoom into the meaty goodness in front of me without missing the drum fill that followed the unmistakable opening guitar riff.
Trust me, this was a great idea. It would have looked incredible.
But it proved impossible on the S22 Ultra. Switching from the control centre screen and back to Instagram appeared to throw the phone into a hell hole of slow, jittery awfulness from which it could barely recover. As a result, I missed said drum fill by about four bars while the phone continued to run like a dog – presumably attempting to catch up with the sheer multi-tasked lunacy I’d asked it to perform.
This is just one example of what the S22 Ultra is like to live with on a daily basis. The BBQ incident was the worst I’ve experienced thus far, but it follows weeks of dealing with sluggish, jittery performance in both the OS and across multiple apps.
It’s why I constantly reach for the iPhone SE, rather than the S22 Ultra. The latter offers such an unsatisfying user experience that I’m rapidly entering the stage of ownership where I don’t want to touch it anymore.
That doesn’t say much for a phone that cost me £1,149, does it?
This has nothing to do with Android
If any Samsung or Android fans are still reading, I’d guess they’re probably already preparing their comments. That’s fine, but I need to reiterate something before they get too sweaty and furious.
This has nothing to do with Android.
It also has nothing to do with me being an iPhone user.
As I’ve noted on multiple occasions, I’m a huge fan of Android these days. I love its newfound fluidity, graphical style, and the fact that most phone manufacturers appear to treat it with respect, rather than butchering Google’s best intentions.
It is absolutely on a par with iOS. They are both as good as each other. I really, really like Android.
That won’t be enough for the Samsung crew, though. I know this because, despite the fact I explicitly stated that Samsung was fast becoming my favourite smartphone manufacturer during my initial review of the S22 Ultra, I still got lambasted by that lot for being an Apple ‘fanboi’.
That idiocy aside (seriously, guys – just pay closer attention to what I’m saying, please – I’m on your side), I want to make it abundantly clear that the issues I have with the S22 Ultra have nothing to do with Android or the fact I am an iPhone user.
Wow, I feel better now.
I’ll still get trolled, though – you watch.
Why is the S22 Ultra so useless?
Here’s the rub.
If you buy your S22 Ultra in the UK or Europe, you’ll end up with a phone that’s powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 2200 chip.
Having lived with this chip for nearly two months, I can confirm that it is utterly, totally, biblically shit. It really is absolutely horrible – like stuffing an actual dog turd through the speaker grills and into the belly of the phone in the hope that it’ll run ok.
If you live anywhere else, you’ll end up with an S22 Ultra that runs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. I’ve experienced that chip in the brilliant OPPO Find X5 Pro, and I can confirm that it is utterly, totally, biblically great. In fact, it is iPhone silicon great – honestly.
This isn’t fair. In the UK and Europe, we pay the exact same price for the S22 Ultra as everyone else, but it comes powered by steam and what I presume is a tiny mouse running furiously inside a miniature wheel. Everyone else gets the full fat, fully-specced Snapdragon version which, as I’ve heard on the grapevine, is really great.
I cannot believe more tech reviewers aren’t making a bigger deal about this. Hence this blog post (and a forthcoming video!).
A frustrating missed opportunity
The reason I’m so dismayed with the S22 Ultra doesn’t just relate to the price – it’s because the rest of the phone is utterly brilliant.
I’d go as far as to say it’s the best smartphone I’ve ever owned when it comes to the screen quality, design, battery life, and camera. And, although I rarely use it, the fact the S Pen is tucked neatly away inside that beautifully constructed body makes it even more special.
But the S22 Ultra performs so poorly over here in the UK. And that is absolutely inexcusable; I challenge any ardent Samsung fan to tell me otherwise.
This isn’t a new problem, but I had no idea about the differing chipsets and how this dimwitted strategy has long plagued Samsung’s regional distribution of their S series phones. Why a company with such deep resources can’t give everyone the same chip is completely beyond me. Samsung deserves absolute derision, finger-pointing, and brutal death by meme for this.
But it’s the Samsung fans I feel sorry for – yes, even the clowns who seem incapable of actually listening to what I’m saying. Because Samsung is doing them a huge disservice with this stupid strategy. It continues to make S series phones a laughing stock in certain regions.
Again, that is totally unfair.
Samsung has issued two OS updates since I’ve had my S22 Ultra, and neither of them has made any difference – which clearly confirms that the Exynos 2200 is the bag of shit I suspect it is.
I’ve not been this angry about a product since accidentally buying Apple’s 3.5mm headphone jack cable for my AirPods Max.
Your experience
I’d love to hear from you if you’re an S22 Ultra user – wherever you’re based in the world.
For instance, if you’re in the UK or Europe, have you encountered the same usability issues as me? If you’re based in the US, Asia, or Australia, is the Snapdragon version as dreamy to use as the OPPO Find X5 Pro?
Get involved in the comments, please!
16 Comments
And Apple are lambasted for profiteering!!
The Exynos debacle is actually down to a patent row with Qualcomm themselves. Samsung have to use Qualcomm processors in the US as a result of that trial. The USA also uses CDMA networks as well as GSM (which the rest of the world uses) and its cheaper for Samsung to use a Qualcomm chip with a built-in CDMA modem than it is to use Exynos and a seperate CDMA modem and pay QC royalities due to their CDMA patents.
There are also higher import taxes in Europe and other countries vs the 0% in the USA, thus rather than increasing prices to compensate, Samsung chooses to lower manufacturing costs and keep pricing the same worldwide.
A scary thought is that if Samsung could use Exynos in 100% of their phones worldwide, they would!
That’s a very scary thought.
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I laughed so hard at this. Then I realized, that my biblical piece of shit works better than yours?! I’m in the US and this thing is going to be the reason I give up on life and live in a tent. It is the worst samsung I’ve ever had. I think my Motorola razor worked better. I have never had issues, and have loved samsung and android for a long time. If I could just go back to my old phone I’d pay more for it. I have been in tears and cussing at this legitimately stupid thing many times. I have no idea what to do… and I am going to go into my carrier and tell them to try using it and see if they thing it is healthy to get that mad so many times a day.
I’m in the US. I’ve had the s22 Ultra since a few days after it was released and it’s been the worst experience I have ever had with a phone. Now before, for the past 5 years or so I have been an IPhone user , but before that i was big on Galaxy. But after having IPhone for so long my husband talked me into getting the new Galaxy s22 Ultra and I agreed. Well its been a nightmare. In the beginning it was just a bit slow, which I am not use to . Iphones are extremely fast so I was use to that quality but my husband assured me I would soon love my new phone. Fast forward to today, this phone is so extremely glitchy . I cannot do anything on this dang phone without lag and glitch. The battery foes extremely fast after it gets down to 5 percent, which is weird. I literally have like 30 seconds to get it to a charger once it hits 5 percent. Also the past week it’s been completely freezing on me to where it will start off as glitch and lag , then into a black screen , then a white screen. And when I try to re start or turn off it won’t even let me do that. It takes about 30 minutes or so to get it to finally re start for me which is not okay at all. What if I was needing help and I couldn’t even make a phone call. And no my phone is not dead when it does this either , fully charged. The camera quality is great and the battery life is great too, until it gets to that damn 5 percent, but for this being my first Android phone after 5 years of iPhone, it has left a very and taste in my mouth and I completely regret my decision to go back to Android. I’m going to take my phone in today and hope there is a solution to this issue . I will be switching back to iPhone as soon as possible. Worst experience ever I have never had a phone as bad as this one .
Agreed this is my 5th Samsung mobile device, the Samsung S22 Ultra is a steaming pile of shit.
I don’t know ANYONE who let’s their phone go to 5% battery on a regular basis but when it has happened to me, regardless of brand or OS, it has been bad for performance. Most phones default to power saving mode by that point and they run like shit until charged.
Myself and several others I know have the S22 Ultra with Snapdragons and they are essentially flawless as current phones go. Battery life is better in the S22 plus but the performance is better on the S22 ultra. If I was having the issues so many of you are reporting it would be a warranty return. You got the phone protection plan right? Drop it in the driveway and have a new one sent. If you didn’t get the phone insurance then I think you should stop buying expensive phones.
Had nothing but good experiences from Samsung in the past, but from day one the S22 ultra has been very disappointing. Overheats like crazy if you try to game on it, and you can watch the battery dropping 1% per minute with even low screen brightness settings just browsing online. The only good thing about it is the camera, but I didn’t really buy it for that. I definitely will be thinking twice about going with Samsung again after this.
Wow, I’m rocking the snapdragon 8 gen 1 variant and it seems OK but wouldn’t say the best for battery and everything else is great
Hi.
I’m an iPhone user. (12 pro max) and in doubt of switching to the S22 ultra. As I’m from Belgium I’m also have the “luck” to get the exynos version. I was afraid of the things I read in your review. I’ve been an android user from 2009 until 2018. And I was tired of laggy unstable phones. So if I go back I DONT want to be in that situation again ????
I bought the S22 Ultra with Snapdragon here in the US on the AT&T network and I’m really impressed what it can do and how much of an upgrade it really is and feels like. 120hz refresh rate is unbelievable on a phone!! I’m an avid pc user as well that uses a 165hz monitor and I’m not disappointed with this at all!! No glitches in performance whatsoever. As far as the CPU is concerned, it is POWERFUL!! Almost too powerful for this battery. So battery drain will occur within hours of heavy usage. Network performance, from AT&T is pretty dodgy on the true 5G network(Not 5Ge). APN Switching makes little to no difference with network stability. Samsung Dex in my experience is still a work in progress I feel, but when connected with a USB-C to HDMI its almost FLAWLESS!! Achieves 120Hz over HDMI with the use of a TV or monitor that is capable. I used a 165hz monitor and did get 120hz with no issues. Displays 1080p from what I’ve seen. Gaming over HDMI is excellent!! No lag when bluetooth controllers are connected and that feels great!! Fingerprint Scanner, no complaints with that. Overall, have really little to no complaints. Most I will say is battery life must be watched and optimized if your not a heavy user or gamer. If optimized correctly, this phone will last almost 10hrs plus no problem. Hope this helps!
I absolutely agree with you. It’s the first time I’ve invested so much in a phone and to say I’m disappointed is an understatement!!
Wow!! I’m so glad I kept reading after the first couple paragraphs.
I’m in america and I was ready to change my mind from getting the s22 ultra until I read the whole article.
I see we here get the better chip and all is great with here in america.Thanks for explaining that it’s just Europe that’s been sh*t on in this chip situation.
I’m guessing they had to make a choice with all the chip shortages and maybe couldn’t supply every s22 ultra with the best chip so yall got short changed awfully.
I don’t blame you a bit for this complaint I would be super p*ssed too if they did that to us.
This is going to hurt there sails being sneaky like this and not giving everyone everywhere the same great chip.
I’m at the point where my Nite 10 plus is going to stop having security updates and had my kind set on the s22 ultra so when I read this I my heart shuddered and the UH OH OH NO sh*try feeling hit me hard.
Alot of people may stop reading at that point but thank God I kept going.
I appreciate your honestly sir and thank you for the great explanation on this great phone.
BTW I’ve never owned anything but Samsung note series phones and have always loved them and all the goodies they’ve offered so I’m praying the s22 ultra holds up to the greatness of the Note series.
I feel after reading your article that It will may even be better.
Thanks again ????
i have a galaxy note 20 5g ultra and each day it seems new stuff come out for it that not once has it made owning the once greatest phone ever made better but in fact wih ever passing day galaxy note 20 5g ultra is becoming a bigger piece of worthless junk im at the point of thtowing it the front door of samsungs headquaters it is becoming the bigest piece of crap phone i have ever owned and it hurts me to say that so much i loved samsung across the board and now i will never buy or own anything they make ever again ! the last 3 to 4 years they had a chance to crush apple and what did they do not 1 good thing instead they went and screwed eveything they had up to where fisher price has better products . samsung has falling so low they have to stand on a nickle too piss on a dime ! nothing but trash across board im going to go back to tin can and string ! thanks samsung for nothing you losers !
ps the s22 s23 are both junk too