Galaxy S22 battery life & tests: upgrade or disappointment?

February 17, 2022 6

Feb 16, 2022, 4:14 PM

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The entire Galaxy S22 series are finally here, after months of anticipation! No more betting on leaks and rumors about the various specs: we’ve got all the information we need straight from the horse’s mouth. Now, it’s time to get down to business and see just what kind of battery life the new models pack, and how they measure up against past flagships.

Galaxy S22 battery life

We should warn you ahead of time not to hold your breath when it comes to the milliAmp hours these three phones come with. On paper, there is no improvement at all from last year’s specs, although the new chipset’s efficiency was supposed to more than make up for that fact.

The Galaxy S22 battery has officially been revealed to come with 3,700 mAh. As anticipated, this is technically a downgrade in capacity from the 4,000 mAh the Galaxy S21 offered—although that “downgrade” comes with an asterisk, as it arrives hand-in-hand with a much more power-efficient chipset this year.

Samsung has already announced the model is good for 54 hours of music playback. We’re in the middle of testing this, as well as much more to provide you with some solid battery life benchmarks as soon as possible.

Galaxy S22+ battery life

The mid-range model in the series, Samsung announced, holds 4,500 mAh. Similarly to the Galaxy S22, this is another 300 mAh decrease from the device’s last-year predecessor, and yet another potential disappointment. We’ll know for sure, however, once we fully run our tests. Samsung gives 69 hours of playback as the only official benchmark on the S22 Plus so far.

We’re currently conducting tests to get an accurate reading of how well the S22 and S22+ hold up against their 2021 siblings, given the power gains promised by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset (which will be equipped in all the models within the United States).

Galaxy S22 Ultra battery life

Last but definitely not least is the Galaxy S22 Ultra. While its battery is the only one that’s not a downgrade from last year, it isn’t really an upgrade, either. The premium flagship offers 5,000 mAh of capacity, which is exactly as much as the Galaxy S21 Ultra offered.

According to Samsung, this is enough for 81 hours of audio playback. We’ve already finished conducting some tests of our own as well, and we’ve revealed the results below.

During our light browsing test—which is most indicative of casual use—the Ultra lasted just over 13 hours. Rather a mediocre score for a 5,000 mAh flagship, and definitely less than last year’s S21 Ultra. As it is, it sits right on par with the Google Pixel 6 Pro.

Our YouTube video streaming test also proved somewhat of a disappointment. The device lasted 7.5 hours while playing YouTube videos, which leaves a significant margin between the S22 Ultra’s performance, and competitors with the same battery capacity. We ran the test twice, and the results were disappointingly consistent both times.

The S22 Ultra received the best score, however, during our 3D gaming test—where it lasted an impressive 10+ hours of gaming. This is exactly the double of the results we got from both the S21 Ultra and the Galaxy Note 20!

Samsung Galaxy S22 series: charging speeds

The Galaxy S22 series has mostly kept the same charging speeds as the Galaxy S21 range. Samsung did make an exception when it comes to fast charging on the S22 Ultra and S22+, though. These two now bring 45W wired charging, and 15W wireless charging speeds to the table, which is a definite improvement from the last “ultra” and “plus” models.

The wired charging speed for the S22, as we said, remains completely unchanged at 25 Watts. Qi wireless charging is also set at 15W, identical across the entire S22 series.

All three models are receiving Samsung PowerShare integration, which allows them to share some of their power with other devices, as well as charge small accessories wirelessly by placing them on top of the phone.

Samsung clearly isn’t breaking ground with battery life, so let’s hope the rest is enough

The Samsung S22 series will clearly not be one to stand out for its battery life. In this era, phones of the caliber and size of even the Galaxy S22 standard model can easily fit a 5,000 mAh battery, so consumers definitely won’t be motivated much in their buying decision by this factor.

Let’s just hope the rest of the Galaxy S22 series’ features are attractive enough to make up for this potential disappointment, and keep us satisfied and eager for more. The series’ in-house Exynos chip 2200 bringing the first taste of real-time ray tracing to the mobile market is definitely a push in that direction!

It’s finally time to pre-order your Samsung Galaxy S22 flagship

Although the official reservation period has ended, along with its exclusive perks, you are now able to pre-order every model in the series directly from Samsung. Just keep in mind that it will arrive sometime after February 25, which is the official date that the Galaxy S22 series hits the stores.