The big day is reportedly near for prospective buyers of the 5G-enabled Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra. Unfortunately, we're not talking about the commercial debut or even the formal announcement of Samsung's next mainstream high-end smartphones.
Instead, the highly anticipated sequels to the (moderately) successful Galaxy S21 family of early 2021 are expected to enter production soon, which means sales will... not kick off in the very near future.
Fingers crossed for a late February release
At first glance, Ross Young's latest prediction calling for a Galaxy S22 series production start during the "1st week of December" might look like good news to the untrained eye in the ancient art of smartphone development.
But it generally takes quite a bit of time for tech giants like Samsung to ramp up production and prepare a satisfactory number of units for a proper launch of such a sought-after handset lineup. For instance, Galaxy S21 series production reportedly started in early November or late October 2020.
This is probably the Galaxy S22
For those who may have trouble remembering exactly what followed, the S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra broke cover on January 14, 2021 ahead of an actual commercial release a couple of weeks later.
In other words, if Young is correct (and the supply chain analyst almost always is about these kinds of things), a January 2022 Unpacked event seems out of the question all of a sudden... unless the Galaxy S21 FE will end up getting a glamorous announcement of its own.
Of course, there's nothing sudden or particularly shocking about this news, which more or less aligns with the schedule discussed by Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser just last week. According to Prosser, the Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra 5G could go up for pre-order sometime "in the second week of February", which might then lead to a shipment start around the end of the same month.
The problem is this is very much a provisional schedule, and while a production kick-off would normally make things clearer and firmer, the ongoing global chip shortage means that everything could still change at any point down the line. So, yeah, a worldwide release in late February (in satisfactory numbers) is beginning to feel like an optimistic scenario.
All the colors to look forward to
If there's one thing that gives us hope, that's the chromatic diversity forecasted by Ross Young for each model as follows:
While not quite as expansive as the current S21 roster, that list of planned paint jobs seems to suggest Samsung has reason to expect "normal" production operations to take place relatively soon.
These are just a few of the S21 series color options
Then again, some of these hues will undoubtedly be exclusive to certain markets, and there's obviously also no way to know (just yet) how many copies Samsung thinks it can manufacture of the snazzy Burgundy Red S22 Ultra, for instance.
In terms of general design language, things might not look radically different from what the company's hardcore fans have grown accustomed to in recent years.
Of course, a number of meaningful improvements are definitely in the pipeline, starting with display technology and including graphics performance as well. It remains to be seen just how affordable the vanilla Galaxy S22 5G model will prove to be in its attempt to outshine Apple's regular iPhone 13 and whether or not the S Pen-wielding S22 Ultra 5G will cost more than the iPhone 13 Pro Max monster.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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