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Unless you've been hiding under a (remote) rock somewhere in the Appalachians for the last couple of weeks, chances are you know everything there is to know about Samsung's hot new Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra powerhouses. But what about last year's S22 family?
Obviously, the specs and capabilities of the three (slowly) aging high-end Android handsets unveiled in February 2022 are no secret. Their "purpose" on the heels of the S23 series launch, however, might seem a little unclear... if you didn't pay close attention to yesterday's big Unpacked event.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $199.99 with trade-in
The S23 Ultra is now officially in stores. Get up to $750 instant trade-in credit, and $100 instant credit from Samsung with the purchase. The phone starts at $199.99 with an eligible trade-in for AT&T or T-Mobile.
Galaxy S23 for free with trade-in (AT&T and T-Mobile), save on unlocked model too
Go with T-Mobile or AT&T right off the bat and you can pay nothing for a vanilla S23 with 256GB storage (with an eligible trade-in). Verizon's version starts at $59.99 with trade-in. Or pick an unlocked model and cough up $159.99 after trade-in credits.
In a blink-and-you-miss-it type of moment roughly 46 minutes into the livestream (which is still available for your replaying pleasure on YouTube), Samsung announced that the Galaxy S22 is sticking around rather than getting discontinued anytime soon, essentially acting as a slightly lower-end and lower-cost relative of the S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra.
The S23 is the better option... for the time being
Yes, the "vanilla" 6.1-inch S22 5G is now priced at $699.99 in the US in an entry-level 128GB configuration while fetching an extra 50 bucks with double that amount of internal storage space. Compared to how much the phone used to cost back when it was originally released, that's going to save you a cool $100, which is of course not exactly unusual or unprecedented.
What's different right now from all of Samsung's promotional periods these last few months is that you're looking at a permanent discount here... likely to be improved in future sales events.
At $699.99, the Galaxy S22 is $100 cheaper than the cheapest Galaxy S23 variant, which does however come with 256 gigs of local digital hoarding room as a pre-order offer. There are many more Galaxy S23 series deals around that make the S22 feel... not very compelling for the time being, but that's likely to change in a few weeks.
You can always trade in something (good) and lower the Galaxy S22 price further or keep an eye on third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy for heftier (temporary) discounts.
Curiously enough, the Galaxy S22+ and S22 Ultra are both still around as well, but at the same old list prices as always. There's clearly no logical reason to pick those oldies over the Galaxy S23+ and S23 Ultra right now, although we do expect some phenomenal deals to come sooner or later and help Samsung get rid of lingering inventory.
What does this all mean for the Galaxy S22 FE?
Now that, ladies and gents, is the million-dollar question, and of course, the answer for the moment is... we don't know. The Galaxy S21 FE, mind you, is still alive and kicking at a retail price of $599.99 with 128GB storage and $669.99 in a 256 gig variant.
Between that early 2022-released Snapdragon 888 model and the now $700-and-up Galaxy S22, there really doesn't seem to be any space left in Samsung's high-end smartphone food chain for a "Fan Edition" of the S22.
The S21 FE (pictured here) may never get a sequel.
Naturally, a Galaxy S22 FE could still come at any time and replace the S21 FE at a starting price of $600 (or maybe even lower), thus confirming a recent rumor and contradicting several older reports and pieces of gossip.
But it makes way more sense for Samsung to just skip that device now and either jump ahead to a Galaxy S23 FE... at some point this year or forget about Fan Edition phones altogether. It's obviously impossible to say which of the two "strategies" will ultimately be adopted by the world's largest handset vendor, which is reportedly considering reducing the number of mid-range Galaxy A-series launches in the near future too.
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