Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus might be a downgrade in terms of battery
As for battery life, let’s wait and see
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You might want to adjust your expectations if you thought that theSamsung Galaxy S22was going to raise the bar in terms of battery capacity. A new leak suggests that the battery size might actually go down in 2022, at least when it comes to the Plus model.
According to information obtained byGalaxyClub, the Galaxy S22 Plus is likely to come with an advertised battery capacity of 4,500mAh, which is some way short of the 4,800mAh capacity that the battery packed inside theGalaxy S21 Plusoffers.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that battery life will be worse, but if this source is to be believed, battery capacity will be down. For comparison, theGalaxy S21andGalaxy S21 Ultraoffer battery capacities of 4,000mAh and 5,000mAh respectively.
The rumors so far
There are no other details in this particular leak, but we’ve already heard plenty about what the Galaxy S21 phones might be bringing with them:the suggestion isthat the as-yet-unannounced Snapdragon 898 chipset from Qualcomm will be powering the Galaxy S21 series in most of the regions that it’s sold in.
The screen sizes of the standard, Plus and Ultra handsets are rumored to be 6.06 inches, 6.55 inches and 6.81 inches, and they’re all expected to offer a maximum 120Hz refresh rate. Triple-lens camerasare said to befitted to all three models, with ultrawide modes and optical zoom capabilities.
Design-wise, don’t expect a huge amount of difference from what we saw with the 2021 phones, although therehas been talkthat at least one of the S22 models would come with vapor chamber cooling technology, perhaps pushing up performance levels even further.
Analysis: battery capacity isn’t everything
While it’s somewhat disappointing to hear that the battery capacity of the Galaxy S22 Plus may drop in comparison to the Galaxy S21 Plus, the move might not have the negative effect on overall battery life as you might think at first glance.
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It’s possible that this is just a recalibration of battery capacities to better differentiate the three main models in the Galaxy S22 series – right now it’s not clear what, if anything, is going to change with the battery capacities of the standard and Ultra models.
What’s more, as theiPhone 12(with its 2,815mAh battery) proves, capacity isn’t everything when it comes to battery life. A lot depends on the power draw of the rest of the components – andSamsunghasalready announcedOLED technology that doesn’t need as much power as normal.
Add in an upgraded CPU that may well be more efficient than its predecessor, and we could still see improvements in battery life on the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, even with smaller batteries. We should find out in January or February.
Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.
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