No one could have imagined how big Google would be in 2022. The company has its hands in nearly everything and provides services to consumers and businesses. While many other Google services easily trump Gmail in scale, it still can be considered one of its tentpole offerings, with nearly 2 billion users. Since its inception in 2004, the service has grown quite a bit, evolving from a simple email service with 1GB of storage to something more fully featured with enhanced tools, making life easier when composing emails. With its latest update, Gmail will offer the best of Google Workspace and look much more modern thanks to its new look.
As digital communication has become more complex over the years, Google has done its best to create and provide tools to make communicating much more accessible. While it did tease the feature earlier in the year, Google will now take these tools and make them all readily available in Gmail. Users can also access Chat, Spaces, and Meet directly from the sidebar. To take advantage of this new view, users will have to enable Chat to see the unified view. Of course, if having all the apps visible isn’t your thing, you can always customize the look using Quick Settings.
The new UI based on Google’s Material Design 3 will roll out to users over the coming weeks, but those that want to keep the current default look will be able to do so. In addition, Gmail will continue to be as powerful as it has been, giving users a wide variety of tools like Search Chips, Smart Compose, and more. Finally, Google aims to bring a better experience to tablet users sometime later this year. So again, keep a look out for the new interface rolling out to Gmail sometime in the next few weeks.
Smartphones have been around for over a decade now. What started as a luxury product that not everyone could justify paying for has now become a quintessential part of our lives. From basic tasks, such as viewing a restaurant’s digital menu, to more complex ones, like authorizing transactions — smartphones are no longer just phones. They’re our cameras, health record storage, media library, mobile bank branch, house and car keys, trip planners, and so much more. The most popular phone manufacturers tend to release an upgrade or two per year. For example, Apple launches a new high-end iPhone lineup every fall, and it sometimes does a mid-range release in the spring. Similarly, Samsung announces new smartphones at different times of the year — offering various specs and price tags to cater to a wider audience.
When it comes to phones, we can classify its users into two camps: — enthusiasts who upgrade annually or more frequently, and the vast majority who couldn’t care less about that. The latter group just wants a phone that works. On the other hand, the former is tempted to get its hands on the latest and not-necessarily-greatest, no matter what. In my opinion, though, even a power user doesn’t need to upgrade their phone yearly at this point.
When a company releases a product that belongs to a new category, the first few generations usually pack a ton of improvements. As the device matures, innovation slows down. Let’s take the iPhone as an example. The original iPhone reimagined what a phone can look like and do. The following release introduced 3G support and the App Store for third-party apps. These changes are notable enough to push users to upgrade. Skipping the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 introduced a modern design and FaceTime support. The phone was gradually starting to shape up.
Year after year, the element of excitement started to fade away when Apple launched new iPhones. There were some noteworthy moments, like when it introduced Touch ID, the bigger iPhone 6, and then finally the notched iPhone X with Face ID. It would make sense for someone with an iPhone 5 to buy an iPhone 6. However, upgrading from an iPhone 7 to an iPhone 8 wouldn’t be as reasonable. An annual phone upgrade lost its significance — as we further advanced in this department. Some people can’t even tell the difference between an iPhone 12 Pro and an iPhone 13 Pro.
Similarly, Android phones have almost fully matured, too. Companies can no longer come up with releases as mind-blowing as those of yesteryear. We’ve figured out how to master smartphones, and we almost have. It’s normal and expected to reach this point — where new changes are a bunch of bumped numbers that mean nothing to most users.
2. Future-proof phones are now affordable
Back in the day, buying an affordable phone came with frustrations — mostly revolving around performance. Low-end and mid-range phones would typically start slowing down after a few months of active use. This pushed many people to upgrade often, as they’d start dealing with “you’ve run out of storage” alerts and other annoyances fairly quickly in the phone cycle. That’s not to mention that we passed through a phase during which app updates started getting notably larger. This ruined the experience for those who had phones with low storage capacities.
Things have changed now. Whether you buy the iPhone SE 3 or almost any other middle-range Android device, it easily survives for at least a few years. Manufacturers are promising more years of software support, and the minimum technical specifications are now decent and acceptable — relatively speaking. So even those not investing in a high-end phone shouldn’t be feeling any pressure towards a yearly upgrade.
3. Battery repairs sometimes replace a phone upgrade
A person may want to upgrade their phone because their current one irritates them. Many factors can fuel this frustration. However, what many users don’t necessarily realize is that sometimes the solution doesn’t have to be a phone upgrade. “My battery barely lasts me for a few hours” is a common complaint we hear when someone starts planning to upgrade. So, why do we replace the whole phone when replacing the battery can be enough?
Granted, battery replacements have gotten significantly difficult from the early days of smartphones. Removable batteries haven’t been a thing on mainstream phones for a while now, and glass sandwiches are notoriously difficult to maneuver for a battery swap. But they are still largely possible and cheap enough to consider once your phone crosses the 2-year mark. If you bought a flagship, you can eke out another year or two of great performance out of it before considering a swap over to a new phone.
Switched out the battery and still unhappy with the performance? Sometimes a factory reset fixes that. By starting over, you delete all of the unnecessary, cached data and get a fresh experience. Back when I used to carry an Android phone, I’d perform a factory reset every now and then. That had a notable, positive impact on the performance (or at least enough of a placebo effect) — despite it being a hassle.
4. Software updates rejuvenate the experience
One great thing about smartphones is software updates. Typically, Apple and Google release one major update per year to iOS and Android OS respectively. These usually come with user-facing changes and additions that enrich the operating systems. They’re not the mundane bug fixes and security patches we see almost monthly. So even if you’re not carrying the latest phone available, your device will look similar to it after the software upgrade. Yes, the hardware won’t change. However, the user interface and the new packed perks will look similar — for the most part.
Personally, WWDC means more to me than the iPhone fall event. Why? Compare the difference between iOS 15 and iOS 16 to that between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups. That’s why. iOS 16 introduces a customizable Lock Screen with support for widgets, rich iMessage and Mail features, etc. Now ask an average user to tell you the difference between the aforementioned iPhone generations — they’d probably be clueless. The introduction of Material You on Android is a similar story. When we use our phones, we interact with the software more than the hardware. That’s why a mere software update can substitute the annual phone upgrade for many users.
5. Your current phone camera doesn’t need an upgrade
One of the many reasons a person might want to upgrade their phone is getting their hands on a better camera. Every year, phone manufacturers typically make improvements that result in better photo and video output. Whether it be through the lenses or the chip and software processing, we almost always get a bump in the camera department. This is often used as a selling point and a motivator to pressure undecided users into upgrading.
Though the million-dollar question is — do you actually need this slightly better camera system? Likely not. Modern smartphone cameras are already powerful enough for you to build a vibrant library of memories. That’s not to mention that your favorite social media platforms tend to compress your uploaded photos and videos. And then there is the fact that people viewing that content may not be viewing it on ideal displays either. Additionally, even if you’re viewing the full-quality, local copies, you likely won’t be able to tell the difference between slightly different resolutions.
Yes, some camera features are groundbreaking, like Samsung’s Space Zoom. However, this is just an exception. A phone’s camera doesn’t usually get an upgrade as big every single year. So skipping a smartphone generation or two won’t really have a drastic impact on your life or its digital documentation. In most real-life scenarios, the mere presence of a camera is more important than the fine details coming out of the photograph — you’d be just fine with an older phone.
6. Many selling points are mere marketing gimmicks
When companies announce new smartphones, they try to tempt you with all sorts of shiny specifications. “For the first time ever, the Banana Phone comes with 5G support!!” They promise you incredible speeds that you can only achieve under ideal conditions. But the harsh truth is — we live in a far-from-ideal world. In reality, 5G has been a disappointment so far. Users aren’t getting the maximum speeds corporations boast about in keynotes. Additionally, even if you achieve the full speeds — what do you need it for? 4G/LTE is already fast enough to stream high-quality content on the go. The instability and increased battery drain are just not worth it for most users.
Similarly — the slightly more shatter-resistant glass this new phone upgrade will get most probably won’t affect you in any way. No matter how resilient the front and back glass panels are, dropping your phone at a certain angle from a certain height on a certain material is going to crack it. It’s all about how careful and how lucky you are. Yes, the used glass has improved over the years. However, the difference between a single generation is almost always unnoticeable. This will get us to our next point — processors.
7. You don’t need the fastest chip for your Instagram scroll
With every major phone upgrade, manufacturers tend to give the processor a performance bump. This used to matter in the past because smartphone chips started out as rather slow. Every new generation would make an impact, and older phones would quickly lose support for newer system and app updates. This is no longer the case. Phones from a few years ago can still run the latest versions of the most popular apps. Just because the 2022 chip is 20% as fast as that of 2021 doesn’t mean it’ll actually affect your experience in any way. In fact, there’s a big chance you’re not unleashing the 2021 chip’s full potential in the first place. This will bring us to the next point — we’re past major breakthroughs in the phone upgrade department.
8. The smartphone is in a transitioning period
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but the smartphone party is over — wrap it up! Smartphones were exciting once upon a time. They used to move us, to actually stir our emotions through their advanced offerings. Now they’re just meh to many of us. That’s because, as I’ve mentioned earlier, they’ve matured. There’s nothing left to add, not in a major way at least. Companies have had around 15 years to learn from their mistakes and build a solid foundation to reach where we are today. They’ve already mastered the format, and this becomes obvious when the only noticeable difference between the two generations of phones is the slightly shifted camera locations.
Now we wait for the next big thing. This could be a mixed-reality headset, eyewear of some sort, or who knows what else. Until then, newer phones will likely remain tweaked iterations of their predecessors. It’s unfair of us to expect corporations to blow our minds every single year at this point. Additionally, as a consumer, by not adopting the annual phone upgrade habit, you’re also, in a way, pressuring these companies into coming up with more impressive and innovative products. Blindly buying every single model is validation to them. Don’t give them that if they haven’t earned it.
Realistically speaking, the next step on the smartphone timeline could be foldables. This category of devices is slowly starting to take off, and manufacturers are filling the gaps of previous-gen models with every new release. Foldables could act as a bridge between regular smartphones and the next form of mainstream mobile devices. After all, if mixed-reality headsets indeed end up replacing the phone, it will likely take a few years before the masses adopt them. Ultimately, it’s still in its early, emerging phase, and what’s next remains vague for now.
9. Give Mother Nature a much-needed hug
One of the most important aspects that users either forget about or simply ignore is the environment. The more frequently you upgrade, the more you harm our nature. Whether it be through the manufacturing process, packaging, or shipping — it all pollutes Earth. Skipping an unnecessary phone upgrade is greener than upgrading annually and recycling the older unit. If we can’t collectively take more responsibility for what we’ve done to the only inhabitable planet we’re aware of, then we’re in for some very deep… problems.
10. Set some Benjamins aside
While you wait for the next big thing — which could cost more than a typical smartphone, especially in its early days — save some money. Even if you’re wealthy, you could always treat yourself to something more meaningful than an annual upgrade that doesn’t bring you any value. If Lana Del Rey and Chris Evans can hold onto their iPhones for like half a decade, then so can you. Ultimately, it’s your money and decision — we’re not arguing about that. I’m merely pointing out that an average user (and, arguably, even a power user) doesn’t need to upgrade their phone annually. Unless you are a reviewer or have a job that revolves around needing the latest smartphones and gadgets, then there’s no point in upgrading your smartphone annually.
Once upon a time, buying the latest smartphone equated to getting one’s hands on original technologies. That ship has sailed a long time ago. Just focus on the past few keynotes from a given manufacturer — they likely introduced the same device over and over again throughout the year with a few tweaks here and there. Now a breakthrough in this field only occurs once every several years. If you don’t find these 10 reasons convincing, then go ahead and resume your annual phone upgrade cycle.
How often do you upgrade your phone, and why? Let us know in the comments section below.
When you buy a Dell XPS laptop, you’re buying some of the best that money can buy. You’re getting a premium aluminum laptop and an immersive InfinityEdge display. Ultimately, you’re buying the best that Dell has to offer. With the Dell XPS 13 Plus, you’re still getting that, but the company is getting a bit more experimental.
It comes with a border-less haptic touchpad, which makes it feel like it’s a laptop from the future. On top of that, the function keys are capacitive, with light-up buttons across the top of the keyboard. Even the keyboard itself is different. It stretches from one side to the other, with larger keys and no more space between them.
It’s not perfect, as no laptop is. Dell stuck with a 720p webcam, making it one of very few Intel Evo laptops that hasn’t upgraded to FHD. Also, while there’s more power under the hood from the 28W CPU, it’s a mixed bag of results that range from issues with sustained performance, to sucking down battery life.
As always, it has a best-in-class display, and this model is 3.5K OLED, just another thing that puts it over the top. As always, Dell has produced a win with the XPS 13 Plus.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is available now from a variety of channels, starting at $1,299.99
It comes in Platinum and Graphite
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is available now from Dell.com, and you can also find select configurations, such as the OLED models, as other retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon. The base model starts at $1,299, and that gets you a Core i5, 8GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an FHD+ display. It comes in Graphite and Platinum.
The model that Dell sent me includes a Core i7-1280P, 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 3.5K OLED display, so it’s a bit nicer than the base model. As configured, this unit costs $1,949.
Dell XPS 13 Plus specs
Processor
12th Generation Intel Core i7-1280P (24MB Cache, up to 4.8 GHz, 14 cores)
Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C with DisplayPort and Power Delivery) x2
USB-C to USB-A 3.0 adapter (included in the box)
USB-C to 3.5mm headset adapter (included in the box)
Keyboard
Platinum Backlit English Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader
Webcam
720p at 30 fps HD RGB camera, 400p at 30 fps IR camera, dual-array microphones
Audio
Dual stereo speakers (tweeter + woofer), Realtek ALC1319D, 2 W x 2 = 4 W total
Design: From the outside, it just looks like a Dell XPS 13
It weighs in at 2.77 pounds
Made out of all aluminum, it comes in Platinum and Graphite colors
There are just two Thunderbolt 4 ports
Like all Dell XPS laptops, the XPS 13 Plus 9320 is made out of CNC-machined aluminum. It comes in at 2.77 pounds for the OLED model, which, for the most part, is about as light as it gets on an aluminum laptop. Once you go beyond that, you start looking at other materials like magnesium alloys, which tend to feel less premium.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus, on the other hand, feels very premium. It comes in either Platinum or Graphite with a matte finish on the lid. The model that Dell sent me for review is Platinum, and it has a white interior. Interestingly, all of the accessories in the box are black. Historically, Dell has included white accessories with white XPS laptops, although it’s possible that it just stopped doing that because there is no more white XPS 13 or XPS 13 2-in-1.
Made out of CNC-machined aluminum, every bit of it feels premium, just like every Dell XPS laptop.
Ultimately, the exterior design of the Dell XPS 13 Plus really isn’t that different from XPS 13 laptops of previous generations. That’s particularly true of the Platinum model. The Graphite one is that color on the lid, which we haven’t seen from XPS laptops in the past. The same can be said for the new XPS 13 colors, Umber and Sky.
As far as ports go, there are just two. You’ll find Thunderbolt 4 ports on each side, which is actually quite nice. Most Windows laptops that I review still put both USB Type-C ports on one side, which means that at some point, the charging cable will get in your way. Having one on each way is a nice way to solve that. It’s actually more expensive for the OEM to do this, so it’s nice that Dell actually did.
Thunderbolt 4 isn’t just for charging though. You can get data transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps, you can connect dual 4K displays on a single port, or you can connect an 8K display. You can even use it to connect an external GPU, just in case you want to pair up the 28W CPU with more powerful graphics.
Of course, the more likely use case is just to connect a Thunderbolt dock, which you can use to add an array of USB Type-A ports, HDMI, DisplayPort, or something else.
The key thing to note about the design is that like all Dell XPS laptops, it definitely feels premium.
Display: One of the best displays on a laptop
The 3.5K OLED display is gorgeous
Non-OLED options are pretty great too
The Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 has the four display options that are common for XPS these days. There’s a 1,920×1,200 non-touch option, a 1,920×1,200 touch option, 3.5K OLED, and 4K IPS. Dell sent me the 3.5K OLED model, and as always, it’s lovely.
I want to be clear, however, that they’re all lovely. I’ve reviewed so many XPS laptops and I’ve experienced all of these configurations. On any color gamut test, they score in the 90% range. You’ll get better battery life with FHD+, but you’re sacrificing pixels for it. The 3.5K and 4K options look great, but of course, they tax the battery.
The display is best-in-class.
Speaking of color gamut tests, this laptop supports 100% sRGB, 94% NTSC, 96% Adobe RGB, and 100% P3, which is some of the best results that you’ll find on a laptop. Dell also puts up these kinds of numbers on its IPS displays, which is pretty much unheard of anywhere else.
Brightness maxed out at 386.2 nits, falling a bit short of the 400-nit promise. Contrast maxed out at 12,920:1, and of course, it’s that high thanks to the OLED display.
Unfortunately, the webcam is still 720p, making Dell’s XPS 13 and XPS 13 Plus some of the only Intel Evo-certified laptops that don’t have FHD webcams. Dell is pretty upfront about the fact that it prioritizes narrow bezels and an immersive experience above all else. Unfortunately, in the age of working from home, that webcam is important.
On a side note, there is an IR camera up there for Windows Hello facial recognition, so that’s always nice.
Keyboard and touchpad: A border-less touchpad, capacitive keys, and more
It has capacitive function keys
There’s a haptic touchpad without a border
The keys are big but they’re not islanded
You’ve probably heard people (like me) call this laptop futuristic, and an example of what a modern laptop should be. This is the section where we’re going to talk about that.
First of all, Dell got a little experimental with the keyboard. The keys are not islanded, meaning there’s no space between them. That means that the keys are bigger, but if you’re not a precise typist, you might find yourself making mistakes. There’s a reason that all other products that had keys that weren’t islanded, eventually made the transition to islanded. For example, see Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 Type Cover, which became islanded the year after. The same goes for Huawei’s MateBook E series.
It’s something to be aware of, but I have to say, I kind of like it. I’ve found the keyboard to be weirdly accurate, maybe because it goes edge-to-edge and the keys are just that big. But also, this keyboard is really comfortable to type on. The keys have just the right amount of depth and required force. They feel delightful to type on, and I have to say, I don’t sing these praises about Dell laptops much. Normally, they’re just good but never the best.
And then there are the capacitive function keys. When this was announced, it was immediately compared to Apple’s Touch Bar, which was not well received. I think it’s fine. It feels a bit weird that there’s no haptic feedback when you press the buttons, and sometimes, I definitely had to tap them more than once to get the desired effect.
What I do like about it is that if you hold the Fn key, it switches to standard F-number keys. I don’t know about you, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pressed a function key, not sure if I have to hold Fn or not. This way, it’s easy to tell which one you’re hitting. So, not only is it a modern change, but it does feel like a practical one.
I saved the best for last. The haptic touchpad does not have a border, which might just be your biggest question mark if you’re thinking of throwing down a couple thousand dollars for this laptop.
Using the Dell XPS 13 Plus feels like living in the future.
When it was announced, Dell said that you should naturally be able to tell where the touchpad ends, just from muscle memory. For the most part, that’s true. If you go to click or right-click, you’ll probably know where to click. The bigger problem is dragging and dropping things. If you drag your finger off of the touchpad, you’ll immediately have to start over with whatever operation you were doing.
The touchpad is made by Aito, a company that could have actually made a haptic touchpad that could span across the whole palm rest if Dell wanted it to. Of course, if it did that, then there would be a whole lot of palm rejection technology that would have to go into it. Now, that kind of smart tech is what I want to see from the laptop of the future.
But in the meantime, this is a step toward it. Like I said, most of the time, you should do just fine without the border. Unfortunately, it’s pretty frustrating when it doesn’t work.
Performance: It uses 28W CPUs
The Dell XPS 13 Plus is the only member of this year’s XPS family to use Intel’s new 28W processors
The interesting thing about this year’s flagship laptops is that they all use different processors. Typically, Intel has one line of processors that’s aimed at ultrabooks and convertibles, and those products all include those chips. With Intel’s 12th-generation processors, that’s not the case.
With 12th-gen, there’s a new hybrid architecture, using big cores and little cores. This is something we’ve seen from Arm processors for years, using big cores for tasks that require a lot of power, and little cores for tasks that don’t, so something like syncing notifications doesn’t have to suck down battery life. The goal is better power management.
With this, Intel has introduced a range of SKUs. It has the typical 9W and 15W U-series processors, and now there’s the new 28W P-series. Not only does the P-series have a higher TDP, but it has more performance cores, or P-cores. That’s what you’ll find in the Dell XPS 13 Plus.
But for comparison, Lenovo’s Yoga 9i also uses the P-series, HP’s Spectre x360 13.5 uses 15W U-series, and the regular Dell XPS 13 uses a 9W U-series processor that’s boosted to 12W. Some new laptops, like HP’s Pavilion Plus, offers a choice between U-, P-, and H-series (H-series is 45W) CPU. It’s kind of a confusing mess, but it means more choice for consumers, which is always good.
The problem is that the boost in performance isn’t linear. There are some cases where I’ve seen the 15W U-series outperform the 45W H-series; however, these more powerful chips will do better in multitasking, as they do have more performance cores.
These benchmarks were actually achieved by going into the My Dell app and shifting it from optimized to “ultra performance”. That does things like putting the fan on max to keep the processor cool. Still, I’d love to have seen it score better.
I’ve tested several P-series laptops now, along with several H-series laptops that don’t have dedicated graphics, and I’m still not convinced that there’s any meaningful benefit to these higher wattage CPUs, especially when they’re not paired with any kind of dedicated graphics. The performance on the Dell XPS 13 Plus is fine, but you wouldn’t notice anything over if it uses a U-series chip.
And then there’s battery life, because yes, more wattage in the CPU means that it uses more battery life. A lot of other P-series laptops I’ve used come with bigger batteries, but Dell is still using one that’s 55WHr. On average, I got around four and a half hours of use out of it, but I couldn’t get beyond five hours. This was with the power slider on balanced and the screen brightness set to 50%. If you really want great battery life, you might want to stick with the regular XPS 13, which has a processor that won’t burn through the battery so much.
Should you buy the Dell XPS 13 Plus?
The Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 is one of the best laptops on the market, so if you’re thinking about buying one, consider the following.
You should buy the Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 if:
You want a laptop that feels futuristic
You want the best performance from a 13-inch Dell XPS laptop
You want the best display in a 13-inch laptop
You should not buy the Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 if:
You make a lot of video calls, requiring a good webcam
You feel more comfortable with islanded keys
You need dedicated graphics
If you’re not comfortable with islanded keys, you can also look toward the standard Dell XPS 13, which is totally redesigned this year. For dedicated graphics, take a look at the XPS 15 and XPS 17, which are phenomenal products.
Xiaomi may not publicly confess it, but its Ultra series is clearly aimed to take on Samsung’s own line with the same namesake, and it’s a worthy comparison every year. I say this not just because of the “Ultra” signifier. Heck, ZTE has an Ultra phone too and I would not consider that phone a true competitor to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. To earn the comparison against Android’s top dog, the new phone must bring the latest cutting-edge tech and back it up with polished software for an overall high-end experience. You have to walk the talk to be Ultra, and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra does so.
I know this comparison can’t be considered a real buyer’s guide for most readers because Xiaomi’s phone is only sold in China — for now. But I have a feeling the 12S Ultra will see a global debut eventually. And even if the 12S Ultra isn’t widely available, it’s still worth a comparison for the sake of curiosity, because in terms of slab phones, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra offer the best and “most” hardware right now. I’ve been using both phones heavily, and I have a lot of thoughts, including a very detailed camera section with dozens of samples. Let’s dive in.
About this comparison: This comparison was done after months and weeks of testing a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and Xiaomi 12S Ultra respectively. Each phone was provided by the company for review purposes, but neither Samsung nor Xiaomi had any input in this article.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Hardware and Design
The two Ultra phones actually have a lot in common in terms of camera philosophy and software features, so the biggest areas in which the two devices deviate may actually be here in the design. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is boxy, with hard corners and a minimalistic camera system design without a camera island — the lenses just sit on the phone’s body. Xiaomi’s 12S Ultra, meanwhile, is curvy with rounded corners and a gigantic camera module that screams for attention.
The back material is different too, obviously. Samsung uses a matte glass panel that’s cold to the touch. Xiaomi uses a faux-leather finish that feels textured, grippy, and warm to the touch. Personally, I like the look of the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s boxy design more, as it gives the device an imposing, mature, monolith slab vibe over the sort of dime-a-dozen rounded shape. But I find the in-hand feel of the boxy design uncomfortable, as the corners dig into my palm. Using a case, however, mostly eliminates the problem.
The other major differentiating factor: the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a stylus included with the device, stored inside the device via a silo at bottom of the device. Xiaomi’s Ultra has no such offering, so it loses out on all of those functions too, naturally.
Display
Other than that, the two phones are beginning to share a lot of similarities. The display panels, for example, are relatively similar in tech despite having different shapes. They’re both WQHD+ 120Hz AMOLED developed by Samsung, and both are absolutely gorgeous panels. To nitpick: the Galaxy S22 Ultra does get slightly brighter, but this is only noticeable if I’m using the phone under scorching sunlight without any covering, like at a beach. In Hong Kong with lots of tall buildings constantly providing some shade, I almost never needed either phone display to go full brightness.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra (left) and Galaxy S22 Ultra (right).
SoC
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, the best processor available in the Android space right now. Samsung’s phone, because it’s several months older, runs on either the older Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Samsung’s own Exynos 2200, depending on the region of purchase. I have not used the Exynos 2200 at all, but according to my colleague Adam Conway and other media peers, the Exynos 2200 is a problematic SoC that is quite inferior to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. So if your region only has access to the Exynos 2200, there is likely a big gap in performance and efficiency between the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
If you have access to the Snapdragon version of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, then the performance between the two phones is closer. The Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 apparently brings a small improvement in CPU performance, but you’d only notice this in benchmarks. Real-world usage for 99% of people simply won’t ever push the machines hard enough. Where the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 is noticeably better than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is battery efficiency. I’ve used two phones with the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip now, and both phones offer noticeably better battery life than previous Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Snapdragon 888 phones. My usage habits are consistent, all these phones are 120Hz OLED screens, so I believe my conclusion holds weight.
Battery, memory, other hardware bits
The Galaxy S22 Ultra has a larger 5000 mAh battery than the 12S Ultra’s 4,860 mAh, but for me, the Xiaomi phone offers better battery life because the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 is more efficient than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. RAM is the same for both phones, either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, but Samsung offers a higher storage option up to 1TB in addition to the now flagship standard 256GB/512GB variants. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra only comes in the latter two.
Haptics are speakers are great on both phones. I’d say the Galaxy S22 Ultra has slightly better haptics (just a bit more precise) but the 12S Ultra has a slightly better speaker system (just a bit fuller audio).
Okay, the part deserves its own section, and it’s a long one, because the camera system are the biggest selling point of both phones in my opinion.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Cameras
Main Camera
Samsung’s lead shooter is a 108MP camera using the company’s own ISOCELL HM3 sensor. It’s got a reasonably large 1/1.33-inch size which, coupled with the nona-binning technology (combining nine pixels worth of data into one for a 12MP image) makes for a very capable shooter that grabs a lot of light while keeping contrast.
Xiaomi’s main camera, however, is technically more impressive: it’s a 50MP SonyIMX 989 camera with a 1-inch image sensor that is 86% larger than Samsung’s 1/1.33–inches. It, too, uses pixel binning technology (just four-in-one compared to Samsung’s nine-in-one) to produce a 12.5MP shot. The camera is also covered by an eight-layer lens that (at least according to company marketing) was developed by Leica specifically for this camera.
I’ve snapped over 100 photos with both phones side by side in all lighting conditions in the past two weeks and I’ve noticed two key differences between the two main sensors.
Xiaomi’s larger sensor produces an even narrower plane of focus, resulting in noticeably stronger focus dropoff, aka the bokeh effect
Xiaomi’s color science consistently keeps shadows darker, which is apparently done on purpose to achieve the Leica look. This is jarring compared to Samsung’s processing which tries to pump more light into scenes
In digital imaging, the sensor size is arguably the most important hardware factor
I should explain what a larger image sensor means for readers who may be unfamiliar: in digital imaging, the sensor size is arguably the most important hardware factor, more than megapixels or aperture. A larger image sensor takes in more light information, which allows for shots with more details and dynamic range. A larger sensor usually means stronger bokeh too and this is evident in the first set of samples below. Note that Xiaomi’s shot not only exhibits bokeh between the camera and the plant behind but also between the camera lens and the camera body. Samsung’s image only has bokeh for the background, with the camera body and lens looking entirely in focus. Neither shot is wrong per se, but Xiaomi’s image feels like it has more depth, while Samsung’s image feels a bit flat.
It’s the same story with the below set, taken in low light conditions. Notice the subtle focus dropoff in Xiaomi’s shots — there are layers to the bokeh. The plastic shelf behind the orange water bottle is slightly blurred, then further back in the room shows stronger bokeh. Samsung’s focus pane is much wider, keeping things up to five feet away in focus too. You may notice so far that Samsung’s images seem a bit brighter, with colors that pop a bit more. That’s because the 12S Ultra has two color profiles: Leica authentic or Leica vibrant. Authentic keeps colors a bit closer to real life, but with shadows deeper than usual for that contrasty Leica look. Leica vibrant will punch up the colors and brighten the scene a bit, the way Samsung does in every shot. I mostly shot with Leica authentic and so far all Xiaomi samples are in Leica authentic.
Moving to more general main camera samples, we can see the differing color science on display.
But if we zoom in to 100% crops to pixel peep, you can see the Galaxy S22 Ultra does a lot of digital sharpening, to the point it doesn’t look natural. This obviously has to do with the smaller image sensor, but also the fact that 108 million pixels packed into a smaller sensor means an individual pixel in a S22 Ultra image is lower quality than the 12S Ultra’s pixels. Samsung uses binning tech to work around this, but it’s still not enough. If you look at the 100% crops below, Xiaomi’s images exhibit superior details.
By the way, I am aware of many readers who want to view full-sized samples and pixel peep themselves. Don’t worry I got you. I have uploaded original full-sized versions of all photos in this article in the Flickr album below.
So far most of the samples have been very easy shots, captured under ample lighting facing the right direction. Let’s try more challenging shots. Here, I purposely shot against very harsh sunlight
Samsung takes the clear win here in my opinion, as its HDR was able to at least find the shape of the scorching sun while keeping the shadowed areas still somewhat visible. Xiaomi’s image blows out the sky, and the shadowed areas are much darker. I pixel peeped both shots at 100% size too. Details and sharpness are a virtual tie.
But moving to another set of difficult contrasty scenes and the results are flipped. This time, it’s the Xiaomi that managed the difficult exposure, handling the light coming through the window and the various lights emitting from the Nothing Phone 1 and my screens.
And if we zoom in to 100% size, Xiaomi’s image is noticeably sharper and less grainy.
Moving to low-light images, the first thing to note is Xiaomi 12S Ultra doesn’t use night mode nearly as often as Samsung’s, because, again, the larger sensor can take in more light naturally. For example, in the trio of low light samples below, only in the last set did Xiaomi turn on night mode, the first two sets were just captured normally. Samsung, however, used night mode for all three photos.
The benefit of night mode is apparent in some of these shots. In the first sample, while Xiaomi’s shot is still “brighter” despite not using night mode, Samsung’s processing produced a more visually appealing shot in my opinion. The colors at this park was much more closer in real life to Xiaomi’s shot, but it’s a bit too yellow due to the heavy fluorescent light. Samsung’s image processing cooled the shot, which makes the scene look better. The water in the pond actually looks like water instead of looking like a yellow sheet of glass in Xiaomi’s shot.
This second set below was taken in a relatively dark alley, and again, the 12S Ultra just snapped the photo straight away while the Galaxy S22 Ultra required a one-and-half second night mode. I have pixel peeped this set and honestly, it’s very close in quality. There are some subtle color science differences (Samsung again cools the shot) but it’s a virtual tie. However, keep in mind that night mode only looks good if you are shooting still subjects like a wall, because it takes over one full second to grab the shot.
Xiaomi finally needed night mode in this last set, taken in my apartment at 2am with lights turned off. We can see Xiaomi’s shot is a bit brighter.
Pixel peeping a night mode image captured in a dark room is a bit pointless, but if we do, we can see Samsung’s image is noiser, but you can see the contents on my work desk a bit better.
100% crops, 12S Ultra (left), S22 Ultra (right).
Finally, I present one last low-light sample. Below, the 12S Ultra again did not use night mode, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra did. We can see Xiaomi’s shot is darker overall, but exposes the bright lights from the food stall accurately.
More damningly for Samsung, if we pixel peep, Samsung’s image is noisy and grainy, while Xiaomi’s image is darker, but cleaner.
100% crops, 12S Ultra (left), S22 Ultra (right).
Going by these samples plus the dozen more I’ve snapped, I’d have to give the main camera category win to the Xiaomi 12S Ultra for consistently producing images that are less noisy, with stronger depth-of-field. It’s just a more organic shot, compared to Samsung’s heavily processed images. This isn’t to say the Galaxy S22 Ultra camera is bad, by the way. It’s still a top-tier shooter. Trust me, I also snapped these same shots with the iPhone 13 Pro and it consistently finished a distant third. But it’s hard to beat a sensor that’s 86% larger unless your software processing is significantly ahead, and Samsung’s isn’t.
Ultra-wide Camera
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra’s ultra-wide camera is a 48MP shooter with f/2.2 aperture, while Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra packs a 12MP camera also with f/2.2 aperture. This means Xiaomi’s ultra-wide will use binning tech, while Samsung’s ultra-wide will just shoot normally.
The first thing to check is whether the ultra-wide camera produces colors that are consistent with the main camera, and in the below set we can see the Galaxy S22 Ultra does a better job. There’s a noticeable color shift in reds and yellows in Xiaomi’s main and ultra-wide cameras.
There really isn’t much point in pixel-peeping ultra-wide shots because the point of shooting ultra-wides is to view a sweeping image, but just for sake of nitpicking we’ll do one set. When viewed at 100%, I can see that the center of Xiaomi’s ultra-wide shot is much cleaner looking than Samsung’s, which is again showing that heavily processed, digitally sharpened look. But move to the edges of the photo to the four corners, and the S22 Ultra’s ultra-wide loses less detail than Xiaomi’s. All ultra-wide cameras will be sharper in the middle than in the corners, but Xiaomi’s particularly more so.
Low light scenes are where ultra-wide cameras generally suffer because they usually are not backed by the large sensors that the main cameras get. From afar, these shots are sort of even. I think Xiaomi’s ultra-wide looks better in the first set of the food stall, while Samsung’s ultra-wide looks better in the park with the pagoda-type structure. But if you pixel peep, the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s ultra-wide is significantly noisier and softer on details.
Samsung deserves props for keeping the ultra-wide color consistent with the main camera, but Xiaomi's ultra-wide handles dynamic range a bit better
But again, as I said, there’s really no point in zooming into an ultra-wide and nitpick, so the point is mostly moot. Any of these shots are way better than what most other phones’ ultra-wide can do.
Samsung deserves props for keeping the ultra-wide color consistent with the main camera, but Xiaomi’s ultra-wide handles dynamic range a bit better. We can call this one a tie?
Zoom camera(s)
This is where Samsung should take the win. Not only does the Galaxy S22 Ultra have two zoom lenses (both 10MP), but its periscope is also a 10X optical zoom lens that has consistently dropped my jaw over the past half a year of use. Xiaomi’s sole periscope zoom lens is a 48MP shooter with a 5X optical zoom range.
The samples do indeed give the win to Samsung. It may be hard to see if you’re just viewing the images in this article on a phone, but if you view the full-sized images on a screen, you can see the Xiaomi 12S Ultra’s 10X zoom features the digital sharpening and heavier processing. The same advantages carry over to low light. What’s more, Samsung’s software has a very intelligent automatic subject lock that allows the viewfinder to remain steadier than usual, even when zoomed in 20X or more.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra’s periscope zoom lens is really good, but the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s periscope zoom is the best in the business.
As mentioned, the Galaxy S22 Ultra also has a shorter 3X telephoto zoom lens, while the 12S Ultra does not. This means the Galaxy S22 Ultra is a bit more versatile too.
Portraits
Because Xiaomi’s 5X zoom lens is far too long for portrait shots, the phone will snap portraits with main camera, but digitally cropped in to resemble a 50mm focal length. The Galaxy S22 Ultra, meanwhile, can snap portraits with either its 3X telephoto or main camera.
I think the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s portraits are consistently a bit more aesthetically pleasing, with slightly more accurate edge detection as well. Particularly in the below set, we can see that the Xiaomi 12S Ultra’s artificial bokeh is really wonky, messing up the blur around the second lion statue. In fact, the second lion statue should not be so in focus due to its positioning behind the first lion. Samsung’s portrait shot has a much more realistic focus drop-off. So if you’re keeping score at home: the Xiaomi 12S Ultra’s natural bokeh is better than Samsung’s, but Samsung’s artificial bokeh is much better than Xiaomi’s.
Video
Both phones can record video clips at up to 8K resolution, but I stuck to 4K/30 because that’s the best overall format. During the day, I find the footage to be neck and neck ending in a virtual tie, but at night, the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s stabilization seems a bit more susceptible to micro-jitters with each step I take. However, the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s audio is better, capturing my voice while isolating background noise a bit better. See for yourself.
Selfie camera
Ah, my least favorite category to test, but alas, one that must be done. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra’s 32MP camera is, in a word, underwhelming. It consistently grabs images with blown-out highlights and random smoothening of my skin, even when I thought I turned it off. Samsung’s 40MP selfie shooter will also apply a heavy beauty filter (Asian brands, please stop this), but at least it’s consistently there. I know what I’m getting with a Galaxy S22 Ultra selfie. Xiaomi 12S Ultra selfies quality varies from shot to shot.
When you consider that the 12S Ultra also can’t shoot 4K selfie videos but the Galaxy S22 Ultra can, then this category is a clear win for Samsung.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Which camera is better?
By my count, I had Xiaomi winning the main camera battle, while ultra-wide is a tie. Samsung wins the zoom lens, portrait shots, and selfies. Video performance is close, but I’d give the edge to Xiaomi for having creamier, stronger bokeh. Technically, Samsung won three categories to Xiaomi’s two, but I’d argue the main category holds the most weight and is the most important win.
Both of these cameras are really, really good — and in my top four smartphone cameras overall (along with the Vivo X80 Pro and Google Pixel 6 Pro). While Samsung’s zoom lens has proven very useful for me, I am just mesmerized by that 1-inch sensor in the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. The natural bokeh is so good, in fact, I’ve snapped some product shots with the 12S Ultra instead of my usual camera. For example, in this Xiaomi 12 Lite review I wrote last week, most of the product shots in it were captured by the 12S Ultra.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Software and Performance
Both phones run Android 12 with each brand’s Android skin on top: OneUI for Samsung, MIUI for Xiaomi. Both sets of software are not too far apart in aesthetics, colorful icons, more than a few brand-specific “bloatware” apps (Samsung and Xiaomi each want you to use their own browser, for example), and generally behave the same as far as what a swipe down will do, etc. Both Android skins are great at multi-tasking, allowing for apps to run in split-screen and floating window mode. For the most part, both MIUI and OneUI offer enough bonus features and customization options over stock Android without getting in the way.
But if I nitpick, then the Galaxy S22 Ultra has better software than the 12S Ultra in particular. One, the Xiaomi phone is only sold in China, so it’s a China ROM version of MIUI, which is less optimized for western users. Google apps, for example, do not come with the 12S Ultra out of the box; you must install them yourself. While the process is easy enough, it still takes a good five to ten minutes before you have the core Google apps that most of the world outside of China uses.
Samsung’s OneUI also offers Samsung DeX for the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which allows the phone to output to an external monitor a Windows desktop-like UI, which makes working much easier if you have an extra keyboard and mouse/trackpad in hand.
Then, of course, there’s the additional S-Pen stylus, which just lets the Galaxy S22 Ultra do more things. You can sketch with the stylus, or use it as a Bluetooth remote for taking hands-free photos.
For general performance, both phones are great performers — provided you’re using the Snapdragon version of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. But as I said, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra gives me better battery life. I’m a power user with all features set to maximum and I shoot a lot of videos and even will edit them on the spot (via the app Power Director) and share to Instagram, I also get and respond to something like 50-80 messages a day via Slack, WeChat, WhatsApp, etc.
If I nitpick, then the Galaxy S22 Ultra has better software than the 12S Ultra in particular
The Galaxy S22 Ultra can barely, barely squeak by a 12-hour day for me on a single charge. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra can go another hour or two longer consistently. This sort of matters because on Saturdays I tend to be out all day and most Snapdragon 888 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flagships with 120Hz/WQHD+ screens will either run out of juice or barely hang on for life by the end of my day. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra has been the only Android flagship with a 120Hz/WQHD+ screen that has not given me that battery concern during the last part of my day. The charging situation is also a whole lot better on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra than on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, no competition.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Which phone is for you?
This is sort of a trick question because only one of these phones is widely available around the world. Yes, there are import options, but importing marks up the price, plus you’ll likely not have a warranty, and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra isn’t guaranteed to work on your carrier. So for the majority of people outside of China, you should just get the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
But this piece was never meant to be a typical buyer’s guide. This piece is for gadget enthusiasts, those who care about mobile technology and its advancements. This comparison is for mobile collectors and phone nerds. It’s about answering the question, “is the Galaxy S22 Ultra the most awesome hardware in smartphones still,” and “does the 1-inch sensor matter?”
I hoped this piece helped addressed those questions.
Just in case you weren’t able to draw your own conclusion, I can lend some of mine, but note that these conclusions are heavily compressed and thus bereft of a lot of the nuance that we painted in the article above. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra has a better camera, better performance, better battery and charging situation, and a better in-hand feel. Samsung retains a slight edge on the software situation with more frequent security updates and a longer update promise, as well as with goodies like DeX and the included S Pen stylus and the features around it. For most of the criterion that do practically matter, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra comes out as the better smartphone over the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. But once again, we note that the difference between the two remains very, very small, and both remain excellent smartphones.
