Update: Three purportedly newly leaked screen protectors give us a hint of how Samsung's Galaxy S22 model will be received There are also further hints about the Note-like design of the Galaxy S22 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is widely regarded as one of the best camera phones However, since its launch in January, its top spot has been challenged by the iPhone 13 Pro and Google Pixel 6 Pro, two phones that take excellent photos

The big question is what can we expect from Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra, which is expected to launch in early 2022 And now, thanks to prominent and usually reliable leaker Ice Universe, we have a good idea of how things might look

er claims that, unlike other reports, the Ultra model's four cameras are not upgraded with raw megapixels and get the same mix of a 108MP main sensor, two 10MP telephoto lenses, and a 12MP ultrawide on a quad camera array This would be [Of course, there are other important specs for a cell phone camera besides the number of megapixels But while the main sensor looks exactly the same on paper (albeit an "improved" version), both the periscope and optical zoom sensors appear to have shrunk to 1/352" and 112μm, a step backward

For comparison, here is a lineup of camera specs for this theoretical Galaxy S22 Ultra and the very real Galaxy S21 Ultra side by side Some cameras look great on paper but take horribly noisy pictures, while other seemingly low-spec models punch above their weight

A lot comes down to image processing, which is why the old Google Pixel phones were able to impress with their photos, even though they had the same 122MP sensor for generations (eventually replaced by the Google Pixel 6)

In other words, we will have to wait and see if the Galaxy S22 Ultra will reclaim Samsung's spot atop the list of best camera phones

But everything else, including the rumored inclusion of the S Pen and the power of Samsung's new Exynos chip, manufactured in conjunction with AMD (in some regions), is making it a serious contender; it could be the phone to watch in 2022