You told us: Here's what you're doing with your Galaxy S21 Ultra this year

The Galaxy S22 series might be the best Samsung has to offer right now, but the Galaxy S21 phones from last year are still pretty great. The Galaxy S21 Ultra, notably, ranks amongst the best Android phones you can buy right now. It offers an attractive 120Hz display, good battery life, a versatile camera system, and a fast processor. On the downside, it was pretty expensive. Springing over $1,000 for a phone is definitely a serious commitment.

So now that Samsung has launched its latest flagships, including the Galaxy S22 Ultra with an S Pen, we wanted to know what S21 Ultra users are planning to do. Will they upgrade? Switch over to another brand? Or, will they stick to their devices? Here are the results of that survey.

Galaxy S21 Ultra owners, what are you doing in 2022?

Results

We received over 3,100 votes in our poll and the consensus is that most Galaxy S21 Ultra owners are sticking to their devices in 2022.

47.5% of the voters said they’ll keep their 2021 Samsung flagship, while 30.4% said they’ll upgrade to the latest Galaxy S22 Ultra model. The latter is a pretty encouraging sign for Samsung, even though most folks these days tend to hold on to their phones for much longer than before.

Very few people (less than 5%) said that they are switching over to another brand or Samsung’s foldable phones.

Almost 10% of the respondents voted to say they still haven’t made up their minds. Meanwhile, 5% of the voters said they’ll be upgrading to the S22 Plus.

Your comments

Skywalker Jerry: Both telephone lenses now have an even smaller sensor. It is 1/3.52″ for S22 Ultra, v.s. 1/3.24″ for S21 Ultra. This would definitely affect image quality in high ISO. Samsung must be doing this to make more space for the S Pen. There are tons of people who love to take photos with their phones and don’t use a pen at all. These people would love to see a version of S22 Ultra with upgraded camera specs (e.g., larger sensor with more pixels for both telephoto lenses) and without the pen.

PhoenixWitti: It’s no secret that the S22U is really the delayed Note 21 Ultra…except they removed yet ANOTHER feature (expandable storage) from their phones and thought we’d be too stupid to notice. Then they force you into a specific storage selection and jack the price up 20% for the privilege of getting the highest variant. Almost $300 for 512GB; what is Samsung smoking?!

Israel Ramirez: I own a Samsung Note20 Ultra 5G. I view the S22 Ultra as an S series Note line mutt. I never cared for the S series. My main problem with the S22 Ultra is the lack of an SD card. Many Note fans are not happy with the S22 Ultra. My next phone will come from Sony.

Paul Castillo: It’s not an upgrade. It’s a side-grade with a couple of flashy tricks. I’ll keep my 21 Ultra.

Stevie Y: I have upgraded and always pre-ordered my Galaxy S line phone for the past five years each year, but I won’t be this year and feel particularly bummed out over it. I simply don’t need to carry a phone around with a built-in stylus that I’ll never use. It’s bulk I don’t need. I still have a desire for a 2022 phone and am tempted to give the latest iPhone a go for the first time. Again, this is kind of a bummer, but at least it’ll give me a new OS and hardware to get my head around which is pretty exciting.

Patrick Saunders: For S21 Ultra users looking to upgrade, Samsung is going to lose them by not offering a true upgrade to the S21 Ultra.

Techngro: I won’t buy the S22 because previous flagships are the way to go for me. You get 80-90% of the features, performance, and design, but for less than half the price (or more).

mbcls: I already preordered S22 Ultra, trading in my S21 Ultra.