OnePlus 10T vs. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

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  OnePlus 10T

  The OnePlus 10T offers a less premium experience than the Samsung S22 Ultra but has some unique advantages. With options for more RAM, a slightly better chipset, and extremely fast charging, it’s a powerful phone that only starts at $650.

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  Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

  The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is a premium phone with a price tag to match. If you can stomach the $1,199 cost, you’ll get a powerful smartphone with the best display on the market. Not to mention a camera array that is a pleasure to play with and the best software support going into the future.

Both the OnePlus 10T and Galaxy S22 Ultra are some of the most powerful smartphones on the market right now, and if you’re looking for a phone that will not only be a great daily driver now but for a few years down the road, both these phones are decent options. That doesn’t mean they aren’t without their significant differences. Which one is the best for you? That might come down to personal preference or even budget, but let’s compare these two powerhouses and help you decide which one you should pick.

At first glance, you’ll see that the OnePlus 10T has the slightest edge when it comes to power thanks to the minimally better chipset and the ability to get more RAM; however, the Galaxy S22 Ultra offers much more storage and a better IP rating making it a little more durable when it comes to water and dust. Samsung’s premium experience becomes more apparent when you dive deeper.

OnePlus 10T vs. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Pricing, availability, and network connectivity

In the U.S., the OnePlus 10T and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra are widely available. They work with all the major carriers, meaning you don’t have to worry about network exclusivity. The S22 Ultra is the only one that supports the fastest 5G technology — mmWave — making it one of the best 5G phones you can get right now. The 10T also has access to 5G, but only the slower sub-6 bands.

That mmWave 5G (and other premium aspects about the phone) comes at a considerable price hike through, as the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at $1,199, whereas the OnePlus 10T is a much more reasonable $650.

OnePlus 10T vs. Galaxy S22 Ultra: Hardware and design

Regardless of which phones you pick, you’ll be carrying around a big slab, as both these phones have impressive and large displays.

The OnePlus 10T features a 6.7-inch, 2,412-by-1,080 AMOLED display, which equals 394 pixels per inch. That resolution is alright, and looking at the display will be a pleasant experience; however, the Samsung display is noticeably higher quality. In fact, the 6.8-inch 1440 x 3088 AMOLED on the S22 Ultra is the nicest display we’ve ever seen in a smartphone and is stunning for consuming content, gaming, or productivity — its 1440p resolution is a nice bonus, too.

Both screens can reach up to 120Hz refresh rate, meaning scrolling will feel much smoother and sharper than on display running lower refresh rates, but both phones handle the refresh rate a little differently. The Samsung S22 Ultra has a completely adaptive refresh rate that can reach as low as 1Hz, allowing the phone to consume battery life when you don’t need a higher refresh rate. OnePlus 10T can also conserve battery by dropping to 60Hz when the 120Hz is not necessary for what’s being displayed n the screen, but that is as low as it can go.

Both phones offer an under-display fingerprint scanner, but we prefer Samsung’s implementation as the OnePlus 10T has the sensor for the biometric authentication tool in an awkward place. It’s right at the bottom of the display instead of partway up the screen where most other phones put them. The S22 Ultra has its scanner in a more reasonable and comfortable location. Still, both phones’ scanners are very reliable, and we didn’t have any big issues unlocking either phone with our thumbs.

Battery life is always a big concern, and the OnePlus 10T and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra feature some pretty big batteries — 4,800 mAh and 5,00 mAh, respectively. Both phones will be able to make it through rough your day on average, with the need to plug in later into the evening if you’re using a lot of screen-on time, but the Samsung Galaxy, on average, edges it out. The 10T takes the cake when it comes to charging.

With its ultra-powered charging brick included with the phone, it can power up to 100% in just 20 minutes, making the amount of downtime you need to have with your phone plugged into the charger much less. The S22 Ultra can still charge decently fast compared to other phones on the market by getting up to 45W of charging through a wired connection and 15W when using wireless charging, something the 10T can’t even do. But don’t forget, Samsung doesn’t ship a charger with its phones anymore.

If cameras are important to you, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will like to seem more appealing thanks to its four rear cameras and one front-facing sensor, allowing you so many more options.

The main 108 MP f/1.8 camera on the S22 Ultra offers some impressive detail and dynamic range and, to our eye, outperforms the 50MP f/1.8 primary shooter on the 10T. Samsung does like to push the color saturation on its photo processing, and while most times that provides lovely punchy and vibrant photos, it could be a little over-the-top to some users.

As you move on to the other cameras on both phones, the Galaxy S22 Ultra outclasses the onePlus 10T at every turn. That’s not to say that the OnePlus 10T has a lousy camera array for capturing your favorite moments, but it’s noticeably worse than the Galaxy S22 if you put them side-by-side.

OnePlus 10T vs. Galaxy S22 Ultra: Software and performance

The chipset in the two devices is similar, but the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 inside the OnePlus 10T will theoretically offer better performance. In practice, you likely won’t notice much of a difference in day-to-day tasks, as both chips are incredibly speedy at zipping through the Android operating system, launching apps, and handling productivity jobs. You could notice a difference in prolonged periods of intense use, like an intense gaming session, which the OnePlus 10T will be slightly better equipped to handle.

Of course, the 16GB of RAM available on the OnePlus 10T, if you decide to upgrade from the standard 8GB, will also help you game for hours on end as well — the Galaxy S22 can only go up to 12GB, though it also has a standard 8GB included. The S22 Ultra has it beat when it comes to storage, offering options all the way up to 1TB compared to the 10T’s max of 256GB.

While both phones launched running their own skin on Android 12, OxygenOS (on the OnePlus 10T), and OneUI (On the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra), both phones should now be able to run an updated version with Android 13 as the base. When it comes to the software experience provided by the OnePlus 10T and S22 Ultra, it’s mostly going to come down to personal preference.

Samsung still installs a little more bloatware than OnePlus, but OxygenOS is much less stock Android than it used to be and resembles Oppo’s ColorOS a lot more since Oppo acquired OnePlus. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing will be up to you, but the truth is that although OxygenOS and OneUI are quite different, they offer the features you’d expect from any of the best Android phones.

Regarding the longevity of each device’s software, Samsung has the OnePlus beat. The S22 Ultra will receive five years of update support and, more interestingly, four years of major OS updates. We’ve already seen Android 13 come to the device, but you can rest assured it will get updated to 14, 15, and 16 before Samsung stops sending out new software. OnePlus, on the other hand, has only committed to three years of major updates, meaning you can only expect to get up to Android 15 and only four years of security updates.

OnePlus 10T vs. Galaxy S22 Ultra: Which should you buy?

It’s hard to call a clear winner when comparing the OnePlus 10T and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, mainly because of their price difference.

There’s no doubt that the S22 Ultra offers a more premium experience in most aspects. It has a much more versatile and better camera array, a ton more storage options, an absolutely exquisite display, and more software support looking at the year to come. Pound-for-pound, it’s the better phone, but that nearly $1,200 price point complicates the issue for anyone trying to limit the stress on their wallet. You’re paying a premium for that premium experience.

At only $650, the OnePlus 10T is a compelling product, with its slightly better chipset, more RAm available if you want that extra power, and incredibly fast charging that will always make sure your phone is juiced up and ready to go. If you’ve been looking for a powerful phone that isn’t close to the $1,000 mark, you could do a lot worse if the drawbacks of the 10T don’t bother you.

OnePlus 10T

When it comes down to it, the OnePlus 10T is a pretty good phone. It may not have all the bells and whistles the S22 Ultra does, but it has plenty of power and performance baked right in. Plus, the starting price is just so much more attainable.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

If you don’t mind paying for it, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will give you a more premium experience featuring all the trappings you want from a high-end Android phone.