2022’s best Samsung ‘product’ was its software update policy

2023 is almost here. In a few months, Samsung will unveil its brand new Galaxy S23 series flagships, no doubt followed by its usual barrage of mid-range and budget smartphones until it’s time for the launch of its next foldable flagships in the second half of 2023.

As you would expect, Samsung also launched a lot of products in 2022. Samsung offered plenty of choices for everyone to pick their poison. The Galaxy S22 series, the Galaxy A53 5G, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 have all made a splash when it comes to Samsung’s smartphone offerings. The Galaxy Watch 5 is also impressive.

Now, those devices were all excellent in their own right, but what would we consider the best Samsung offering in 2022? Well, as we mention in the title, the best and most impressive thing about Samsung this year was its software update policy, or rather, the way it handled software updates.

No amount of praise for Samsung’s handling of updates in 2022 is enough

Yes, we’re once again trying to praise Samsung’s handling of the Android 13 and One UI 5.0 update, but we have our reasons. As we said above, Samsung has launched quite a few smartphones that have something for everyone, but let’s face it: none of them have come close to being perfect, either in their own right or as upgrades to their predecessors.

Take the Galaxy S22 series. 2022 brought a big change to Samsung’s flagship line: the Korean giant finally decided to use Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon processor for most markets. But Samsung also released the Galaxy S22, S22+ and S22 Ultra with an Exynos chip in many markets – mainly those in Europe. And we know that Exynos chip (the Exynos 2300) ended up causing all kinds of problems for customers.

Those issues were mostly performance and stability related, and while the One UI 5.0 update alleviated some of these issues, the fact remains that the Galaxy S22 series has fallen short like other Galaxy S smartphones in recent years. Again, it’s all down to that Exynos chip – and frankly, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 used in countries outside of Europe wasn’t that great too

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor that came a few months later was much better. It was used globally in the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4, and the two foldable devices got excellent performance and battery life, both areas that were a bit weak in previous models. Overall, though, neither device was a huge upgrade. Furthermore, both foldables ask you to make some sacrifices, especially the Z Flip 4 with its weak camera setup.

Then there is the Galaxy A53 5G. It succeeded the highly popular and well-received Galaxy A52 from 2021, but again, things weren’t perfect. Samsung’s switch to an Exynos processor for the A53 was partly to blame. Performance on the A53 was not up to par at first, and it was only with software updates, including the one that brought Android 13 and One UI 5.0, that Samsung was able to make the necessary improvements.

But if there’s one thing in common across all these phones, it’s that Samsung’s software policy has been extremely consistent. Android 13 and One UI 5.0 arrived very quickly for them, and while there is Some countries where the update hasn’t been released yet, Samsung still did a great job overall. And not just for the devices we mention here, but for most of the devices that were eligible for Android 14.

Basically, we have to be honest: while we here at SamMobile always prefer to use a Samsung Galaxy phone, none of Samsung’s 2022 smartphones will receive too many (or any) phone of the year awards from other experts or anyone which follows Samsung’s products and the mobile industry in general.

But what no one can deny is that Samsung killed it with the rollout of Android 13/One UI 5.0. The update came much, much faster than we thought, and it was also virtually bug-free, which is an extremely rare combination and makes Samsung the undisputed king of updates, a crown the company is likely to hold on to for a long time.