Samsung Galaxy S22 Just Broke An Impressive Preorder Record

With supply chain shortages, an ongoing pandemic, and shoppers skeptical about spending on expensive flagship smartphones, you'd have been forgiven for questioning whether Samsung's Galaxy S22 was going to be a hit. Turns out, the South Korean company has announced today, the smartphone is already exceeding the company's expectations, even before it has arrived on carrier store shelves.

Preorders for the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra began right after Samsung announced the 2022 trio, on February 9. Pricing stayed the same as for the Galaxy S21 series the year prior, with the most affordable model kicking off at $799.99.

The Galaxy S22+, meanwhile, starts at $999.99, while the flagship Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at $1,199.99. Samsung offered some healthy trade-in deals, not to mention preorder promotions as it has in previous years, but all eyes have been on just how strong demand might be.

According to an announcement today, the answer to that is "record breaking." The Galaxy S22 series saw more preorders in its first week than any other Samsung smartphone to date, apparently. Preorders for the S22 family are more than double the number Samsung saw last year for the Galaxy S21 series.

Samsung – perhaps unsurprisingly – isn't breaking down exact numbers, so we don't know quite how many phones this actually translates to. Still, what it has said is that, despite skepticism that four-figure smartphones will still be in high demand, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has been a particular highlight. The flagship has been responsible for more than 60% of overall preorders for Galaxy S22 series phones.

Then again, maybe that shouldn't come as too great a surprise, given Samsung's smartphone strategy this year. The company has already signaled that there won't be a new Galaxy Note later in 2022, effectively repositioning the Galaxy S22 Ultra to replace that phone, too. With S-Pen support, not to mention an in-body silo for the stylus, it achieves that far more effectively than the Galaxy S21 Ultra's somewhat half-hearted adoption of the pen.

That demand has left the top-spec Galaxy S22 Ultra 1TB currently sold out on Samsung's own store.

Meanwhile, the success has also extended to Samsung's tablets, the company added. Preorders of the Galaxy Tab S8 series have been more than double those of the previous Galaxy Tab S7 series, and there again it's the most expensive model which has stood out of the line-up. The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra – which has S-Pen support for its huge 14.6-inch Super AMOLED screen – accounted for almost half of all preorders, Samsung said today, and is currently sold out.