Demand for Samsung’s highest-end “Ultra” model is back after two years of pandemic-related declines, according to a new report from Wave7 Research.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra was Samsung’s top seller in February at the wireless carrier stores Wave7 surveys, the report says, and 69% of the store reps surveyed say demand for the Galaxy S22 line is greater than it was for the Galaxy S21.
“The Galaxy S22 Ultra was the top seller…the base GS22 was the #2 seller [and] the GS22+ was in third place,” the report says. The phones might be selling even better if it wasn’t for “tight supply,” as “in-store supply has been questionable,” the report adds.
There’s another factor involved in the success of the big phone, of course. The Galaxy S22 Ultra takes advantage of untapped demand from the missing Galaxy Note S21 cycle, as Samsung is now folding the Note line into the S line. “Some Note fans seem to be buying the GS22 Ultra, which is large and has a stylus,” the report says.
The sales figures don’t reflect our editorial pick. We chose the Galaxy S22+ as our favorite of the S22 lineup because of its solid battery life, good performance, and reasonable price.
Smaller Phones Chosen in 2020 and 2021
The success of the biggest S22 model marks a real turnaround from the past two years. The Galaxy S20 line came out in February 2020, a few weeks before the pandemic changed the world. The Galaxy S20 Ultra also cost a very high $1,399.99 and initially had serious problems with camera focus.
Galaxy S20 sales in the pre-COVID weeks were either down or flat compared to the Galaxy S10, according to 80% of the dealers surveyed in Wave7’s March 2020 report, and the small GS20 was the early best-seller. “Some customers appear to be resistant to high GS20+ and GS20 Ultra pricing,” the 2020 report said.
In 2021, reps at all three major US carriers told Wave7 that the small GS21 was their top seller among the Galaxies. That 2021 report may have laid the groundwork for the GS22 Ultra resurgence, though. In it, reps said some non-S21 buyers had picked up a Note 20 in late 2020, which put them in about the right cycle to upgrade to an S22 Ultra in 2022.
The US is still an Apple-dominated market, Wave7 notes. Samsung’s share at the three carriers in February 2022 rose to 36-37%, but Apple’s sales share was still at 53-64% depending on the carrier. That Apple share has been as high as 79% in recent months (at AT&T in September, right around the iPhone 13 launch.)
