It's clear that the Samsung Galaxy S22 is going to be one of the year's best Samsung phones and one of the best smartphones of any kind. And I think that's great, because while I'm a long-time iPhone owner I don't care who does what first: when it comes to good ideas, I want smartphone firms to copy each other's best features for the benefit of everyone.
So here are three things I like about the Samsung Galaxy S22 that I'd really like to see in the iPhone 14.
1. ProMotion displays on cheaper phones
ProMotion is Apple's name for faster screen refresh rates. The Samsung Galaxy S22 has three rates that matter: the 120Hz maximum screen refresh rate, the 1Hz minimum refresh rate and the 240Hz detection rate in game mode.
The 120Hz rate delivers maximum smoothness for motion, the 1Hz provides maximum battery life for when the screen doesn't need to be constantly refreshing, and the detection rate is for input and makes the phone feel magically responsive.
So far, Apple has only included ProMotion on the iPhone 13 Pro, not the regular iPhone 13 – and analysts reckon that ProMotion is being held back for the Pro models of the iPhone 14, too.
And Apple's ProMotion tech doesn't go as low as 1Hz anyway (though the Apple Watch Series 7 does, for its always-on screen) – so I'd like the 120Hz to come to more Apple phones, and the 1Hz to arrive on iPhone for the first time.
2. An Apple version of the S-Pen
One of the big selling points of the Samsung S22 Ultra is its S-Pen – the S22 Ultra is officially the new Note. I'd love a slimmer Apple Pencil that I could use with my iPhone 14 Pro: that big screen is an excellent scribbling surface, and while I can of course use a horrible non-Apple stylus on the touchscreen, I'd much prefer a little version of the Apple Pencil with its near-perfect feel, lower latency and pressure sensitivity.
Samsung-specific features such as Screen-Off Memos, when you can write notes without unlocking your phone, are particularly brilliant for jotting down ideas and to-dos when you're on the move. And if you've ever fumbled with the trim controls in a video edit or in some third-party apps, the prospect of some pointy-ended precision is pretty appealing too.
Not everyone would want this on their iPhone 14, but for those of who do, it'd be a blessing.
3. More power and faster charging
Battery life is always going to be the Achilles' heel of your phone, because while each processor generation is more energy efficient, we always end up making our phones work harder, undoing all that good work – so my current iPhone doesn't feel like it lasts any longer than my iPhone 4 did 11 years ago.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, "while the iPhone 13 does have better battery life than the 12, it's still very easy to kill the battery without pushing it that hard."
The Galaxy S22 doesn't just have a bigger battery than the iPhone 13 – 3,700mAh, or 4,500 in the S22+ compared to 3,227 in the iPhone 13 – but it charges much faster too. The S22 charges 25% faster than the iPhone 13, while the S22+ has laptop-esque 45W charging that could deliver 0-50% battery charge from around 10 minutes of juicing.
With that kind of fast charging, even if the battery life of the iPhone 14 isn't actually any longer, it doesn't matter as long as you can find a socket for 5 minutes.
