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Will The Galaxy S22 Have An SD Card Slot?
Will the Samsung Galaxy S22 come with an SD card slot? Here’s what we know so far…
Samsung used to be a big advocate of including SD cards on its phones, but the likelihood of ANY of its Galaxy S22 models having SD cards is pretty slim – here’s why…
Back in the day, Samsung phones were shipped with removable batteries and SD cards. This was just the way Samsung did things, and it worked great too. Plenty of its users adored the fact that you could replace the phone’s battery and expand its storage. But then something changed.
For whatever reason, removable batteries and SD cards fell out of fashion with phone makers. Removable batteries were the first to go, making way for more advanced designs and, of course, better-looking, more expensive-looking phones. Back when Samsung phones had removable batteries, they looked and felt extremely cheap and plasticky.
The SD card survived a little longer, making appearances here and there on select Samsung releases. The last Samsung phones to feature SD cards were the Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, Note10+, S10e, S10, S10+, and Note 9 – they all supported SD cards up to 1TB.
The Galaxy S22 launch is mere days away – potentially, anyway, so long as it doesn’t get delayed – and we know both the S10 and S20 had SD support. But will the Samsung Galaxy S22 come with an SD card slot?
The bonus of running SD cards on your phone, beyond expanding the phone’s potential storage, is that it enables you to quickly move photo and video files from your phone to your laptop or desktop PC for editing on the big screen.
As cameras and video capabilities get more and more advanced in phones, plenty more professional content creators are turning to their phones rather than their DSLR to shoot and create video content for platforms like YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram.
This is why Samsung included SD support on the Galaxy S10 and S20. It knows that its users want the ability to not only expand their phone’s storage but also use SD cards to quickly manage and move data from the phone to another medium, like a PC.
Apple’s failure to do this with its iPhone, as well as NOT including USB Type C on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, is one of the company’s biggest errors in recent times. Imagine trying to export ProRes footage via Apple’s lightning port? Ewww.
Will The Samsung Galaxy S22 Have An SD Card Slot?
But in 2021, Samsung removed the SD card from its Galaxy S21 release and it didn’t really give any reason behind this decision. Apple and Google have NEVER used or supported SD cards. Samsung has also rather liked them, so it nixing them from the Galaxy S21 was odd.
In light of the changes Samsung made to the Galaxy S21, it is almost certain the Samsung Galaxy S22 WILL NOT come with SD card support. Instead, Samsung will force users to rely on its internal storage. And this is an odd move, given that the Galaxy S22 – like the S21 – will be able to record video at 8K.
8K video files are HUGE, so having an SD card onboard where you could store these files would be great. Even 4K video files are pretty sizeable, so if there was ever a case for a phone having SD support, this would be it. For whatever reason, though, Samsung does not seem to agree with this sentiment. It would rather you plod on with its internal storage.
Following Apple’s Lead…
Apple has famously never allowed its users to expand the iPhone’s storage. Instead, Apple has forced its users to spend more money on higher storage variants of its iPhone, all of which cost exceeding more than the last, topping out with 2021’s 1TB iPhone 13 Pro / Pro Max.
The logic behind this – from a business perspective – is that users that need more storage, photographers or videographers, will be forced to spend more on their phones. If you need A LOT of storage and expandable storage isn’t available, you’re always going to go with the highest possible storage option which, of course, is always the most expensive.
And given how much money Apple makes from its iPhone, Samsung has likely taken a leaf out of Apple’s playbook: why let users expand the storage of their phones on the cheap when you can force them to upgrade to a more expensive, higher storage capacity model? It’s economics 101.
If you want a Samsung phone with an SD card, my advice would be to get the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra; this is still a killer phone with amazing specs and a brilliant camera. And because it is now a couple of years old, you can pick one up for WAY less than a new Samsung phone like the current Galaxy S21 Ultra or the incoming Galaxy S22 Ultra.
With its killer design, SD-support, and 5G connectivity, as well as its insane specs and gorgeous OLED display, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is still a brilliant buy in 2022, especially since it can now be had for better than half the price it launched at…
With the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, you’ll get SD support, great battery life, a brilliant OLED display, masses of performance, a killer camera setup, and a beautiful industrial design. But the best bit? The price: this phone, thanks to it now being two years old, is a lot cheaper than it was at launch. And that makes it an excellent value for money.
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