LineageOS 23 Adds Android 16 to Galaxy S22 Trio as Samsung Ends Android 17 Path

Q: Does stripping away Samsung's built-in AI actually improve an aging phone's performance, or does it merely cripple its flagship camera capabilities?

It can improve day-to-day responsiveness, but only modestly—and the trade-off is real camera loss. On a Galaxy S22, moving from Samsung’s One UI to LineageOS removes a layer of Samsung services, duplicate apps, and some AI-related background features. That typically means less software overhead, a cleaner interface, and in some cases slightly better battery life and smoother performance on an aging phone. LineageOS and related coverage also point to broader Android 16 optimizations that can help older hardware feel fresher. But “Samsung’s built-in AI” is not just optional fluff. On Galaxy phones, AI is tied into camera processing and editing features, including tools such as generative editing, scene optimization, translation, summarization, and parts of Samsung’s gallery workflow. More importantly, Samsung’s stock camera app is heavily tuned to its own image pipeline. On many custom ROMs, users lose some proprietary camera features and may see weaker results in zoom, night shots, portrait processing, video stabilization, or special shooting modes, even if the camera hardware still works. So the answer depends on what matters more. If the goal is longer software support, fewer preinstalled services, more control, and a lighter Android experience, LineageOS is a credible upgrade path. If the S22’s flagship appeal for you is Samsung’s full camera stack and AI-assisted imaging, stripping that away is more likely to feel like a downgrade than a performance win.

3 articles · Updated · Android Authority · Aug 17

Nightly LineageOS 23 builds are now live for the Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra, giving all three phones an unofficial Android 16 upgrade route.
Samsung had already ended major OS support for the 2022 flagship line by leaving it off the One UI 8.5 roadmap, making One UI 8 its last official platform update.
LineageOS 23 is based on Android 16, but the new support also creates a plausible path for the S22 series to reach Android 17 through a future ROM update.
The move could extend the usable life of still-capable S22 hardware, especially as newer Samsung models now receive up to 7 years of software support.