Samsung Galaxy S20: Features, specifications, pricing

Where to buy

In the smartphone space, while there are plenty of interesting contenders to the throne, there's really still just a two-way battle between Samsung and Apple when it comes to actual handset sales. Samsung's Galaxy S line is its premium flagship line, or at least it has been in previous years.

While you might mathematically expect the 11th generation of Galaxy S phones to be the Galaxy S11, given that 2019's phones were the Galaxy S10 series, all signs now point to Samsung doing a full 10 point jump up to the Samsung Galaxy S20 range.

Design

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy S20's design

  The Galaxy S20 is the smallest of Samsung's 2020 Galaxy range, with a 6.2-inch Quad HD Dynamic AMOLED display. The benefit of that comparatively smaller screen is of course that it's smaller and lighter, at just 151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9mm and 163 grams.

  It has the highest PPI of any of the Galaxy S20 phones, because it shares the same 3,200 x 1,440 pixel resolution, although you'd need very fine eyes indeed to really pick the difference. Like so many of Samsung's recent phones, it's using a "hole punch" style front camera, which Samsung dubs the "Infinity O" display.

  The Samsung Galaxy S20 ships in three colour variants: Cosmic Grey, Cloud Blue or Cloud Pink. Your guess is as good as ours as to why grey is cosmic while pink and blue represent weather patterns.

Camera

• Triple camera array
• No ToF lens

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy S20's camera

  The Galaxy S20 is the most affordable of the Galaxy S20 range, and outside of its smaller screen, it's in the camera space where that's most apparent.

  Like the Galaxy S20+, it features a 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2 sensor, 12MP wide f/1.8 sensor and 64MP f/2.0 telephoto lens, offering a wide range of shooting modes. However it omits the time of flight "DepthVision" sensor found on the plus model entirely. The front camera on the Galaxy S20 is a relatively simple 10MP selfie shooter.

  This doesn't automatically mean that it's a bad camera of course; it's all relative. The Samsung Galaxy S20 provides a hybrid digital zoom feature to offer up to 30x effective zoom. You'll almost certainly want a tripod to hand to make the most out of that feature, however.

  Samsung's also promising the ability to take multiple shots from different sensors, a feature it calls "Single Take", whether you're shooting video or stills.

Performance

• Snapdragon 865 or Exynos 990
• 5G option, but no mmWave compatiblity

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy S20's performance

  Like the S20+ and S20 Ultra, Samsung will produce the Galaxy S20 in two different configurations, with either a a 7nm 64-bit Octa-Core Processor at up to 2.7Ghz or a 7nm 64-bit Octa-Core Processor at up to 2.8Ghz according to Samsung's official specification sheet.

  Those are almost certainly descriptors for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 or Samsung's own Exynos 990 processors. The Exynos model is most likely what we'll see down under, but you may see the Qualcomm model sold by "grey market" importers over time.

  Samsung will sell the Galaxy S20 in either 4G or 5G configurations, although the S20 does stand out in the 5G space relative to the more expensive Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra models in this respect. That's because it only supports sub-6 5G frequencies, not the mmWave frequencies we'll see in future 5G networks.

Battery life

• 4,000mAh battery
• Fast wired and wireless charging

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy S20's battery life

  As the smallest member of the Galaxy S20 family it's no real surprise that the Galaxy S20 features the smallest battery of all three phones. It's equipped with a 4,000mAh battery, which is still up from previous years of Galaxy Phones. There's support for fast wireless and wired charging, up to 45W with a separately sold charger.

Early outlook

• A good looking phone, although it's hard not to be more tempted by the Galaxy S20+

• What to expect from the Galaxy S20?

  Samsung has done rather well in recent years with its more "affordable" Galaxy S phones, but it's a busy market, even within the Samsung space. On one side there's the more affordable but still generally good Galaxy A phones. On the other side, for only a little more money -- and we're still in premium pricing space here -- there's the Galaxy S20+, which ups the ante in screen size, battery capacity, 5G bands and slightly so in camera terms too.

  That makes the Galaxy S20 an interesting device, but one that might have to fight hard to justify its place in Samsung's lineup. Stay tuned for our full review.

Pricing and availability

• Launched on 12 February and available from 6 March 2020

Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S20 at its Galaxy Unpacked event on 11 February in San Francisco. It went on pre-sale on 12 February 2020 in Australia, with actual availability from 6 March 2020.

The entry level 4G only model of the Galaxy S20 ships with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $1,399. For $1,499 you can upgrade that to a 5G compatible model with 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

Specifications

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