Meet the new Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra priced from US$999
The anticipated next generation successors to the Galaxy S series for 2020 have already made their official appearance at Unpacked 2020 in the form of the Galaxy S20, the Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
The new Galaxy S20 range is a massive upgrade from the prior generation with 120Hz refresh rates for all their displays, 8K video capture for all three new phones and both LTE and 5G enabled variants.
Rather than last year’s naming scheme where the Galaxy S10 acting as the most balanced model, this year’s outing places the Galaxy S20 as the starting model and upguns it with a larger display and more powerful camera in the Galaxy S20+ and an impressively massive 108-MP camera in the top of the line Galaxy S20 Ultra.
What’s special about the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra
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The Galaxy S20 comes with a 6.2-inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display that’s HDR10+ certified and has a 120Hz refresh rate while the Galaxy S20+ has a similar display albeit sized up to 6.7-inches.
The largest model, the Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 6.9-inch display with similar properties. A tiny punchhole up top in the middle of the upper quadrant of the display is for a 10-MP Dual PIxel selfie camera though the Galaxy S20 Ultra upgrades this to a larger 40-MP model. By default, the displays on all three phones run at 60Hz but they will ramp up to 120Hz depending on the content or task presented to them.
The hardware on offer will consist of either an Exynos 990 or Snapdragon 865 processor depending on region but Malaysia will see the Exynos 990 variant for sale. Storage configurations will vary of course depending on region and type with the 5G variants of the three new Galaxy S20 models packing more RAM. One thing to note in particular is that Samsung is chunking out for LPDDR5 RAM in this case which ought to offer faster data access speeds with less power usage.
The Galaxy S20 LTE variant has 128GB storage and 8GB RAM though the 5G variant has 12GB RAM and similarly sized storage. The Galaxy S20+ has 8GB RAM and 128GB storage for the LTE variant.
For the Galaxy S20+ 5G variant it has 12GB RAM and either 128GB, 256GB and 512GB variants for storage. The Galaxy S20 Ultra whether its the 5G or LTE variant have similar configurations with LPDDR5 RAM coming in either 12GB or 16GB permutations and 128GB, 256GB and 512GB combinations.
Battery sizes vary based on model with the Galaxy S20 packing a 4,000mAh battery, the S20+ a 4,500mAh battery and the S20 Ultra a 5,000mAh battery. All of the Galaxy S20 series offer Wireless Powershare to remote charge other kit with Qi wireless charging support by plunking it on the back of the phone.
One particular thing missing from all the phones is a 3.5mm audio jack. Rather than bold colours or shiny mirrored finishes, the new colour schemes veer more on the pastel side of the spectrum and look somewhat understated. In terms of colour schemes, the Galaxy S20 will be available in Cosmic Grey, Cloud Blue and Cloud Pink. The Galaxy S20+ will come in Cosmic Grey, Cloud Blue and Cosmic Black. The Galaxy S20 Ultra will come only in two colours – Cosmic Grey and Cosmic Black.
Galaxy S20 series cameras – more powerful with crazy zoom
Samsung’s forte at melding superior hardware with software is paying off as all three Galaxy S20 series phones have powerful camera arrays with the Galaxy S20 Ultra having the most impressive specifications of all. All three cameras are capable of capturing 8K resolution footage which is a first for a smartphone.
Both the Galaxy S20 and S20+ have a similar rear camera system save that the latter adds in a DepthVision camera for LiveFocus shots. Both phones pack a 64-MP F/2.0 camera with OIS and a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, a 12-MP F/1.8 wide angle lens with OIS and Dual Pixel autofocus and an ultrawide 12-MP camera with Dual Pixel autofocus.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra packs the best hardware they can possibly cram into a phone. The rear camera array is built around a 108-MP F/1.8 wide angle camera which uses pixel-binning to achieve its immense resolution, a 12-MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera, a 48-MP telephoto lens with 10x lossless hybrid zoom and a DepthVision camera. This configuration lends it the ability to offer a whopping 100X zoom; something Samsung has dubbed as Space Zoom.
The insane 100x Space Zoom on the Galaxy S20 Ultra
A new feature common to all the new Galaxy S20 series is a ‘Single Take’ feature where one pull of the shutter release captures a snap from all of the phone’s cameras and all modes so that you’re able to pick the best ones out of the lot. That’s a darned handy feature to have indeed on top of 8K video recording.
Galaxy S20 series prices
At Unpacked 2020, they announced some rather interesting prices for all three phones with the Galaxy S20 priced from US$999, the Galaxy S20+ from US$1,199 and the S20 Ultra from US$1,399 with the phones shipping this coming March 6 onwards. We’ll keep you posted on local prices, the usual preorder goodies and other details when we get them from Samsung Malaysia.
