Everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra

Samsung’s Galaxy S line of Android smartphones is inarguably the company’s most popular smartphone lineup. This year, Samsung will be launching the 11th Galaxy smartphone but will be taking a break with its naming convention — so instead of Galaxy S11, we will be getting the Galaxy S20. With Samsung Unpacked 2020 coming up next month, let’s go through all the leaks and rumors we’ve seen so far about the Galaxy S20 smartphones. Below is everything we know about all five Samsung Galaxy S20 models that will be launched this year, including the Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 5G, Galaxy S20+, Galaxy S20+ 5G, and Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G.

Samsung Galaxy S20 series: Design

The front design of the Galaxy S20 will look pretty similar on the front to basically every 2019 Samsung phone. It will have a large rounded display at a tall aspect ratio. Samsung has decided to make their phone taller this year by switching to a 20:9 aspect ratio, taller than the 19.5:9 aspect ratio of their previous flagship. As a change from the S10 series, Samsung will also be centering the hole punch to match the design of the Note 10 series.

Galaxy S20 Galaxy S20

The phones are expected to be slightly different from earlier Samsung phones. The rear camera setup is a change, for one. Every previous S series Samsung phone (except the original Galaxy S I9000, and the recently launched Galaxy S10 Lite) has had the camera centered on the Y-axis on the back of the phone. This phone is the first one in the flagship series to offset it to the top left corner. So in the end, Samsung ended up going with the new 2020 stovetop design as per all the leaked renders and leaked hands-on information.

Galaxy S20+ Galaxy S20+

Something Samsung will also remove is the headphone jack, a trend that Samsung gave into with the Note 10 within its flagships. Unfortunately, it has been removed from this year’s S series phone too, making the Galaxy S20 series the first S series phones without a headphone jack. They are also the first S series phones without the very pronounced curve that has been a trademark Samsung feature for the past few years. The Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+ will be using a glass that is very close to the 2.5D glass from the Pixel 2 XL. The Galaxy S20 Ultra will have a slight curve that is much less pronounced than in earlier years.

Galaxy S20 Ultra Galaxy S20 Ultra Galaxy S20 Ultra

The phones will also be IP68 water-resistant up to 5 meters. This will be a massive improvement over the 1.5 meters of water resistance on the current Note 10 and S10 series phones. This comes courtesy of improvements in the build — Samsung will be using a new adhesive on the rear and front glass. It will be stuck stronger to the aluminum on the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+. The Galaxy S20 Ultra will use a stainless steel body.

Samsung Galaxy S20 series: Camera

The camera setup on the Samsung Galaxy S20 series will definitely be interesting. There are three different devices and all three devices have slightly different camera setups.

The Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+ will largely be the same. Both will come with a 12MP main sensor. It will have a pixel size of 1.8μm, which is larger than previous Samsung phones. It will likely be using the Sony IMX 555 or a Samsung ISOCell equivalent. The secondary ultra-wide camera will be a 12MP sensor as well. The telephoto will be a 64MP Samsung ISOCell S5KGW2 sensor, with 3x zoom with 30x digital. The front camera on both models will be the Sony IMX 374, the same sensor used in the Galaxy S10, Note 10, and Galaxy Fold. The one difference between the S20 and S20+ camera setup will be the ToF sensor, which will only be found on the S20+. It will be a Sony IMX 516.

The Galaxy S20 Ultra is where things will get even more fun. It will have a 108MP main camera, a 48MP telephoto, and a 12MP ultra-wide as well as a ToF sensor. The 108MP main sensor will be the S5KHM1. This is a sensor with a slight improvement over the S5KHMX sensor used in the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. The 48MP telephoto will be either the Sony IMX 586 or an ISOCell equivalent. This will be a periscope lens system, with support for 100x digital zoom and 30x hybrid zoom. It will likely also have 10X optical zoom, but that has yet to be confirmed. The ultra-wide will be the same 12MP sensor found in the Galaxy S20 and S20+. It will have a ToF sensor which will be the Sony IMX 518. The front-facing camera on the S20 Ultra will be the highest MP front camera on any Samsung phone. It will be a 40MP front camera using the Samsung ISOCell S5KGH1. As a whole, the Galaxy S20 Ultra will have the most insane camera setup on any phone to date.

No camera is complete without its software. The Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra will all have the same camera features and camera tuning. They will all have improved color science compared to previous Galaxy phones. This will lead to more realistic yet appealing photos. Samsung usually opts for pictures that are bright and saturated, preferring this social media-ready aesthetic over color accuracy; but now, Samsung seems to be making sure their photos look great but still have accurate colors. It should be a good improvement — we’ll find out.

Samsung will also be introducing a few new camera features. The first one will be Single Take Photo. This will basically let you pan your phone around an environment and it will take pictures and videos out of all three lenses, and then automatically edit them for you. It sounds like a very neat feature but I’m not sure how useful it will be. Another similar feature will be called QuickTake. When you take a picture it will actually take a picture out of all three lenses. After you take the picture, you will be able to go back and select which lens you want to keep.

Samsung will also be working a bit more on video. The company will be introducing a new “Pro Video” mode. This will basically be the pro photo mode from previous Samsung phones, but for taking videos. Samsung will also be adding an 8K 24fps video recording mode to the rear cameras on the 64MP sensor on the S20 and S20+ and 108MP sensor on the S20 Ultra. Speaking of frame rates, Samsung will also be introducing 4K 60fps video on the front camera. None of the 8K or 4K 60fps will support HDR10+, unfortunately.

Samsung Galaxy S20 series: Display

The display on the S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra will be one of the main selling points of this year’s Galaxy phones. The three phones will all be different sizes. The Galaxy S20 will be coming in 6.2″ while the S20+ will come in at 6.7″ and the S20 Ultra will be a massive 6.9″ diagonally. All three phones will come with a display resolution of 3200×1440.

All three devices will also have 120Hz displays. This is going to make a lot of fans very happy. When 120Hz will be enabled, it will have a touch sampling rate of 240Hz. This is double the refresh rate. This might not seem like a huge deal, but it will make the phone feel a lot more responsive. Sadly, you will not be able to run 120Hz at the full 3200×1440 resolution. When enabling 120Hz, it will set the display resolution to FHD+ / 2400×1080. Here’s the thing, it’s not disabling the pixels. What it is doing is rendering the UI at 2400×1080 and show it on a 3200×1440 display. It won’t look as clear as if it were to render at 3200×1440 but it won’t look too bad either.

Samsung will once again be using a hole punch design. This hole is expected to be about half the size of the hole from the Galaxy Note 10. This will be a nice upgrade. As mentioned in the camera portion above, the camera remains largely unchanged from the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10.

Samsung Galaxy S20 series: Software

The Galaxy S20 series is going to run One UI 2.1 (based on Android 10) out of the box. We aren’t sure how many new One UI 2.0 features will be found on the Galaxy S20, that aren’t already present on the stable updates released for the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10. The one feature we were able to confirm would be available with One UI 2.1 on the Galaxy S20 series is Samsung’s new Quick Share. This is very similar to Apple’s AirDrop. It will basically let you send files between different Galaxy devices. You can read more about Quick Share in our dedicated coverage.

Another new feature relates to the keyboard, but it’s a minor one. Samsung’s keyboard will be able to recommend emojis and stickers based on the words you type. These stickers will either be part of some of the random packs that come pre-installed, or be part of Bitmoji, or be part of the revamped AR Emoji. That’s right, we are also getting upgrades to AR Emoji that hopefully makes them look less like demons cursed to walk across your phone screen.

Of course, there are likely to be a lot more features we don’t know about yet. Samsung always manages to sneak a few features into their phones, so we’re excited to be surprised.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Accessories

The Galaxy S20 will come with the same AKG-branded earbuds as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10. These are nearly the same AKG earbuds that came with the Galaxy S8, S9, S10, Note 8, and Note 9, but since this device doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack, it uses a USB Type-C connector. The Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ came with this same set of earbuds. In my experience, these sound better than the earbuds that came with the Galaxy S8 through the S10.

Samsung will also be launching their usual case lineup with the Galaxy S20 series. The Galaxy S20 series will launch along with the Samsung Protective Standing case, LED View Cover, Clear View Cover, leather case, and silicon case. Below are some images of the Protective Standing case, LED View Cover, and Clear View Cover from my friend Ishan Agarwal.

Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra is getting these new Protective Standing Cover, LED View Cover and Clear View Covers. Here are the official renders of the same. Only Black/Grey colour renders as of now. Like them? #Samsung #UNPACKED #GalaxyUNPACKED pic.twitter.com/cpxif3G0mr — Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) January 24, 2020

Along with the S20 series, Samsung will be launching the new Galaxy Buds+ at Samsung Unpacked 2020 too. These will basically be the same as the Galaxy Buds with regards to noise isolation and sound quality but have an improved microphone and better battery life. One source told us the battery life will be almost double the battery life on the current Galaxy Buds.

These buds should retail for around $149.99 USD. They will also be included with Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra pre-orders in some regions.

Galaxy S20 Specifications and Availability

There are a lot of leaks of the price, specs, and design. A lot of these, specifically the Galaxy S20+, we were able to confirm through a source with access to the device. The specs for the other two devices are based on our own sources and Ishan Agarwal. These are the most up-to-date and accurate specs at the time of publishing.

Specification Galaxy S20/Galaxy S20 5G Galaxy S20+/Galaxy S20+ 5G Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G System-on-chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 865/Exynos 990 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865/Exynos 990 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865/Exynos 990 Display 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED

3200×1440

120Hz @ FHD+ 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED

3200×1440

120Hz @ FHD+ 6.92-inch Dynamic AMOLED

3200×1440

120Hz @ FHD+ Fingerprint scanner In-display Ultrasonic In-display Ultrasonic In-display Ultrasonic Front camera 10MP IMX 374

Video recording up to 4K 60fps 10MP IMX 374

Video recording up to 4K 60fps 40MP

Video recording up to 4K 60fps Rear Camera 12MP wide

12MP ultra-wide

64MP 3x Zoom

Video recording up to 8K 24fps 12MP wide

12MP ultra-wide

64MP 3x Zoom

ToF

Video recording up to 8K 24fps 108MP wide

12MP ultra-wide

48MP periscope telephoto: 10x optical zoom, 30x hybrid, 100x digital

ToF

Video recording up to 8K 24fps RAM 12GB 12GB 12GB/16GB Storage 128GB/256GB UFS 3

Micro SD card slot 128GB/256GB UFS 3

Micro SD card slot 128GB/512GB UFS 3

Micro SD card slot Battery Capacity 4,000 mAh 4,500 mAh 5,000 mAh Water Resistance IP 68, 5 meters IP 68. 5 meters IP 68, 5 meters Price ~$1000 ~$1100 ~$1300 Availability Rumored March 13th Rumored March 13th Rumored March 13th

The Galaxy S20 is rumored to be available in stores on March 13th. That is a little over a month between announcement and release. Pre-orders should open for those who pre-register right after the event while everyone else will have to wait for either Wednesday or Friday depending on your region.

Samsung Unpacked 2020

While not all of this information is official yet, we have managed to piece together a good amount of information about the devices. The Samsung Galaxy S20 series will get officially announced on February 11th in San Francisco at 11 AM PST/2 PM EST. These devices aim to impress this year and we are all excited to see what Samsung comes up with to keep OnePlus and Apple on their toes. We will be at Unpacked covering all the new devices announced, so be sure to keep an eye on the XDA Portal and XDA TV YouTube channel for everything coming out of that event.

