Exclusive: Leaked Samsung Galaxy S20+ Hands-on confirms 120Hz display, ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner, and no headphone jack

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The Samsung Galaxy S20 series is Samsung’s next mainstream flagship series, and all eyes are set on the top Android OEM for its biggest guns yet. We know that Samsung is skipping over the Galaxy S11 moniker in favor of “Galaxy S20”, and we have brought to you other leaks detailing some of the upcoming camera features on the phone. More recently, we also brought to you the first live images of the Galaxy S20+, but our leaks don’t stop there. We have been able to confirm some more details about the Galaxy S20+ display and the in-display fingerprint scanner.

Galaxy S20+ XDA Forums ||| Galaxy S20 XDA Forums

Display Resolution and Aspect Ratio

First off, the display on the Galaxy S20+ comes in at 3200 x 1440 pixels, thanks to the taller 20:9 aspect ratio. We weren’t able to confirm the exact display size/diagonal.

A taller aspect ratio on a large display ends up making the phone a lot more comfortable to hold and use. It all around ends up looking more modern as well. All of the Galaxy S20 series — Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra — will come in this aspect ratio and display resolution. This means the rumored 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays on the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Ultra are unlikely to feel unwieldy.

Fingerprint Scanner

Our source was also able to confirm something else: the ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner. Some rumors speculated that the Galaxy S20 series would ditch the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner in favor of an optical fingerprint scanner. However, we can confirm that this is not true. The Galaxy S20+ will feature an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner.

We were able to confirm this was an ultrasonic scanner and not an optical scanner by checking if the scanner area lights up, as that is the primary visual difference between the two and the easiest way to tell the two technologies apart. In the case of an optical fingerprint scanner, the scanner area on the display is lit up brightly; while an ultrasonic sensor needs no light for its functioning. The Galaxy S20+ does not light up the fingerprint area (other than the display’s regular brightness levels), which essentially confirms the ultrasonic sensor.

Most of us did assume that the Samsung flagships would opt for Qualcomm’s new 3D Sonic Max ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. However, we could not confirm this particular detail. We even tried to locate if there are any settings for scanning two fingers simultaneously – as that is a highlight feature of the new sensor – but we could not locate any. So whether the phone uses the older sensor or the newer sensor remains to be seen.

120Hz Display

Another discovery from our source is the confirmation of the 120Hz display. We were also able to get a picture of the device with the 120Hz settings toggle, confirming that the phone does indeed support the feature. This makes the S20 series the first from Samsung phone with a refresh rate above 60Hz. It’s good to see Samsung, the largest display OLED manufacturer in the world, embracing the high refresh rate trend on smartphones.

There was also some concern about the display only being able to push 120Hz at the FHD+ resolution. We have been able to confirm this is true. Our source was only able to run his Galaxy S20+ at 120Hz while using the FHD+ display mode. We were able to follow up and confirm this by examining the strings in the Settings app which state “High refresh rate isn’t supported in WQHD+. Your screen will change to standard refresh rate.”

Design

Some of you might also want to see what the phone looks like while in use. Luckily, our source was able to get us a video of the Galaxy S20+ 5G where the phone is momentarily flipped around. It gives us some more size and scale to the device along with showing off the cameras and the display a bit better.

The Galaxy S20+ is also the first S-series flagship without a headphone jack. Our source was able to confirm to us that it does come with the AKG USB Type-C earbuds. These are likely the same as the earbuds that came with the Galaxy Note 10. They were also able to confirm that the Galaxy S20+ will come with a Super Fast charger in the box. The Galaxy S20+ will support 25W fast charging with the same system as the Note 10.

The Galaxy S20+ is a massive device, coming in much taller than the Galaxy S10+. In the picture below, the S20+ and the S10+ are shown side by side. You can easily see how massive the S20+ is in comparison. The Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G is rumored to be even larger than the S20+.

Base Specifications

Device info apps report that the Galaxy S20+ comes with 11GB of RAM, likely to be advertised as 12GB. Allegedly, Samsung will utilize LPDDR5 RAM, which is supported by the memory controller of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. The S20+ will also come with 128GB of (presumably UFS 3.0) storage and with a rated battery capacity of 4,500 mAh and a typical capacity of 4,370 mAh.

The Samsung Galaxy S20+ all around looks like an amazing device. The absence of the new Qualcomm fingerprint scanner and headphone jack are a bit of a bummer, but at least we are getting an amazing, massive 120Hz display. These devices really do seem incredible. I’m very excited to hear more about the two other phones and the Galaxy Z Flip at Samsung Unpacked on February 11th.