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Samsung has taken the stage at this year’s Unpacked event to reveal the new flagship products in the Galaxy S line – the Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra. There wasn’t much that we didn’t know of already thanks to the massive amount of leaks, so there aren’t a lot of surprises here.
As expected, all the devices are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 chipset, and they all support 5G. The Galaxy S20 only supports sub-6GHz 5G, but the S20+ and S20 Ultra support mmWave, too. Additionally, the devices come with anywhere from 12GB to 16GB of RAM on the S20 Ultra, and storage options range from 128GB to 512GB of UFS 3.0 storage, which can be expanded with microSD cards.
A big improvement for these devices is the inclusion of a 120Hz display, a first for Samsung phones. Higher refresh rates mean that animations and transitions feel a lot smoother, and Samsung says Microsoft is working to bring 120Hz support to Forza Street so you can enjoy that smoothness in the game. However, the refresh rate will be set to 60Hz by default to save battery, and you need to enable the higher refresh rate manually.
Speaking of battery, the Galaxy S20 will pack a 4,000mAh unit, while the S20+ will go up to 4,5000 mAh. The S20 Ultra naturally dominates with a massive 5,000mAh unit. All three phones come with 25W charging, but the S20 Ultra also supports 45W to charge even faster.
Another key area of improvement for the S20 family is the camera. The S20 and S20+ will have the same primary 12MP shooter, but they now have large 1.8μm pixels for better low-light performance. There's also a 64MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom, and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. The S20+ also has a time-of-flight camera for depth sensing. On the front, there's a 10MP camera with a f/2.2 aperture.
However, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is easily the biggest bet in terms of camera imaging quality, packing a combination of sensors that would be ridiculous a couple of years ago. It uses a custom 108MP sensor for the main camera, and like many high-resolution sensors, groups of nine pixels can be combined to obtain better low-light shots. Additionally, the telephoto shooter will use Sony's 48MP IMX586 sensor, which phones have traditionally used as the main camera, as well as a 12MP ultra-wide. The telephoto lens offers 10x hybrid zoom and up to 100x digital zoom, which Samsung is calling Space Zoom. There's also a time-of-flight sensor on this model. The selfie camera is also much better here, with a 40MP unit with the same f/2.2 aperture.
The cameras also support 8K video recording on all models, and stills from videos can be saved as high-resolution photos. There are also new features like Single Take, which take a multitude of shots at once so users can choose the best option for each situation after the fact.
The new devices will be available on March 6, with pre-orders starting on February 21. The Galaxy S20 will come in Cosmic Gray, Cloud Blue, and Cloud Pink, and it starts at $999.99. The Galaxy S20+ comes in Cosmic Gray, Cloud Blue, and Cosmic Black, and it starts at $1,199. Finally, the S20 Ultra will be available in just Cosmic Gray and Cosmic Black, and it starts at $1,399.
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