11 February is coming up, which means we’re bound to see a new device to join the Galaxy S-lineup. Following the brilliant S10 device launched in 2019, you’d expect something logical, like the S11 from Samsung. Nope, not this time.
This time around Samsung is ready to break the mould. The new device range will bear the Galaxy name, but this time it’ll be the S20 Galaxy S20. It’ll also remain very familiar in design if the leaks tell us anything.
That doesn’t mean that Samsung will hold back on internals, though — there’s just that much you can do with a shiny black slab, right? That said, we’re sure to see some significant upgrades in the mix as Samsung attempts to one-up its best phone to date. The rumour mill is already firing, naturally, and leaks point to some of the potential changes afoot.
Here’s a look at what we’ve heard so far about the Samsung Galaxy S20 – or Galaxy 11, if the leakers are taking the piss.
When will we see it?
This is one thing we know fo sho – Samsung has an Unpacked event scheduled for 11 February (that’s like, around the corner). This lines up with the company’s usual release timing, so we’re confident this’ll be the first time we see the S20-range irl.
Samsung’s next Unpacked event is slated for 11 February, and given the company’s usual release timing, it’s almost certainly where we will (officially) see the Galaxy S20 for the very first time.
Along with the S20 and its siblings, we’ll probs see Samsung’s second foldable device announced next week. Internally, they’ve codenamed it ‘Blom’ and various leaks online have confirmed the device is real. We’ll just have to see if it forms part of the upcoming Unpacked event.
Knowing Samsung, it’ll look good
At this point, whatever Samsung does will look good. The company has been bringing polished, sleek devices as of late — and these are no exception. We don’t quite know how radically it’ll change from the previous version though.
Leaker Ice Universe suggests that the Galaxy S20 will trim down the bezel a bit more, but we won’t see the new handsets use the 3D waterfall display seen in recent flagships (rejoice flatscreeners!). Instead, we’ll see it use a 2.5D glass design for the display. Down to the colour, SamMobile suggests that the phone will come in blue, black, pink, and white colours, and that the same “Aura” branding from the Galaxy Note 10 may be in play. If so, these could be pretty flashy handsets. RuPaul eat your heart out.
Thank 91Mobiles for the beautiful renders of what could be the final product — these renders do seem as close to legit as you’ll get pre-announcement. They show a Galaxy S20 with a tall-but-narrow camera module on the back, a Galaxy S20+ with a larger rectangular module, and a Galaxy S20 Ultra with a hearty camera setup that includes a 100x hybrid zoom lens.
And the all-too-beautiful screen we’ll likely see?
Okay, obviously it’s gonna have a gorgeous screen. Samsung likes to keep us amazed with its display tech, and it shows.
Good ole Ice Universe says to expect a smaller punch-hole cutout for the front-facing camera than on the Galaxy Note 10, so that’s a start at least. We don’t know whether it’ll be in the upper-right corner like the Galaxy S10, however, or top-centre like the Note 10.
Then there’s Evan Blass, who is sure the whole lineup will get a bump in size. He reports that the S20 range will size in at 6.4in, 6.7in, and 6.9in models. That’s a sizable increase from the current 5.8in, 6.1in, and 6.4in Galaxy S10 versions.
The displays will be curved, but just ever-so-slightly. And not ‘waterfall’ like we’ve seen in recent flagships. Just a little curve. And we’re okay with that. This is evident in this leaked video apparently touting the S20 device.
However, there’s a much better one in the mix: he also says that the Galaxy S20 will “100%” have a 90Hz screen — and potentially even a 120Hz screen, which has also been rumoured for the Apple iPhone 12. SamMobile reported in January that it will indeed be a 120Hz display. So we’ll have to wait and see.
It’ll be powerful, for sure
The Samsung Galaxy S20 will reportedly use the company’s own Exynos 990 chip in South Africa and Europe and some other territories, while it’ll use Qualcomm’s newly-announced Snapdragon 865 chip in the US.
Both 7nm processors promise performance enhancements over their respective predecessors, and both are sure to be insanely fast. There was a slight difference in results between the 2019 chips (Qualcomm’s was faster in benchmarks), but not enough to be noticeable in everyday use. We expect much the same this time around.
Storage-wise, SamMobile suggests that the Galaxy S20 will offer a range from 128GB to a whopping 1TB. Frankly, we don’t want to see the price tag on the latter option… but some super-power-users might.
We know you wanna know about the shooters
Well, it’ll be better than the S10s camera for sure. Soz S10 — we still love you. But we expect this to be a key part of the Galaxy S20 upgrade. Leaker Ice Universe has been hyping some kind of big shift for Samsung cameras starting with the S20, calling it a “new beginning” and a “substantial upgrade.” That’s all very vague for now, of course, but it’s promising all the same.
It looks like the Galaxy S20 will have a quad-camera array, and in addition to the 5x telephoto lens and a 3D time-of-flight (ToF) camera, the main sensor could weigh in at a whopping 108 megapixels. If true, we assume the fourth camera would be an ultra-wide sensor like the ones seen on Samsung’s flagships (including the S10) this year.
The 108MP rumour is picking up steam, too. XDA Developers has found code in Samsung’s camera app that suggests a 108MP sensor is incoming, which is assumed to arrive with the Galaxy S20. So Samsung already made this sensor and launched in a device — so it’s not a mere fantasy anymore.
Any fun extras?
Going 5G on the Galaxy S10 required buying the special, super-expensive model of the phone. That may not be the case with the Galaxy S20, however.
It may even turn out that all the S20 varieties boast 5G chops. This means it’ll be a standard feature, or maybe there will be separate 4G and 5G editions. In either case, you won’t have to buy the largest, most expensive version to tap into next-gen cell service. That is, if it’s even rolled out in SA this year.
We also expect the Galaxy S20 to run Android 10 (formerly Android Q) with One UI 2.1, as reported by SamMobile. One UI 2.0 may introduce some additional Digital Wellbeing features and other improvements, but we don’t’ really know what this version will add to the feature list.
At least we don’t have to wait too long to see what Samsung has to offer this year — the S-range is almost always either extremely exciting or a flat-out miss. We’re hoping for the former this year.
