After weeks of reports, rumours and leaks, they are finally here. Marking the next decade with the first flagship smartphone of the year, Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S20 Series of smartphones. The line-up consists of three devices: the Galaxy S20, the Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Just like last year, the South Korean company has given customers three phones to choose from. While the basic design and the power core of the devices are the same, the differences are mainly in the display size and cameras. All the models come with displays 120Hz refresh rate, 8K recording and 5G. Samsung highlighted artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and IoT capabilities in the flagship series.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra is priced at $1399 (approx Rs 71,000), the Samsung Galaxy S20+ starts at $1199 (approx Rs 85,500), and the vanilla Galaxy S20 starts at $999 (approx Rs 1 lakh). The devices will be available in Cosmic Grey, Cosmic Black, Blue and Pink colours from March 6. Samsung has also created a special Gold-coloured Olympics Edition of the Galaxy S20+ for athletes.
Most expensive of the lot, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is the best that Samsung has to offer at this point of time. It comes with glass and metal design and the phone is sandwiched between two glass sheets. It sports a massive 6.9-inch WQHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display with 2K resolution. It is powered by the Exynos 900 chipset (Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 in select markets), which is flanked by 12GB/16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 128GB/256GB/512GB of internal storage (1TB expandable).
In the camera department, the ultra variant comes equipped with a 108MP (nona-binning, or 9x12MP) primary camera with 10x optical hybrid zoom and 100x digital zoom capability. The second is a 48MP telephoto camera, a 12MP 108-degree ultra-wide angle camera, 12MP ultra-wide camera and a ToF lens. On the front is a 40MP selfie snapper. The smartphone runs Android 10 with OneUI 2.0 on top. It houses a massive 5000mAh battery.
The Galaxy S20+ features a 6.7-inch WQHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2K display. It is powered by the same processor and comes with 8GB/12GB RAM and 128GB/512GB storage (1TB expandable). The phone has a triple camera setup with 12MP main sensor, a 64MP telephoto camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera and a ToF sensor. There is 3X Hybrid zoom and 30X digital zoom capability. For selfies, the plus variant packs a 10MP snapper. It is powered by a 4500mAh battery and will be available in Grey, Blue and Pink colours.
Samsung Galaxy S20 specs
Most affordable of the lot, the Galaxy S20 has a 6.2-inch WQHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2K display, which is the same panel as its elder siblings. It comes with 8GB/12GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. Just like the plus model, the phone packs a triple rear camera setup with 12MP main sensor, a 64MP telephoto camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera. There is 3X Hybrid zoom and 30X digital zoom functionality. On the front is a 10MP shooter, and the phone houses a 4000mAh battery.
All the smartphones come with 5G, IP68 water and dust protection rating, ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensors, reverse charging tech, face recognition and they are secured by Samsung Knox military-grade security system. They all have pouch holes in the centre of the display akin to the Galaxy Note 10 Series. All the models can shoot videos in 8K quality. Samsung also talked about the Space Zoom feature with which users can zoom into a high-res image and crop a new photo out of it. There is a Quick Share feature that lets users share images and videos between two Galaxy phones kept closer to each other.
Samsung also launched the Galaxy Z Flip -- its second foldable smartphone with clamshell design. The South Korean giant says that the Galaxy Z Flip sports an Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) and calls it an Infinity Flex display. Another interesting feature of the handset is a ‘Flex mode', which Samsung developed along with Google. In this mode, certain apps get a unique split screen mode when the display is folded at 90 degrees. The two apps are seen on either side of the fold.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip can be purchased for $1,380 (approx Rs 98,500). The device will be made in limited quantities and will be available in select markets starting February 14 in Mirror Black and Mirror Purple colours.
Samsung has used a ‘Hideaway Hinge’ design or tech which allows the phone to open the handset at multiple angles. The hinge has a nylon fibre ‘sweeper’ tech to repel dirt and dust. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip sports a 6.7-inch full-HD Dynamic AMOLED display with 1080 x 2636 pixels resolution and 21.9:9 aspect ratio. On the outside, there is a 1.1-inch Super AMOLED display which shows notifications and caller ID. It is powered by an unnamed 7nm octa-core processor, which is paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of inbuilt storage.
The handset carries two camera setup, with a 12MP wide-angle camera and another 12MP ultra-wide angle camera. On the front is a 10MP snapper. The phone houses a 3,300mAh battery and runs Android 10. You can read more about the phone here.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ are an updated version of the Galaxy Buds. They now feature a woofer and a tweeter on both buds. The earpiece is touch sensitive and comes with one-touch Spotify integration. Users can listen to recommended songs by Spotify by just one touch.
Further, the earbuds now have three mics for better conversation in noisy environments. Samsung says that the hearables can give users up to 11 hours of run time on a single charge. They will be available for $149 (approx Rs 10,600).
