Everything we know about Samsung’s 2020 phones

Update: This is a review of an older Samsung phone. Samsung has  launched its latest flagship Galaxy S23 Series consisting of the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra. Buy your S23 phone today!

The Samsung Galaxy S20 5G, S20+ 5G and S20 Ultra 5G - here’s what you need to know.

Samsung’s 2020 Unpacked event happened, and they officially unveiled their 2020 range of smartphones. The Galaxy S20 5G, S20+ 5G, and S20 Ultra 5G are three phones for us - and you tech fans - to lose our minds over. 

Here’s our run-down of all the specs, release date details, and other facts you need to know from Samsung’s massive announcements.

The S20 Ultra 5G is by far the powerhouse of the pack. It’s clear with this phone that Samsung is making a major play for camera supremacy, with its quad rear camera array including a 108MP ultra resolution main camera, an ultra-wide lens, 8K video recording and a new zoom lens that Samsung calls the Space Zoom, which makes use of a 10x hybrid optical zoom and a 100x digital zoom.*

It’s also the phone for all-day power users, with a 5,000mAh (typical) battery** which is roughly double the industry average in 2020. When you do need to charge, it makes use of 45W wireless fast charging, but beware it comes packaged with a 25W charger out of the box, so if juicing up quickly is important, you’ll need to invest in a 45W unit. The S20 Ultra 5G comes in either a 128GB or 512GB version***, with up to 1TB of microSD support.

Outside of the special features exclusive to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the S20 range is packing some impressive new abilities. The S20 5G and S20+ 5G have a triple camera and quad camera array respectively, with ultra-resolution telephoto, ultrawide and 30x Space Zoom abilities.*  Oh, and there’s a lovely 10MP selfie camera too.

Bright Night is a continuation of the night photography mode introduced on the S10 range in 2019, and this year Samsung says this updated mode will produce pictures with twice the brightness of previous Galaxy devices. Samsung says they’ve achieved this with an increased image sensor size  for the camera.

Also introduced is a feature called Single Take, which leverages AI to automatically snap videos, GIFs, and stills simultaneously so you can choose the best shot for you. The photography buffs amongst us will have to give the S20 range a solid round of testing compared to current flagships available on the market, and we’re especially interested to see the power of that 100x Space Zoom lens.

Samsung has taken a huge step forward for the industry and made 5G available across all the phone’s they’ve announced. We’ve already written about why Samsung’s adoption of 5G across their range is a big step for the technology overall, so if you’re in an area with 5G coverage and want to take advantage of the great speeds offered by 5G take a look at our OPTU5G ready plans + and the Samsung range..

As always, Samsung has raised the bar for stunning design of their hardware. The S20 range is a collection of beautiful, shimmering pieces of glass. Coupled with Samsung’s  best screen technology yet, the phones look out-of-this-world good. Samsung released versions in glossy pink, baby blue and grey shades; the S20+ 5G comes in black, blue and grey, and the S20 Ultra 5G comes in black and grey. 

The S20 range comes in either a 6.2”, 6.7” or 6.9” (S20 5G, S20+ 5G and S20 Ultra 5G  respectively) display size. All the phones are featuring the now iconic Infinity-O display, and it’s nice to see Samsung has managed to make those little camera circles even smaller. They’re all running dynamic AMOLED2x displays with 120Hz refresh rates. 

We’ve seen a bit of this technology - high refresh rates - in other phones like the Pixel 4 and OnePlus 7 Pro before, and now  Samsung has included  a rate of 120Hz too. If you’ve never seen a 120Hz refresh rate before then get ready because you’ve never seen animations and visuals this smooth.

The screens also have in-build ultrasonic fingerprint sensors which look to be wicked fast. It’s interesting to see Samsung continue down this path of bringing in-screen sensors to the masses, as an alternative to other facial recognition options out there. 

A revision on the original Galaxy Buds which released alongside the Galaxy S10 range from 2019, the Galaxy Buds+ claim to improve all the major pillars of what make truly wireless earbuds great. Better sound, better voice recognition, and better battery life. Samsung looks to be sticking with an almost identical design. They’ll still support wireless charging and have a contextual button which automatically launches Spotify. They’ll come in a ‘cosmic white’, ‘cosmic black’, and ‘cosmic blue ’.

Stay locked to Optus for more info on the S20 range, and explore our range of Samsung phones.

<sup>*Space zoom includes digital zoom, which may cause some image deterioration
**Battery capacity value of a ‘typical’ user. Rated (i.e. minimum) battery capacity value is 4,855 mAh.45Wcharger purchased separately. 25W charger provided in the box
***512GB Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G model not available from Optus
+ This device is capable of working on the Optus 5G network, which is rolling out in selected areas. Not available in NT or TAS. When not in a 5G coverage area, the device will switch to the Optus 4G or 3G Network where it is available. For more details, check optus.com.au/5GCoverage
^To view videos in 8K quality, a compatible 8K device is required</sup>