The Samsung Galaxy S20 is a series of high-end Android-based smartphones developed, manufactured, and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of its flagship Galaxy S series. They collectively serve as the successor to the Galaxy S10 series. The first three smartphones (Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra) were unveiled at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event on February 11, 2020, alongside Galaxy Z Flip, and they were released in the United States on March 6, 2020 and in Europe on March 13, 2020. Two additional versions of the Galaxy S20 smartphone were released: the Galaxy S20 5G UW was announced on June 4, 2020 and released on AT&T in the United States on the same day, and the Galaxy S20 FE was announced on September 23, 2020 and released on October 2, 2020. In May 2020, a rugged variant for military use named the "Tactical Edition" was released.
It is the first Galaxy smartphone lineup with all models having a 120 Hz high refresh rate display, an upgrade from the previous 60 Hz. Its telephoto camera zoom is also improved past 10x, with the S20 and S20+ having 30x, and the S20 Ultra gaining 100x zoom alongside a 108MP main sensor. All models received USB fast-charger certification from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).
The Galaxy S20 was succeeded by the Galaxy S21, which was announced on January 14, 2021. In April 2022, following the release of its new flagship, the Galaxy S22, Samsung released a refreshed version of the Galaxy S20 FE known as the Galaxy S20 FE 2022, which has the same processor as the Galaxy S20 series. It has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage and ships with One UI 4 based on Android 12.
History The title of the phone was originally presumed to be the Galaxy S11, due to it being the logical extension from its predecessor, the Galaxy S10. However, successive leaks in January 2020 revealed the title of the phone to be named the Galaxy S20, because it was released in the year 2020.
Leaker Max Weinbach obtained the actual phone a month before the release, confirming the leaks, and that by February, "almost everything the company is planning to introduce has already leaked out." In addition to charts on the phone's specifications, marketing material and images of the phones themselves in real life were leaked.
Design
The Galaxy S20 series has a design similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, with an Infinity-O display containing a circular punch-hole in the top center this time for the frontal selfie camera.
In a departure from past Galaxy S designs (except the S10 Lite where it has the camera at the left), the rear camera array is not centered, but located in the corner with a rectangular protrusion similar to that of the iPhone 11, Google Pixel 4 and past Samsung flagships such as the Note 10, Galaxy S and the original Samsung Galaxy. The S20 and S20 FE house three cameras, while the S20+ has four cameras in the bump, while the S20 Ultra houses four cameras in a larger bump. Galaxy S20 FEGalaxy S20 and S20+Galaxy S20 UltraBase colorsIn June 2020, Verizon released the Galaxy S20 5G UW (Ultra Wideband). Differences from the S20 include the addition of mmWave, only 8 GB of RAM (compared to the usual 12 GB), and no microSD slot. Moreover, Samsung released the Galaxy S20+ 5G BTS Edition in the summer of 2020, with the color "Haze Purple."
Specifications Hardware Chipsets The S20 line comprises three models with various hardware specifications; international models of the S20 utilize the Exynos 990 system-on-chip, while the U.S., Canadian, Korean, Chinese and Japanese models utilize the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865.
Display The first three Galaxy S20 models feature a 1440p Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with HDR10+ support and "dynamic tone mapping" technology. The S20 FE also features the same HDR10+ support and "dynamic tone mapping" technology, but has a lower 1080p resolution and superAMOLED display.
The S20, S20 FE, and S20+ have a 6.2-inch, 6.5-inch, and 6.7-inch display, respectively, while the S20 Ultra has a 6.9-inch display. Except for the S20 FE, displays have curved sides that slope over the horizontal edges of the device. All devices utilize 20:9 aspect ratio in addition to a 120 Hz refresh rate, double that of the S10. The S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra utilize an ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint sensor while the S20 FE utilises a more traditional optical in-screen fingerprint sensor. SpecGalaxy S20 FEGalaxy S20Galaxy S20+Galaxy S20 UltraDisplay sizeResolution2400×10803200×1440Density~407 ppi~563 ppi~525 ppi~511 ppiAspect ratio20:9Refresh rate60 Hz / 120 HzPanelsuperAMOLED, HDR10+Dynamic AMOLED 2X, HDR10+Cover glassGorilla Glass 3Gorilla Glass 6
Cameras The cameras on the Galaxy S20 series improved considerably over its predecessors, although unlike the S9 and S10, the aperture on the main lens is fixed. While the megapixels of the main and ultra wide sensors remained unchanged on the S20 and S20+, the telephoto sensor received some improvements. The 64-megapixel telephoto camera, branded as “Space Zoom”, supports 3X hybrid optical zoom (branded as "Hybrid Optic Zoom") and 30X digital zoom at 64 megapixels on the new telephoto sensor instead of 12 megapixels at two times on the S10 and 30 times digitally (branded as "Super-Resolution Zoom").
The S20+ has a time-of-flight sensor (branded as "DepthVision Camera") in addition to the regular S20's cameras. The Galaxy S20 Ultra has a quadruple lens setup that supports 4X optical zoom and 100X digital zoom, with a 108-megapixel wide image sensor, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a 48-megapixel periscope telephoto sensor accompanied by a time-of-flight sensor. Both the wide-angle and telephoto sensors use pixel binning to output higher quality images at a standard resolution, with the wide-angle sensor using Nonacell technology which groups 3x3 pixels to capture more light.
The front camera is able to record video footage at 2160p.
A new camera mode was introduced called Single Take, which allows users to capture photos or videos at the same time with different sensors automatically. ModelsGalaxy S20 FEGalaxy S20Galaxy S20+Galaxy S20 UltraWide12 MP (f/1.8)108 MP (f/1.8)Ultrawide12 MP (f/2.2)Telephoto8 MP (3×) (f/2.4)64 MP (1.1×) (f/2.0)48 MP (4×) (f/3.5)ToFn/a(640 x 480) 307.2 KPFront32 MP (f/2.2)10 MP (f/2.2)40 MP (f/2.2)Galaxy S20/S20+/S20 Ultra support 8K video recording at up to 24fpsGalaxy S20 FE support 4K video recording at up to 60fps Storage The base amount of RAM is 6 GB with an additional 8 GB option for the S20 FE, while the base amount is 8 GB, with an additional 12 GB option for the S20 & S20+ and a 16 GB option for the S20 Ultra. 128 GB of internal storage is standard with the S20 FE offering a 256 GB option while the S20+ & S20 Ultra also offers 256 GB and 512 GB options, with up to 1 TB of expansion via the microSD card slot. Verizon's Galaxy S20 5G UW model is not equipped with a microSD slot. ModelMemoryStorage optionsStorage typeGalaxy S20 FE6 GB / 8 GB128 GB / 256 GBUFS 3.1Galaxy S208 GB / 12 GB128 GBUFS 3.0Galaxy S20+128 GB / 256 GB / 512 GBGalaxy S20 Ultra12 GB / 16 GB
Batteries
The S20, S20 FE, S20+, & S20 Ultra contain non-removable 4000 mAh, 4500 mAh, 4500 mAh, and 5000 mAh Li-Po batteries respectively, and Qi inductive charging is supported at up to 15 W as well as the ability to charge other Qi-compatible devices from the S20's own battery power, which is branded as “Samsung PowerShare”. Wired charging is supported over USB-C at up to 25 W for the S20, S20 FE, & S20+ and 45 W for the S20 Ultra. They support reverse charging at 4.5 W. Galaxy S20 FEGalaxy S20Galaxy S20+Galaxy S20 UltraBattery capacity4,500 mAh4,000 mAh4,500 mAh5,000 mAhWired charging speed25 W45 WQi wireless charging speed15 WReverse wireless charging speed4.5 W
Connectivity The S20 series comes with 5G standard connectivity, though some regions may have special LTE variants. However, only Verizon models are compatible with higher-speed millimeter-wave networks. For the first time in the Galaxy S series, the 3.5 mm audio jack has been omitted entirely. ModelWi-FiBluetoothUSBNFCGalaxy S20 FEWi-Fi 65.0USB-C 3.2(5Gbps) rowspan="4" Galaxy S20Galaxy S20+Galaxy S20 Ultra
Software All four phones initially ran on Android 10 and Samsung's custom skin One UI 2.1. On 18 August 2020, Samsung revealed that all variants of the S20 series would be supported for three Android OS upgrades, and 4 years of security updates. Initially, security updates were due to end in 2024, but was quietly extended by 1 year (until 2025).
S20 phones sold in Europe had news aggregator upday in partnership with Axel Springer SE preinstalled, triggering notifications. Pre-installed OSOS Upgrades historyEnd of support1st2nd3rdS20S20+S20 UltraAndroid 10(One UI 2.1)Minor One UI update:(One UI 2.5)August 2020Android 11(One UI 3.0)December 2020(One UI 3.1)February 2021Android 12(One UI 4.0)December 2021(One UI 4.1)March 2022Android 13(One UI 5.0)November 2022(One UI 5.1)February 2023April 2025S20 FEAndroid 10(One UI 2.5)Android 11(One UI 3.0)December 2020(One UI 3.1)February 2021Android 12(One UI 4.0)December 2021(One UI 4.1)March 2022Android 13(One UI 5.0)November 2022(One UI 5.1)February 2023October 2025
Known issues Even before the general release, reviewers have seen autofocus and skin smoothing issues with the cameras, especially with the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Samsung is working on a fix, but the Exynos model continues to have autofocus issues after an update that was supposed to fix them.
Galaxy S20 Ultra can only record at 720p480fps and it interpolates with AI to 720p960fps, Galaxy S20 and S20+ can record at 720p960fps.
Users have reported that the Snapdragon version has GPS lock issues. The Exynos model is also known to have heating issues. Some devices also suffer from green display tint issues after a software update. The camera glass has been reported of spontaneously cracking, particularly on the Ultra version.
Some users reported instances of the Galaxy S20 FE suffering from touchscreen issues such as "ghost" touches and jittery movement when scrolling or zooming. Samsung attempted to fix the issue with several updates.
Some users in India reported that after being updated to One UI 4.0, a vertical line started appearing on the front display. These devices were out of warranty and Samsung India concluded it was user error. They charged around 16,000 INR to those users who were looking for a screen replacement. Around a thousand affected users tweeted about it asking for help and others decided to take legal action. Samsung India has still failed to acknowledge this issue.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition (TE) is a touchscreen-enabled, slate-format Android smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Samsung Electronics.
The device is built matching the needs of operators in the U.S. federal government and U.S. Department of Defense. The mobile is Commercial Solutions for Classified Program (CSfC) component approved, with support to night vision, stealth mode, drone feeds and laser range finders. It can connect to tactical radios and mission systems, and runs applications like Battlefield assisted trauma distributed observation kit (BATDOK) etc.
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Notes
See also Digital zoom § iZoom Samsung Galaxy Samsung Galaxy S series Exynos List of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors AMOLED
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