Samsung used to introduce its Galaxy S flagship series during MWC, but it has long since moved the unveiling to a separate event prior to the trade show. After months of leaks and a very revealing Galaxy Z Flip ad during the Oscars, Samsung has finally taken the wraps off its Galaxy S20 series consisting of the Galaxy S20, the S20+, and the S20 Ultra. Yes, the company is skipping S11 through S19 to pull even with the current year, which could make it easier to remember when which series was released in the future.

The new phones all sport the same understated glass-sandwich design with humongous camera bumps on the back and gently curved glass on the front, but the display underneath it is finally flat. They're packed with the latest hardware, which gives them considerable performance jumps compared to their predecessors. They all support 5G out of the box in the US and come with at least 128GB of (expandable) storage and 12GB of RAM, with some versions of the Galaxy S20 Ultra going up to 16GB — that's the amount of regular storage many smartphones used to ship with in 2013. In the US, the phones will come with the Snapdragon 865, which can be considered as one of the biggest technological leaps in smartphone chips in a long time. Other regions will get the Exynos 990, which doesn't need to fear comparison.

From left to right: Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, Galaxy Ultra.

The new Galaxy series also impresses on the photography front. The base S20 quadruples any S10's megapixel count, moving from a maximum of 16MP on an individual camera to a new high of 64MP for the main camera. The Ultra goes one step further and sports Samsung's new 108MP wide-angle sensor that already produces high-res images on the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. Combined with the other lenses (three in total on all plus a fourth Depth Vision sensor on the S20+ and S20 Ultra) and Samsung's new image processing algorithms, these cameras should be able to produce great images in a multitude of situations. Concerning video, the phones are capable of shooting stabilized 8K footage.

The Galaxy S20 Ultra's camera bump is enormous.

Turning to the front of the phones, we see Samsung's new Infinity-O display format on all of them, which puts the front-facing camera cutout in the middle of the notification bar. This might make it more prominent when you watch videos, but the optional 120Hz refresh rate that's present across all three phones might make up for that. Combined with support for HDR10+, the S20 series' HD+ AMOLED screens should make videos and images stunning to look at. Samsung has also chosen not to include a biometric face unlock mechanism, but given the Pixel 4's anachronistic top bezel and the iPhone's huge notch, different aesthetic priorities certainly had a play in that decision.

The front camera now sits in the middle of the status bar.

A follow-up to the bargain Galaxy S10e is missing from this line-up, but Samsung will continue producing and selling the S10 series at a lower price, which you can view as a replacement for the entry-level phone. That also means you can't get a current-generation Galaxy S device without curved glass on the front any longer.

Additionally, the Galaxy S20 series gets rid of some features from the S10 generation. The headphone jack is gone for good, and dual front-facing cameras are nowhere to be seen. This development shouldn't come as a surprise following the Galaxy Note10, which forwent these features, too, but it's sad to see the omission of the headphone jack in particular. Samsung was the last major manufacturer that still included one.

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At least the batteries have seen substantial upgrades: The S20 comes with 4,000mAh while the regular S10 only packed 3,400mAh. The S20+ and S20 Ultra bump this up to 4,500 and 5,000mAh, respectively, but given the 120Hz screens and 5G, it remains to be seen if this capacity jump translates to longer battery life in the real world.

Even though many people are upgrading their phones less and less frequently, the S20 series represents quite a drastic jump in hardware power compared to last year's Samsung phones, which might make them an interesting consideration for some. We'll go hands-on with the individual phones shortly, but here's a first overview of what to expect from them.

Galaxy S20 5G

SPECS

Display

6.2-inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 563 ppi, HDR10+, 120Hz

Software

Android 10

CPU

7nm 64-bit Octa-Core Processor, 2.7GHz (Maximum Clock Speed) + 2.5GHz + 2GHz

RAM

12GB RAM (LPDDR5)

Storage

128GB internal storage + MicroSD slot (up to 1TB microSD)

Battery

4,000mAh (typical), Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless PowerShare

Rear cameras

Ultra Wide: 12MP, 120 ̊, F2.2

Wide-angle

12MP, 79 ̊, F1.8

Telephoto

64 MP, 76 ̊, F2.0 Space Zoom, Hybrid Optic Zoom 3X, Super Resolution Zoom up to 30X

Front camera

10MP, 80 ̊, F2.2

Connectivity

5G Non-Standalone (NSA), 5G Standalone (SA), Sub-6Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4G+5GHz, HE80, MIMO, 1024-QAM Up to 1.2Gbps Download / Up to 1.2Gbps Upload Bluetooth 5.0, ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)

Miscellaneous

Samsung Pay, Fingerprint sensor

Sensors

Ultrasonic Fingerprint sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, Proximity sensor, RGB Light sensor

Audio

Stereo speakers and Earphones sound by AKG; Surround sound with Dolby Atmos technology

Measurements

151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9mm, 163g

Colors

Cosmic Gray, Cloud Blue, Cloud Pink

Price

Starting at $999.99

Galaxy S20+ 5G

SPECS

Display

6.7-inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 525ppi, HDR10+, 120Hz

Software

Android 10

CPU

7nm 64-bit Octa-Core Processor, 2.7GHz (Maximum Clock Speed) + 2.5GHz + 2GHz

RAM

12GB RAM (LPDDR5)

Storage

128GB/512GB internal storage+ MicroSD slot (up to 1TB microSD)

Battery

4,500mAh (typical), Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless PowerShare

Rear cameras

Ultra Wide: 12 MP, 120 ̊, F2.2

Wide-angle

12MP, 79 ̊, F1.8

Telephoto

64MP, 76 ̊, F2.0 Depth Vision Space Zoom, Hybrid Optic Zoom 3X, Super Resolution Zoom up to 30X

Front camera

10MP, 80 ̊, F2.2

Connectivity

5G Non-Standalone (NSA), 5G Standalone (SA), Sub-6 / mmWave Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4G+5GHz, HE80, MIMO, 1024-QAM Up to 1.2Gbps Download / Up to 1.2Gbps Upload Bluetooth 5.0, ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)

Miscellaneous

Samsung Pay, Fingerprint sensor

Sensors

Ultrasonic Fingerprint sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, Proximity sensor, RGB Light sensor

Audio

Stereo speakers and Earphones sound by AKG; Surround sound with Dolby Atmos technology

Measurements

161.9 x 73.7 x 7.8mm, 186g

Colors

Cosmic Gray, Cloud Blue, Cosmic Black

Price

Starting at $1,199.99

Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G

SPECS

Display

6.9-inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 511ppi, HDR10+, 120Hz

Software

Android 10

CPU

7nm 64-bit Octa-Core Processor, 2.7GHz (Maximum Clock Speed) + 2.5GHz + 2GHz

RAM

12GB/16GB RAM (LPDDR5)

Storage

128GB/512GB internal storage+ MicroSD slot (up to 1TB microSD)

Battery

5,000mAh (typical), Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless PowerShare

Rear cameras

Ultra Wide: 12 MP, 120 ̊, F2.2

Wide-angle

108MP, 79 ̊, F1.8

Telephoto

48MP, 24 ̊, F3.5 Depth Vision Space Zoom, Hybrid Optic Zoom 10X, Super Resolution Zoom up to 100X

Front camera

40MP, 80 ̊, F2.2

Connectivity

5G Non-Standalone (NSA), 5G Standalone (SA), Sub-6 / mmWave Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4G+5GHz, HE80, MIMO, 1024-QAM Up to 1.2Gbps Download / Up to 1.2Gbps Upload Bluetooth 5.0, ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)

Miscellaneous

Samsung Pay, Fingerprint sensor

Sensors

Ultrasonic Fingerprint sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, Proximity sensor, RGB Light sensor

Audio

Stereo speakers and Earphones sound by AKG; Surround sound with Dolby Atmos technology

Measurements

166.9 x 76.0 x 8.8mm, 220g

Colors

Cosmic Gray, Cosmic Black

Price

Starting at $1,399.99


All phones share a standard Cosmic Gray color, but other than that, there is some variation. The small Galaxy S20 and S20+ will both come in Cloud Blue, and there's an additional Cloud Pink variant of the S20. The S20+ and the S20 Ultra share a Cosmic Black option.

The series continues the smartphone market's gravitation towards higher prices. The regular Galaxy S20 will start at $999.99 while the 128GB S20+ will go for $200 more at $1,199.99. The S20 Ultra will come with another $200 price hike and cost $1,399.99 if you want to have the 128GB model. All phones will be available unlocked and carrier-locked across retail stores and online shops starting March 6, with pre-orders opening February 21. If you put down money for the S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra between that date and March 5, you'll be eligible for $100, $150, or $200 Samsung credit, respectively.

UPDATE: 2020/02/12 1:29am PST BY MANUEL VONAU

This article previously stated that the Galaxy S20 displays are slightly curved. While the glass on the front of the phones indeed sports a slight curvature towards the sides, the screen underneath it is flat, as per our hands-on. This post has been updated accordingly.

Source: Samsung