Here it is. After multiple renders and leaks, it turns out that everything is true: This appears to be the new Samsung Galaxy S20+, complete with four camera sensors on the back, thinner bezels, and lots of fingerprints.
There are some surprises too, including disappointing benchmarks, camera information, and the full line up, which allegedly includes new models that weren’t previously rumored, dividing the Galaxy S20 flagship in 5G and LTE-only flavors.
Obtained by XDA Developers’ writer Max Weinbach, the new Samsung flagship is indeed called Samsung Galaxy S20 and not Galaxy S11.
The model in this allegedly leaked photos is Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G — at least according to the startup screen. According to the matrix posted by Samsung meisterleakster Ice Universe, this will be the “mainstream“ model. Ice Universe believes the phones will be branded as Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy 20 Ultra, with the “lightweight” being the equivalent to the iPhone 11, the S20+ would be like iPhone 11 Pro, and the the Galaxy S20 Ultra will be the phone with the largest screen and best specs of the pack, like the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
However, in another tweet, Weinbach posted five models:
- Samsung Galaxy S20
- Samsung Galaxy S20 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S20+
- Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G
- Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G
This goes against previous reports that said that all S20s would have 5G connectivity. It seems that Weinbach — and his source — believes this is not the case.
Weinbach — as well as Ice Universe — claims that all the models will not have the rumored 108-megapixel camera or even the periscope-based optical zoom. Only the Ultra will have this feature. The S20 and S20+ will not, but the latter will come with 8K video recording.
Galaxy S20 benchmarks
Weinbach source also sent him Geekbench 5 benchmarks. Running Android 10, the Samsung Galaxy S20 scores 923 on single-core and 3,267 on multi-core:
According to him, this Galaxy S20+ is running the new Snapdragon 865, not the latest Exynos. Remember that these are new Geekbench 5 tests, which produce lower scores. For comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro does 1,330 in single core and 3,436 in multi-core on Geekbench 5.
This is surprising, as the new Snapdragon 865 had been tested to overcome last year’s Apple A13 Bionic chip in multi-core. It appears that there’s a gap between Qualcomm‘s reference phone and the Galaxy S20+. Granted, we knew that the reference phone was tuned for speed at the cost of battery life. But it’s disappointing anyway.
Same(ish) design
If you are disappointed at the design of the new Samsung Galaxy S20, you are not alone. It’s basically the same as last years, but with a much bigger camera hunchback. Even bigger than the horrendous patch in the iPhone 11 line. The bezels don’t seem much thinner than the previous versions, at least in the photos. Same goes for the punch hole front camera. Everything else looks like the same tired iPhone 6-derivative candybar design. And like previous versions, this looks like a fingerprint magnet.
The good news, Weinbach says, is that the Galaxy S20+ “isn’t very curved. It actually feels flat in the hand. This is because Samsung is using 2.5D glass,” which is the same curve type as the Pixel 2 XL. This is good, because the curved screen thing is really getting ridiculous in some Chinese phones (thanks to Samsung’s displays).
Weinbach said in a tweet that the new Galaxy S20 Ultra looks much better than the 20+. But from what we have seen before in renders, it just seems the same but bigger.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 will come out in the company’s Unboxed event in San Francisco, on February 11.
