The iPhone 11 Pro stole the small-phone spotlight in 2019, but Samsung’s answer wasn’t the Ultra—it was the regular Galaxy S20.
For roughly €900, the S20 landed uncomfortably close to the S20+ and miles under the €1,300 S20 Ultra, while sacrificing surprisingly little in real-world use. Years later, it’s also the one that took the biggest beating in the second‑hand market, despite having almost the same core hardware.
Design: “Compact” Only by 2020 Standards
Samsung didn’t reinvent anything visually with the S20. This is the same design language that started with the Galaxy S8 and evolved through the S9 and S10: tall display, curved glass, metal frame, minimal bezels. The only obvious change is the new rectangular camera bump, which is actually the smallest and least obnoxious of the S20 family.
Physically, the S20 comes in at 151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9 mm and 163 g. That’s almost identical to the Galaxy Note10 (151 x 71.8 x 7.9 mm, 168 g), which tells you how far “compact” has drifted. It’s smaller than the S20+ and Ultra, but anyone jumping from an S9 (147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5 mm, 163 g) will feel the extra height in their pocket.
Samsung also dialed back the curve on the front glass. The display still spills over the sides, but with a shallower curve and less touchable area, accidental palm inputs are less of a problem than on earlier Galaxies. On the back, the glass curves harder into a thinner exposed metal frame, similar to the Note10. Grip still isn’t amazing—this is polished Gorilla Glass front and back—but it fits the hand well.
You get the full flagship shell: IP68 rating, stereo speakers (bottom + amplified earpiece), USB 3.2 Type‑C, dual‑nano SIM tray with microSD support, and all the usual sensors. There’s no headphone jack and no notification LED; Samsung expects you to use the always‑on display instead.
The only real ergonomic misstep is the in‑display fingerprint reader. It’s Qualcomm’s ultrasonic sensor carried over from the S10 and Note10, and accuracy still isn’t where it should be for a phone in this class.
Display: Dynamic AMOLED 2X Done Right (With a Catch)
On paper, the S20 display is straightforward: a 6.2‑inch 1440 x 3200 Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel in a tall 20:9 aspect ratio. With the smallest diagonal in the S20 line, it’s also technically the sharpest at about 563 ppi, though you won’t see that difference in practice.
The real headline is the 120 Hz refresh rate. Samsung could easily have limited it to the pricier models, but didn’t; the vanilla S20 runs the same high‑refresh panel as its siblings. The jump from 60 Hz to 120 Hz makes the UI and scrolling feel much faster, and once you’re used to it, going back is rough.
Battery is the trade‑off. To keep power draw in check, Samsung locks 120 Hz to 1080p; you can’t combine 120 Hz with the full 1440p resolution. In reality, the default Full HD+ mode looks sharp enough for almost everyone, and the brightness figures are strong:
- Up to 814 nits in Vivid mode with auto‑brightness and bright ambient light (75% APL)
- Around 397 nits at manual 100% brightness in Vivid
Color accuracy is profile‑dependent. Natural mode nails DCI‑P3 with an average deltaE of 2 and a max around 3.3—properly accurate. Vivid mode pushes saturation and especially reds (average deltaE 4.9, max 11.2), trading accuracy for the familiar OLED “pop”. HDR10+ is supported, and major services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube work with HDR and the necessary Widevine levels.
The only annoyance is content handling around the punch‑hole: apps like Netflix avoid the camera cutout while YouTube will expand into it, but that’s more of an app‑by‑app quirk than a hardware flaw.
Performance and Thermals: Exynos 990 Muscle, External Modem Penalty
Like every high‑end Samsung of its era, the S20 shipped in two SoC flavors: Exynos 990 globally and Snapdragon 865 in certain markets such as the US. Both are built on a 7nm+ process and rely on external modems rather than integrated ones.
The Exynos S20 uses the Exynos 990 combined with the Exynos Modem 5123—the same modem used in the S20+ and Ultra, even on the 4G‑only variant. That means the LTE‑only S20 is dragging around a full 5G‑capable modem without the mmWave antenna hardware. It’s efficient enough in LTE mode, but this is not the most power‑friendly setup, especially compared to future integrated designs.
The upside: you still get Samsung’s full flagship silicon stack instead of something like an Exynos 980 step‑down. That means faster LPDDR5 RAM, a Mali‑G77 MP11 GPU, and the custom Exynos M5 CPU cores at up to 2.73 GHz.
In synthetic tests, the S20 matches or slightly edges the S20 Ultra despite the smaller body, and CPU scores are roughly 10–17% higher than the Exynos 9820 in the S10+. GPU numbers are in line with expectations for Mali‑G77.
Under sustained load, the S20 gets warm and will thermal‑throttle, but it does so gradually and predictably. Performance scales back instead of crashing, and normal gaming sessions stay usable—you’ll just feel the heat on the frame sooner than on the larger Ultra.
Battery and Charging: Bigger Cell, Familiar Endurance
On paper, 4,000 mAh is a big jump for Samsung’s small flagship tier. The S9 had 3,000 mAh and the S10 3,400 mAh; the S20 delivers more capacity in a body that’s still reasonably slim at 7.9 mm and 163 g.
In practice, the endurance score lands around 78 hours—roughly in line with the S9 and S10 instead of clearly beating them. Standby is fine, but call time in particular drags the overall number down. Web browsing and offline video playback are decent, so if your usage is more data‑heavy and call‑light, the numbers are less grim than that single score suggests.
Switching to 120 Hz does hurt battery life further, as expected, but not catastrophically. Long gaming sessions at 120 Hz or a full day of general mixed use are still realistic. You’re just not getting the longevity some rivals managed out of similarly sized or even smaller cells.
Charging is handled by a bundled 25 W USB‑C PD (with PPS) brick. In testing from dead, the S20:
- Reaches 23% in 10 minutes
- Hits 55% in 30 minutes
- Fully charges in just over an hour
Older Adaptive Fast Charging bricks still work at around 12 W, but the 25 W PD PPS unit is faster and more flexible. Wireless charging goes up to 15 W (Qi/PMA), and reverse wireless charging is available for accessories like Galaxy Buds. Wired reverse charging tops out around 9 W.
Cameras: Fewer Lenses, Little Real Compromise
The S20 is technically the “runt” of the family with three rear cameras instead of the Ultra’s full sensor zoo, but the actual imaging compromises are minimal unless you live for long‑range zoom.
Rear setup:
- 12 MP main, f/1.8, 1/1.76″ sensor with 1.8µm pixels, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS (Samsung S5K2LD)
- 12 MP ultrawide, f/2.2, 1.4µm pixels (Samsung S5K2LA)
- 64 MP camera, f/2.0, 1/1.72″ sensor with 0.8µm pixels and OIS (Samsung Bright S5KGW2)
The main 12 MP camera is classic Samsung flagship: detailed, low noise, Auto HDR that generally nails bright skies, and colors with a slight extra punch but short of cartoonish. Processing is on the sharper side but not out of control. In bright conditions, the S20’s main camera is effectively tied with the S20 Ultra and very close to the Note10.
Low‑light from the main camera is strong. Dynamic range stays wide, bright points rarely blow out, and noise is well suppressed. There’s a dedicated Night mode that can stretch exposure up to 15 seconds, with the phone dynamically deciding when to use it even in auto if you leave the option enabled. Compared to the Note10, the S20 pulls out a bit more detail, slightly less noise, and richer colors—subtle differences you mostly see at 100% zoom.
The 12 MP ultrawide is shared across the S20 trio. In daylight it’s solid rather than exceptional, with lower detail and dynamic range than the main camera but good color, decent distortion correction, and acceptable corner softness. It’s sharper and less noisy than the Note10’s ultrawide thanks to the larger 1.4µm pixels.
At night, the ultrawide is usable but soft with reduced contrast. Night mode helps a lot here—shots get sharper and colors more saturated, and the gap vs the Note10 becomes obvious. The S20 Ultra and S20 are effectively identical in ultrawide performance, which matches the identical hardware.
The controversial part is the 64 MP sensor. Samsung markets “3x hybrid optical zoom” but the actual focal length difference relative to the main camera is about 1.07x—optically, they’re nearly the same. Zoom is achieved via cropping and processing. In 64 MP still mode, daylight shots have high detail, slightly more noise than the 12 MP main and a bit tighter dynamic range, but they’re genuinely impressive.
Zoom behaviour:
- Up to 30x in standard photo mode
- Up to 10x in Night mode
- Usable quality up to around 4x for anything serious; up to 10x for social‑media‑only shots
- 30x is mainly for “can I read that sign across the street” rather than actual photography
Against the S20 Ultra’s 4x periscope, the S20’s 4x and especially 30x zoom output is obviously weaker. Against the Note10’s 2x telephoto, the S20 can sometimes pull more fine detail at 2x but with more visible noise.
Low‑light on the 64 MP sensor is possible but autofocus is slower and less reliable than the main camera’s Dual Pixel system. Night mode can’t be used directly with 64 MP unless you’re zoomed, and high‑zoom low‑light shots quickly turn into algorithmic guesswork.
On the front, you get a 10 MP selfie camera (Samsung S5K3J1) with an f/2.2 lens and autofocus. Selfies have good detail, strong dynamic range, and pleasant colors. Portrait separation is mostly fine but can misjudge backgrounds. The default view is oddly cropped; you can switch to a wider view, but the app won’t remember your preference.
Live Focus portrait mode works for both photos and video and offers multiple effects with adjustable intensity. The lack of a dedicated depth sensor means occasional subject‑edge errors, but with a bit of patience you can get convincing results.
Video and 8K: Versatile, but 4K Is the Sweet Spot
Video options on the S20 are extensive:
- 720p30, 1080p30/60, 4K30/60
- 8K 24 fps (7680 x 4320)
- 1:1 (1440 x 1440) and Full (2400 x 1080) aspect modes
By default, clips are encoded in AVC with AAC audio, with an optional HEVC toggle to save space. 4K footage at 30 fps runs around 38 Mbps; 4K60 jumps to roughly 69 Mbps. 1080p60 climbs from about 14 Mbps (1080p30) to ~21 Mbps.
The ultrawide supports 1080p and 4K but no 60 fps, which is typical for these sensors. Color and processing match the main camera well, though dynamic range is a bit narrower and corners are softer.
Zoom video up to 12x is handled by cropping from the 64 MP sensor while leveraging both OIS and EIS. As with stills, you’re capped at 30 fps from that camera. There’s no clean, official way to shoot non‑zoomed 4K from the 64 MP unit; you can only trick it by pinch‑zooming until the camera switches.
Super Steady video (Full HD only) has improved over previous generations, providing gimbal‑like stabilization with “floaty” motion. Unlike the Ultra, the S20 can use its main camera for the zoomed Super Steady view, preserving autofocus.
8K video is the PR headline. Frames are 33 MP each at 7680 x 4320, recorded at about 80 Mbps in HEVC. Compared to 4K30 HEVC at around 22 Mbps, the bitrate scaling roughly matches the pixel and frame rate increase, but it’s still on the lower side for true 8K purists.
In practice, 8K clips look a bit more detailed than 4K when downsampled, with slightly different dynamic range characteristics because they come from the 64 MP camera rather than the 12 MP main. The 24 fps cap gives footage a more cinematic motion profile, but on a phone screen or 1080p monitor the difference vs 4K is subtle. Playback and editing are also much heavier.
Low‑light video in 4K is generally clean and well‑balanced from the main camera. 8K at night shows more noise and more blown highlights from the 64 MP sensor but is still broadly usable. As with stills, heavy zoom at night quickly becomes more about the algorithm than the optics.
Software: From One UI 2.x to One UI 3.0 on Android 11
Out of the box, the S20 shipped with One UI 2.0/2.1, a refinement of Samsung’s earlier UI with larger touch targets and layouts optimized for tall screens. Gesture navigation supports both the Google‑style swipe‑from‑sides and Samsung’s older three‑zone bottom swipe layout, with the classic three‑button bar still an option for those who prefer it.
Multi‑window is more fiddly than on pre‑Pie builds, requiring extra taps through the recent‑apps menu instead of a long‑press on the multitasking key. Edge Panels survive with a minor design refresh, providing quick access to apps and tools from a side handle. Edge lighting can be used for notification alerts around the screen borders.
In December 2020, Samsung started rolling out the One UI 3.0 update based on Android 11 to the Galaxy S20 line. Snapdragon models on Verizon got it first, followed by Exynos S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra units in Europe, on both 4G and 5G variants. The firmware build is G98xxXXU5CTKG and includes the December 2020 security patches. The bootloader version is unchanged from the final Android 10 firmware, so experienced users can still manually downgrade if they really want to.
One UI 3.0 brings the Android 11 feature set plus Samsung’s own tweaks, but the underlying philosophy is the same: incremental refinement rather than radical redesign. The notification shade and quick settings see some layout tweaks, and Dark mode remains prominent. There’s also deeper Google Duo integration from the Phone app, Quick Share for Samsung‑to‑Samsung file transfer over Bluetooth discovery and Wi‑Fi Direct, and Music Share using Bluetooth 5 to share a connected speaker with other phones.
On the security side, you still get ultrasonic fingerprint plus face unlock. Face unlock is more convenient but less secure; the fingerprint hardware accuracy is the weak link in an otherwise flagship‑grade configuration.
For users who haven’t seen the OTA yet, the usual Settings > Software Update path applies. Power users can pull firmware directly from Samsung’s servers using tools like Frija or Samloader instead of waiting for staged rollouts.
Positioning and Value: The Sensible S20 With a Weird Resale Story
When it launched at about €900, the Galaxy S20 undercut the S20+ (around €1,000+) and the S20 Ultra (€1,300+) while matching them on most of the specs that actually affect everyday use. Same SoC class, same 120 Hz display tech, same IP68 rating, similar camera behavior short of long‑range zoom, same 25 W charging and wireless options.
Compared to the S20+, the real choice was size preference and 5G flavor instead of capability. If you weren’t rushing into 5G—especially mmWave—the 4G or Sub‑6‑only S20 made a lot of sense. Against the Ultra, unless you specifically wanted the periscope zoom and were okay paying for the marketing halo, the smaller S20 was simply the more rational pick.
The wider market story is more complicated. The S20 positioned itself as a “compact” Android flagship in a world where phones were inflating beyond 6.5 inches, and on paper its only real competitor was the iPhone 11 Pro: similar footprint, but different trade‑offs. The S20 offered the bigger and faster screen, bigger battery, faster and more flexible charging; the iPhone 11 Pro countered with stronger camera performance and better battery life.
Despite being a very balanced, fully‑loaded flagship at launch, the S20 has since dropped harder in second‑hand value than both the S10 and S21 in some markets. The combination of an “older” Exynos/Android base, a design that hasn’t aged as well visually as the S10 or S21 for some buyers, and the usual Android depreciation curve hasn’t helped its resale story.
On pure hardware and feature parity though, the Galaxy S20 was—and still is—a textbook case of how to make the standard model the smart buy instead of just a stripped‑down sibling.
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