Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Review

May 28, 2020 | Amy Davies | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra sits at the top of Samsung's line up of premium smartphone offerings, with the quality of the camera being central to the marketing of the device.

Three different lenses are found on the Samsung S20 Ultra. The 'main camera' features a 108 megapixel sensor, with a 25mm f/1.8 (equivalent) lens. Alongside this lens, there is a 13mm (equivalent) f/2.2 lens with a 12 megapixel sensor, plus a 103mm (equivalent) f/3.5 lens with a 48 megapixel sensor. This lens uses folded optics with a periscope to achieve its focal length.

Although the telephoto lens represents just over a 4x optical zoom, there's also a 10x 'hybrid optic' zoom, which combines digital with optical zoom, as well as the even more impressive-sounding 'space zoom', which promises to deliver 100x zooming capability.

On the front of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is a 40 megapixel selfie camera. Other interesting features include a 6.9-inch AMOLED screen, 5G connectivity, a 5000 mAh battery and an inbuilt memory of either 128GB or 512GB.

The Samsung S20 Ultra is by no means a cheap device. At the time of writing, it retails for around £1,199 for the 128GB version. This puts it in direct competition with the likes of the iPhone 11 Pro, but is certainly expensive by most Android standards.

Ease of Use

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Front of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

The first thing you're likely to notice about the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is its very large size. With a 6.9-inch screen, it is Samsung's largest phone - some may field it unwieldy. It's certainly true that this is a very difficult device to use with just one hand. On the positive side, the AMOLED display itself is stunning, taking up the entirety of the device front, save for a very small cutout for the front-facing camera.

Naturally, being so large, it's also a great device for showcasing your images and videos in the best possible way, as well as making some apps a joy to use.

The camera unit, housed on the back of the phone, sticks out from the main part of the device. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is available in either 'Cosmic Black' or 'Cosmic Grey'. We've been using the Cosmic Black version, which is incredibly sleek and shiny.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Rear of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

You can launch the native camera app by swiping upwards from the bottom right hand corner of the lock screen. As we've seen with previous Samsung devices, the native camera app is very well equipped, giving you lots of shooting options to work with. By default, it will launch in the standard 'Photo' mode, which you'll probably find you want to use for the majority of your shots.

At the bottom of the display, you'll see your zooming options, for moving between the different lenses the Samsung S20 Ultra offers. They are represented by tree icons, with three trees for the widest angle lens, two trees for the standard lens, and a single tree for the zoom lens. You can also zoom in and out by pinching to zoom on the scene. When you do this, you'll see a number of quick options to jump to various settings, including 0.5x, 1.0x, 2.0x, 4.0x, 10x, 30x and 100x. If you want to zoom to a setting outside of these quick options, simply pinch in or out to achieve the desired setting.

You'll also see displayed the option to switch on or off the automatic scene optimiser. This uses artificial intelligence to judge the scene in front of it to make adjustments as necessary.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Photo Mode

A number of other options are displayed at the top of the screen. A cog icon can be tapped to access a main menu to make more extensive changes, including changing the video size and resolution. There's also a flash icon (with options here being flash off, flash on, or flash automatic, for the phone to decide if it needs to activate a flash), a timer option, a ratio option (which includes the option to turn on 108MP shooting), a motion photo option (whereby the phone will record a short video clip with a still) and a magic wand icon which you can use to add filters to your images.

The option to shoot at 108MP is included because, by default, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra outputs images at 12MP. If you attempt to photograph something with a lot of detail, you may see a notification pop on screen asking if you'd like to switch to 108MP mode, which can be very useful for shooting scenes which would benefit from a lot of fine detail.

When you're ready to take a shot, you can either press the virtual shutter button displayed on the screen, or you can press the volume up and down physical button. If the phone detects possible blur or camera shake, a message will be displayed suggesting you might want to take the photo again. A similar message will also be displayed if the phone detects something has covered the lens.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Front of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

Along the bottom of the screen, you'll see a number of other shooting mode options which you can choose from. To the left of Photo Mode is 'Single Take'. This is quite a fun mode which takes a number of different shots and video with different crops, effects and filters applied to it. It can be quite a fun way to shoot a subject when you want to try something creative.

To the right of Photo mode, there's Video, which is fairly self-explanatory, and 'More', where you'll find a range of different shooting options, including Night (for low light shooting), Live Focus (a mode which gives a shallow depth of field effect) and 'Food'. Most interesting to advanced photographers is the 'Pro' mode.

The Pro mode is something we've seen before on other Samsung models. With it you can control ISO, shutter speed, autofocus mode (or use manual focus), white balance and exposure compensation. You can also make adjustments to settings such as Temperature, Contrast and Highlights. Frustratingly, you can only use the main/standard lens with Pro mode, and you can't use the ultra wide angle or the telephoto lens. You can pinch to zoom on the screen, but this activates only a digital zoom, which produces significantly lower-quality results. On a more positive note, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra can record raw format images, which will be good news for those who like to edit their shots in software such as Photoshop.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Front of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

To go back to the Video Mode, here you've got a fairly simple set up. You can change the aspect ratio and quickly switch on 8K recording from the top of the screen, as well as turning on image stabilisation (it won't work with all resolutions, such a 8K). A good advantage of shooting in 8K is that you can extract stills after shooting - this is helpful when you want to photograph a moving subject and think you might otherwise miss the shot. In order to extract the still, you need to play back the video, and press the 'capture' icon.

Night mode on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is something that will automatically activate if you're shooting in the standard 'Photo' mode, but you can also switch it on from the 'More' section. In this mode, the phone will automatically decide how long it needs to shoot for, depending on how dark it is. It will take a number of short exposures over the given period and blend them all together to create the effect of a longer exposure.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the12 megapixel JPEG setting, which produces an average image size of around 6Mb.

On the whole, image quality from the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is excellent, particularly if you don't examine the resulting images too closely on a computer screen. The AMOLED display of the S20 Ultra displays them beautifully and you should be more than pleased with the output for Instagram and the like.

You can feel satisfied that the general 'Photo' model is a good choice for most types of shots. It delivers bright and punchy images with vibrant colours that aren't generally over the top. You might find that colours can be a little excessively bright with the scene optimiser turned off, but that is largely due to personal preference - if you do find it going a little overboard, you can always switch it off.

Overall, images from the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra are well-balanced, with a good degree of dynamic range. The automatic white balance setting works very well too, producing accurate colours almost all of the time. The automatic settings are so good, that you might feel it unnecessary to switch to Pro mode.

Detail is rendered pretty well at the native resolution output at 12 megapixels, but it's worth switching to the 108MP setting if you're photographing something with fine detail. Otherwise, it's fine to leave it at this native setting for the majority of shooting scenarios.

Another factor which has been heavily marketed is the addition is the zoom capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. The 'optical' zoom provided by the telephoto zoom is flexible enough for many distant subjects, but of course the real selling point is both the 10x 'hybrid' optic zoom and the '100x space zoom'.

The former is a great option if you need to get closer to your subject, but it's safe to say that the latter works better as a marketing gimmick than as something you'll want to use with any frequency. While technically you can 'zoom' up to 100x, the resulting images are severely lacking in detail and it's hard to find any real practical use for these images - beyond showing off that your phone can do it in the first place.

Noise

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has seven sensitivity settings at full resolution. Here are some 100% crops for both JPEG and RAW file formats.

JPEG RAW

ISO 50 (100% Crop)

ISO 50 (100% Crop)

iso100.jpg iso100.jpg

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

iso100.jpg iso100.jpg

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

iso200.jpg iso200.jpg

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

iso400.jpg iso400.jpg

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

iso800.jpg iso800.jpg

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

iso1600.jpg iso1600.jpg

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

iso1600.jpg iso1600.jpg

Focal Range

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra offers a number of focal lengths running from 13mm Super-wide to 100x Space Zoom.

Super-wide

flash_on.jpg

Standard

flash_redeye.jpg

Telephoto

flash_on.jpg

Hybrid Optic

flash_redeye.jpg

30x Zoom

flash_redeye.jpg

100x Space Zoom

flash_redeye.jpg

Macro

The closest focusing distance of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is 10cms.

macro.jpg

Flash

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra's flash only has two modes: On and Off.

Flash Off

flash_on.jpg

Flash On

flash_redeye.jpg

Flash Off

flash_on.jpg

Flash On

flash_redeye.jpg

Night

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's a dedicated Night shooting mode.

night.jpg

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Samsung RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative)."

Sample Movies & Video

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 7680x4320 pixels at 24 frames per second. Please note that this 17 second movie is 162Mb in size.

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 3840x2160 pixels at 60 frames per second. Please note that this 17 second movie is 140Mb in size.

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 3840x2160 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 17 second movie is 78.8Mb in size.

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 60 frames per second. Please note that this 16 second movie is 43.2Mb in size.

Product Images

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

Conclusion

Just like other Samsung devices, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is very impressive, but you pay a premium price for it.

Overall, image quality is fantastic and certainly stands up there as some of the best available from a smartphone currently on the market. The zoom capability is very impressive - and although the 'space zoom' doesn't quite deliver when it comes to crystal clear imagery, it's still a neat trick that might be useful for social media sharing and the like. The 10x 'hybrid optic' zoom genuinely is very good, which should come in handy for most ordinary situations.

Using the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra phone has its benefits and drawbacks. While the 6.9-inch AMOLED screen is stunning to look at - and it beautifully displays your photos and videos - it makes using the phone with one hand awkward. Whether that's something that will bother you is likely down to individual taste.

The native camera app is very well featured, and certainly offers more flexibility than the iPhone 11 series will give you. The Pro mode is great for those who are a little more advanced, but it's a shame not to be able to use the different focal lengths with it.

That said, the standard 'Photo' mode tends to do such a good job, that you might find that you rarely feel the need to delve into the Pro mode anyway.

Big, bold marketing claims about the 108 megapixel sensor, 8K video recording and 100x 'space zoom' may draw you in to look at the Samsung S20 Ultra and perhaps even convince you to choose it over others. While it's clear that the claims made in the high-profile advertisements you might have seen aren't quite as strong as they might have you believe, the S20 Ultra is still one of the best phones you can pick up today if the quality of the onboard camera is your main priority.

The price is, of course, likely to be a big sticking point for many. At over £1100 for even the most basic version of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, that is asking a lot for Android fans who perhaps aren't quite so accustomed to paying Apple prices as lovers of their big rival are.

4 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4
Features 4.5
Ease-of-use 4.5
Image quality 4
Value for money 3.5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro

Another year, another new flagship phone from Apple, this time introducing a new triple camera system, night mode and improved battery life. Is the iPhone 11 Pro the best smartphone that Apple have ever released, and can it beat the Android competition? Read our iPhone 11 Pro review to find out, complete with full-size sample images and videos.

Google Pixel 4

The Pixel 4 is Google's new flagship smartphone, available in standard and XL sizes. New for this generation is a second 16-megapixel 2x telephoto lens with an f/2.4 aperture, along with improved portrait and night modes. Is this the best Pixel phone for keen photographers, and can it compete with its main rivals? Find out now by reading our Pixel 4 review, with full-size sample images and videos...

Honor 20

Want a great smartphone with a triple-camera setup that doesn't cost the earth? Then you may be interested in the Honor 20, a new mid-range 48 megapixel device with a 6.26” full HD screen, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage. Read our Honor 20 review to find out what this new smartphone has to offer keen photographers...

Honor View 20

The Honor View 20 is a mid-range smartphone with flagship specs and performance, with a 48 megapixel sensor, a “hole punch” to house the front-facing camera, and dedicated Night, Portrait and Pro shooting modes aimed at photographers. Is this all the smartphone that you really need? Find out now by reading our in-depth Honor View 20 review, complete with full-size sample images and videos.

OnePlus 7 Pro

The OnePlus 7 Pro is the biggest and most expensive flagship smartphone that OnePlus has ever released. With a 48-megapixel triple-camera setup, 4K/60p video recording, Nightscape and Pro shooting modes and the ability to shoot in Raw, is it also the best ever OnePlus phone? Find out now by reading our in-depth OnePlus 7 Pro review...

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom

Do you want a smartphone with a big zoom lens? Then look no further than the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom, which offers a 6x optical zoom and a 10x hybrid zoom lens to provide an effective focal range of 16-160mm - not too shabby for a smartphone! It also has a unique selfie pop-up camera, 48 megapixel 1/2-inch sensor, 4065mAh battery, 128GB or 256GB memory, 4K video recording and USB-C charging, all at a mid-range price. Read our Oppo Reno 10x Zoom review to find out just what the biggest smartphone manufacturer in China is capable of...

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

The Galaxy S10 Plus is the best smartphone that Samsung have ever made, but is it also the best for keen photographers? Find out now by reading our expert Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus review, complete with full-size sample images and videos...

Sony Xperia 1

The Xperia 1 is the first ever Sony smartphone to borrow technology from the company's successful Alpha range of mirrorless cameras, including the very popular Eye AF feature and the latest Bionz X processor. Could this be the ultimate smartphone for photographers? Find out now by reading our in-depth Sony Xperia 1 review, complete with full-size sample images and videos...

Sony Xperia XZ3

The Sony Xperia XZ3 is a flagship smartphone with a 19 megapixel camera, 4K HDR Movie recording, 960fps Super slow motion in Full HD, and AI predictive capture.Are there enough features and performance to tempt keen photographers? Find out now by reading our in-depth Sony Xperia XZ3 review, complete with full-size sample images and videos...

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra from around the web.

techradar.com »

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra goes big in every way imaginable, with 108MP photos, a 100x camera zoom, 40MP selfies, and a 6.9-inch 120Hz display. With over-the-top internal specs on a par with some laptops, you'll pay more for this phone than any non-foldable phone before it, but that's not surprising.
Read the full review »

tomsguide.com »

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra delivers astonishing zoom, 5G and serious performance — but even at $1,400, it's far from perfect.
Read the full review »

androidauthority.com »

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G is ultra-everything. It offers every possible feature anyone could want in a phone and more. While the device boasts an impressive display, rapid performance, and powerful cameras, the price tag is so high that the phone is unaffordable to many. If you want the ultra-mate phone, you'll pay the ultra-mate price.
Read the full review »

Specifications

Processor

  • CPU Speed 2.73GHz, 2.5GHz, 2GHz
  • CPU Type Octa-Core

Display

  • Size (Main_Display) 174.4mm (6.9" full rectangle) / 170.2mm (6.7" rounded corners)
  • Resolution (Main Display) 3200 x 1440 (Quad HD+)
  • Technology (Main Display) Dynamic AMOLED 2X
  • Color Depth (Main Display) 16M

Camera

  • Rear Camera - Resolution (Multiple) 108.0 MP + 12.0 MP + 48.0 MP + VGA
  • Rear Camera - F Number (Multiple) F1.8 , F2.2 , F3.5 , F1.0
  • Rear Camera - Auto Focus Yes
  • Rear Camera - OIS Yes
  • Rear Camera - Zoom Hybrid Optic Zoom at 10x , Digital Zoom up to 100x
  • Front Camera - Resolution 40.0 MP
  • Front Camera - F Number F2.2
  • Front Camera - Auto Focus Yes
  • Rear Camera - Flash Yes
  • Video Recording Resolution UHD 8K (7680 x 4320)@24fps
  • Slow Motion 960fps @HD, 240fps @FHD

Memory

  • RAM_Size (GB) 12
  • ROM Size (GB) 128
  • Available Memory Size (GB)* 104.0
  • External Memory Support MicroSD (Up to 1TB)

Network/Bearer

  • Number of SIM Dual-SIM
  • SIM size Nano-SIM (4FF), Embedded-SIM
  • SIM Slot Type SIM 1 + Hybrid (SIM or MicroSD) or Embedded SIM
  • Infra 2G GSM, 3G WCDMA, 4G LTE FDD, 4G LTE TDD, 5G Sub6 FDD, 5G Sub6 TDD
  • 2G GSM GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900
  • 3G UMTS B1(2100), B2(1900), B4(AWS), B5(850), B8(900)
  • 4G FDD LTE B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B13(700), B17(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B25(1900), B26(850), B28(700), B32(1500), B66(AWS-3)
  • 4G TDD LTE B38(2600), B39(1900), B40(2300), B41(2500)
  • 5G FDD Sub6 N1(2100), N3(1800), N5(850), N7(2600), N8(900), N28(700)
  • 5G TDD Sub6 N40(2300), N77(3700), N78(3500)

Connectivity

  • ANT+ Yes
  • USB Interface USB Type-C
  • USB Version USB 3.2 Gen 1
  • Location Technology GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo
  • Earjack USB Type-C
  • MHL No
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4G+5GHz, HE80, MIMO, 1024-QAM
  • Wi-Fi Direct Yes
  • Bluetooth Version Bluetooth v5.0
  • NFC Yes
  • PC Sync. Smart Switch (PC version)

OS

  • Android

General Information

  • Form Factor Touchscreen Bar

Sensors

  • Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, RGB Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor

Physical specification

  • Dimension (HxWxD, mm) 166.9 x 76.0 x 8.8
  • Weight (g) 220

Battery

  • Internet Usage Time(LTE) (Hours) Up to 17
  • Internet Usage Time(Wi-Fi) (Hours) Up to 18
  • Battery Capacity (mAh, Typical) 5000
  • Removable No
  • Talk Time (4G LTE) (Hours) Up to 25

Audio and Video

  • Stereo Support Yes
  • Video Playing Format MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
  • Video Playing Resolution UHD 8K (7680 x 4320)@30fps
  • Audio Playing Format MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, DFF, DSF, APE

Services and Applications

  • Gear Support Galaxy Buds, Galaxy Fit, Galaxy Fit e, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active, Galaxy Watch Active2, Gear Fit, Gear Fit2, Gear Fit2 Pro, Gear Sport, Gear1, Gear2, Gear2 Neo, Gear S, Gear S2, Gear S3, Gear IconX, Gear IconX (2018), Gear 360, Gear 360 (2017)
  • Samsung DeX Support Yes
  • S-Voice No
  • Mobile TV No

News

The Galaxy S20 is Samsung’s first, full 5G flagship lineup, featuring unprecedented 5G and AI camera technologies.

The S20 Ultra has a 108MP camera, with the option to shift dynamically between a high resolution 108MP mode and a 12MP mode which combines nine pixels into one at the sensor level. It also has a 10x zoom lens and provides Super Resolution Zoom up to 100X using AI powered, multi-image processing to reduce quality loss at high zoom levels. The Galaxy S20 series also offers stunning 8K video shooting.

Samsung Press Release

The Samsung Galaxy S20 series is Samsung’s first, full 5G flagship lineup, featuring unprecedented 5G and AI camera technologies, built for the future of communications

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Samsung Galaxy S20, a new series of flagship devices that fundamentally change the way we capture and experience our world. The Galaxy S20 series introduces a brand-new camera architecture that combines AI with Samsung’s largest image sensor yet for stunning image quality. Along with the camera, the Galaxy S20 makes the experience of everything we love to do with our phones, easier and better—enjoy personalized music for every moment of the day, watch videos the way they are meant to be seen and play console-style games on-the-go.

“As we enter this new decade, 5G will completely change how we communicate and how we experience the world around us,” said Dr. TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. “As all three Galaxy S20 variants come with 5G connectivity, Samsung is providing a next-generation device for transforming people’s lives. With an incredible, AI powered camera, you can capture the moments as they happen and connect more seamlessly with the people you love.”

Shaping the Future of Communication

With 5G, a new decade of mobile innovation is beginning. And to harness this new generation of connectivity, every device in the Galaxy S20 series—the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra—comes equipped with the latest 5G technology.1 The Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra are the first devices able to power new mobile experiences that take advantage of both sub-6 and mmWave. The Galaxy S20 supports sub-6.2 All three devices are capable of delivering non-standalone and standalone 5G capabilities.

Changing How We Capture

Now, more than ever, we capture our lives and tell our stories through our smartphones—and that is why the camera is the single-most important feature for consumers purchasing a new smartphone. Designed for the way we live, the Galaxy S20 introduces an entirely new camera system—powered by AI and with our biggest image sensor yet—to bring out the best in every image and every moment.

Details in Stunning Clarity: With a larger image sensor available on the Galaxy S20 series, camera resolution is significantly increased, for more detailed images with added flexibility for editing, cropping, and zooming. S20 and S20+ have a 64MP camera. S20 Ultra has 108MP camera. Another benefit is that the larger sensors take in more light, so you get rich image quality even in low light situations. The S20 Ultra takes things a step further with the option to shift dynamically between a high resolution 108MP mode and a 12MP mode, thanks to nona-binning technology which combines nine pixels into one at the sensor level.

Groundbreaking Zoom Capability: With the Galaxy S20’s Space Zoom technology that uses a combination of Hybrid Optic Zoom and Super Resolution Zoom, which includes AI-powered digital zoom, even when you are far away you can zoom in close. Use up to 30X zoom on the Galaxy S20 and S20+, or step-up to the revolutionary folded lenses on the S20 Ultra, which uses AI powered, multi-image processing to reduce quality loss at high zoom levels so that users can experience Super Resolution Zoom up to 100X with a clearer view ever than before.

Single Take, Multiple Possibilities: Single Take lets you stay in the moment, while you capture the moment. Thanks to its AI camera technologies, the Galaxy S20 can capture a number of photos and videos, such as Live focus, cropped, Ultra Wide and more that captures your moment the best.

Pro-Grade Filming Capability: The Galaxy S20 offers stunning 8K video shooting, so users can capture their world in true-to-life color and quality. When you are done shooting, stream your video to a Samsung QLED 8K and enjoy its best-in-class viewing experience3 or grab a still from an 8K video and turn it into a high-res photo. And, even the bumpiest videos look like they were shot using an action cam, thanks to Super Steady and its anti-rolling stabilization and AI motion analysis.

Do What You Love, Better

The Galaxy makes the experience of everything we love to do on our phone, easier and better. With new features and impactful partnerships, inspired by open collaboration, the Galaxy S20 is built for how we use our phones today.

Music: Whether you are just waking up, or heading to the gym, enjoy a personalized soundtrack based around your routine, thanks to a new integration between Spotify and Bixby Routines. With Music Share, extend your paired Bluetooth connection to a car stereo or speaker via your device, so you and your friend can take turns DJ-ing during a road trip.4

Exceptional Video Chat on Google Duo: Video chat more easily with all of the most important people in your life on the Galaxy S20. With 5G, the Galaxy S20 enhances the video chatting experience through a deep integration with Google Duo, bringing new Duo features first to Galaxy S20. Now, from the dialer, you can tap Duo to start a video call and enjoy, for the first time ever, FHD quality. Google Duo is compatible across operating systems, so you are not limited in who you can video chat with. Fit the entire family in the frame, using the wide lens; and talk to up to 8 friends, at once.

YouTube on 5G: Share your 8K videos with the world faster and better. Samsung partnered with YouTube so you can upload your 8K videos directly to YouTube—and with integrated 5G capabilities, experience ultra-fast upload speeds.5

Entertainment: Taking advantage of the Galaxy S20’s pro-grade camera, Netflix and Samsung are working together to put the Galaxy S20 in the hands of renowned directors to capture bonus content based on popular Netflix Originals. Users can also discover Netflix’s best-in-class content through an improved integration with Galaxy devices, enabling ease of content discovery and accessibility via Samsung Daily, Bixby, and Finder.6

Gaming: The Galaxy S20 series takes mobile gaming to the next level. With a 120Hz display, you’ll have the ability to experience incredibly smooth gaming. Later this spring, Samsung partner, Microsoft, will launch its popular Forza Street in the Galaxy Store, marking the first time the game is coming to mobile. Combined with a fast processor, 12GB of RAM7, audio tuned by AKG and a game booster working in the background to optimize settings for peak performance, the Galaxy S20 offers a powerful gaming experience.

Experience Endless Possibilities  

As our latest flagship device, the Galaxy S20 series features the premium technologies that Galaxy fans have come to know and expect. The most secure device Samsung has ever made, the Galaxy S20 is protected by Knox—the industry-leading mobile security platform that protects the device from the chip level through to the software level. The Galaxy S20 also features a new, secure processor which protects against hardware-based attacks.

Powered by a big, intelligent battery, the Galaxy S20 series comes with a 25W fast charger, while the S20 Ultra supports 45W Super Fast charging as well.8 The entire series is equipped with massive storage as standard (128GB for S20; 128GB, 256GB and 512GB for Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra).9

With Galaxy S20, you can also experience Samsung’s cleanest, simplest, most intuitive interface yet with One UI 2. You can also use the Galaxy S20 to control your smart home with SmartThings, achieve your health and wellness goals with Samsung Health, pay on the go with Samsung Pay, and more.10

Galaxy Buds+

And with Samsung Galaxy Buds+, you can immerse yourself in your favorite music and podcasts. Sound by AKG, Buds+ feature 2-way speakers; 3 mics for unparalleled sound and voice quality; and an incredibly long battery life—up to 11 hours from Buds+ and an extra 11 hours in the case.11 Buds+ app, ‘Galaxy Buds+’, is now iOS compatible, so you can enjoy a great audio experience no matter which device you use.12 And with the Spotify partnership, listen to the tunes and podcasts you love more easily by hitting play with a single press.13

Galaxy S20 Availability

Starting on March 6, 2020, the Galaxy S20 series will be available in various, classic colors.

Galaxy S20: Cosmic Grey, Cloud Blue, Cloud Pink

Galaxy S20+: Cosmic Grey, Cloud Blue, Cosmic Black

Galaxy S20 Ultra: Cosmic Grey, Cosmic Black


Samsung’s 108Mp ISOCELL Bright HM1 Delivers Brighter Ultra-High-Res Images with Industry-First Nonacell Technology

Enhanced pixel-binning technology, Nonacell, features 3x3 pixel structure for maximum light absorption

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today introduced its next-generation 108-megapixel (Mp) image sensor, Samsung ISOCELL Bright HM1. With a spectrum of light-enhancing technologies spanning from Nonacell and Smart-ISO to real-time HDR, ISOCELL Bright HM1 allows brighter and more detailed 108Mp photographs and crystal-clear 8K videos at 24 frames per second (fps), even under extreme lighting conditions.

“To capture meaningful moments in our lives, Samsung has been driving innovations in pixel and logic technologies that enable ISOCELL image sensors to take astounding photographs even when lighting conditions aren’t ideal,” said Yongin Park, executive vice president of the sensor business at Samsung Electronics. “By adopting Nonacell and Smart-ISO technologies, the 108Mp ISOCELL Bright HM1 helps take vivid high-resolution pictures across a wide range of lighting environments.”

At a 1/1.33” scale with 108-million 0.8μm pixels, the ISOCELL Bright HM1 features the industry’s first state-of-the-art Nonacell technology, which delivers brighter images in low-light settings. In 2017, Samsung introduced Tetracell, a pixel-binning technology with a special two-by-two array that merges four neighboring pixels to work as a single large pixel. Nonacell is an enhanced version of Tetracell with a three-by-three pixel structure. In the HM1, Nonacell merges nine neighboring 0.8μm pixels to mimic a large 2.4μm pixel, more than doubling Tetracell’s light absorption.

As the number of adjoined cells increase, so does color interference, making pixel-binning technologies more challenging, While such difficulties had limited Nonacell to a theory, the HM1 was able to realize the method by adopting Samsung’s ISOCELL Plus technology, which dramatically reduces crosstalk and minimizes optical loss as well as light reflection.

For ultimate results under any lighting condition, the HM1 supplements Nonacell with several other advanced pixel technologies. For example, the HM1’s Smart-ISO technology produces vivid and vibrant images by intelligently selecting the optimal ISO. High ISOs are used in darker settings while low ISOs are better for brighter environments to control light saturation.

In challenging mixed-light environments for photo-taking, the HM1’s real-time HDR technology optimizes exposures, producing more natural looking videos and still photographs. By assigning the most appropriate exposure lengths to each pixel, the HM1 is able to capture scenes in multiple exposures simultaneously, generating HDR images in real-time for both preview and capture modes. For sharper results, the HM1 supports a gyro-based electronic image stabilization (EIS) and Super-PD, an advanced phase detection technology for fast and accurate auto-focus.

The HM1 allows users to preview and capture full shots and close-ups of the subject at up to 3x lossless zoom, preserving the quality of the image. This is made possible by the sensor directly converting the pixels using an embedded hardware IP, rather than having the task delegated to the mobile processor. With 108-million pixels, the sensor is also able to produce images up to 3x zoom at a 12Mp resolution without upscaling.

Samsung ISOCELL Bright HM1 is currently in mass production.

* Samsung first announced its ISOCELL technology in 2013, which reduces color crosstalk between pixels by placing a physical barrier, allowing small-sized pixels to achieve higher color fidelity. Based on this technology, Samsung introduced the industry’s first 1.0um-pixel image sensor in 2015 and a 0.9-pixel sensor in 2017. In June 2018, Samsung introduced an upgraded pixel isolation technology, the ISOCELL Plus.

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