New Samsung phone: Everything we know about the Galaxy S20 so far - including release date and specs

Samsung could have five new S20 phones up its sleeve for this year 
The update to 2019's Samsung S10 range (pictured here) is right around the corner
Samsung
Amelia Heathman5 February 2020

Ready for a new smartphone? Samsung has confirmed that a new Galaxy phone is on its way with a new name and new specs that promise to blow last year’s S10 range out of the water.

From 5G capabilities to the camera power on the new devices, here is everything we know so far about the Galaxy S20 phones.

What’s new with the Samsung Galaxy S20 range?

From the rumours released so far, the new Samsung phone range is a big departure from what has come before.

For starters, Samsung has decided to do an Apple and ditch its standard numerical naming. It was expected that this year the company would release the Samsung S11 range, however, it has decided to jump forward to naming the new phone S20.

It also plans to release a lot more devices. It looks like there could be five phones in the new S20 range: the S20, S20 5G, S20+, S20+ 5G and S20 Ultra 5G.

This is a signal that Samsung is dedicated to releasing more 5G phones this year. Last year, the company released five 5G phones, selling 6.7 million versions of these devices throughout 2019, from the affordable Galaxy A90 5G (£629, Samsung.com/uk) up to the expensive, and futuristic, Samsung Galaxy Fold 5G (£1,900, Samsung.com/uk).

With three 5G phones expected to be unveiled in the new phone range, it looks like 2020 is going to be an even bigger year for 5G.

Samsung Galaxy S20 release date:

Samsung has already sent out invitations for its new phone launch which will take place on February 11 in San Francisco, kicking off at 11am PST, which is 7pm UK time.

Last year’s S10 launch took place on February 20 with the new phones available to buy on March 8.

We would normally assume that the new devices will be available to buy either at the end of February or the first week of March. However, in the leaks regarding the tech giant's new folding phone, thought to be the Galaxy Z Flip, WinFuture has it that the new device could be on sale as early as February 14.

So you could have your hands on a shiny new Samsung phone by the end of next week.

Leaked images of how the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip folding phone will look, courtesy of Evan Blass
Evan Blass / @evleaks

Samsung Galaxy S20 design:

It looks like there will be punch-hole in the centre of the phone to house the selfie camera, similar to the Note 10 range from last year but smaller and less intrusive on the screen.

On the back of the phone, there looks to be a big rectangular camera module to house all the different lenses – according to leaked images from XDA Developers, there will be four cameras on the S20+ phone, along with a flash lens and maybe a time of flight sensor which is handy for portrait photography.

Leaked renders of how the new Samsung Galaxy S20 phone will look with a punchhole selfie camera on the front and quad camera block on the back (OnLeaks x CashKaro )
OnLeaks x CashKaro

Another change to the design is that Samsung is moving away from the curved screens found on the S range in favour of a flat screen, like the one it debuted on the cheaper Note 10 Lite at CES last week. This is an interesting move by Samsung and we’ll have to wait to see if this comes to fruition in February.

In terms of size, the S20 is expected to have a 6.2-inch screen; the S20+ will have a 6.7-inch screen, whilst the S20+ Ultra will be 6.9-inches. Good luck trying to fit that in your jeans pocket.

Samsung Galaxy S20 camera:

It looks like the S20 range will be sporting a massive quad camera set up on the back of the phone. According to notable phone leaker Ice Universe, there will be an ultra-wide-angle lens, a main camera lens, and a periscope zoom lens, alongside the flash and time of flight sensor.

In particular, Samsung could debut a new night photography feature called Bright Night, which will improve the types of images you can take in low light.

For the higher-spec S20 Ultra, rumours point to the phone being able to record video in 8K which would be seriously impressive.

It’ll be interesting to see how the new selfie camera matches up, given that the S10+ and S10 5G both had dual selfie cameras on the front of the device, but Samsung may have knocked this down to only one for the S20 range.

Samsung Galaxy S20 specs:

Specs-wise, the new S20 range is expected to run Samsung’s new Exynos 990 chipset, which promises efficiency and performance gains of up to 20 per cent more than last year’s chip.

The tech in the chip will allow the new phone displays to have a 120Hz refresh rate – this means the screen will refresh 120 frames per second, which makes watching videos and gaming a whole lot more fun. OnePlus is reportedly working on 120Hz refresh tech too, following the 90Hz display that debuted on last year’s 7 Pro.

A recent leak points to all the Samsung Galaxy S20 phones sporting a smooth 12GB of RAM, whilst the S20 Ultra 5G, the highest spec phone in the range, could even have 16GB of RAM – way more than even most laptops and computers. It might seem rather unnecessary to have such powerful memory on a smartphone but if Samsung wants to retain its crown as the top smartphone maker in the world then blockbuster features like this will be necessary.

One thing we’re hoping for is that the S20 range will receive some battery upgrades too, given that we loved last years’ S10+ but found the battery to be rather lacking. Some rumours point to the S20+ rocking a 4,500 mAh, the same as the Note 10+, whilst the Ultra 5G could have a 5,000 mAh battery along with fast charging to boost it from 0 to 100 per cent in just over an hour.

Samsung Galaxy S20 price:

The Galaxy S range is often more affordable than the Note range but given all the improvements that appear to be coming to the Samsung S20 phones, we may see the prices hiked up as a result.

Last year, prices for the S10 and S10+ phones started at £799 and £899 respectively. It’s likely the S20 will also cost £799 as the starting price, however, don’t be surprised if the new phones do end up more expensive than last year.

What else is Samsung going to launch?

It's almost certain that Samsung will be unveiling its new folding phone, named the Galaxy Z Flip, next week. This is a departure from last year's Galaxy Fold as it sports a clamshell device, similar to an old-school flip phone and not unlike the re-launched Motorola Razr which debuted at the end of last year.

In addition, there should also be a new pair of the company's wireless earbuds, named the Galaxy Buds+, next week. Reports point to Samsung leaking the earbuds themselves via the App Store.

The new earbuds are going to be slightly bigger than last year's version, offering 60 minutes of playtime with only three minutes of charge, more microphones and multi-device connection. Those looking forward to noise-cancelling will be sadly disappointed, however.

The new Samsung S20 phones will come with free earbuds as they did last year.

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