Samsung has unveiled its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S20, at simultaneous events in London and San Francisco today.
The new handset, which was heavily leaked ahead of the launch, comes in three models – the 6.2-inch Galaxy S20, the 6.7-inch S20+ and the 6.9-inch S20 Ultra.
All three have 5G support and come with Samsung’s Infinity-O display, which covers the entire face of the phone, with exceptionally thin bezels around the edge.
The distinctive ‘hole punch’ selfie camera, which debuted on the Galaxy S10 last year, has shrunk and moved from the top right corner to the centre of the display.
It has a 10-Megapixel wide-angle lens, so you can fit more people in the frame, and comes with native integration of Google’s video chat app, Duo.
Pre-orders start on February 21 and customers will be able to get their hands on an S20 starting March 6. Prices start at $999 (€914) for the standard S20 and go up incrementally with the S20+ costing $1,199 (€1,097), and the S20 Ultra debuting at $1,399 (€1,280).
All three Galaxy S20 models come with Samsung’s Infinity-O display, which covers the entire face of the phone with exceptionally thin bezels around the edge
A large rectangular module on the back of the phone houses the Galaxy S20’s ‘pro-grade’ rear camera
But the Galaxy S20’s stand-out feature is its ‘pro-grade’ rear camera, housed in a large rectangular module on the back of the phone.
The standard S20 has a triple rear camera with one 12MP wide lens, one 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 64MP telephoto lens.
The S20+ comes with the same array of lenses with the addition of Samsung’s ‘DepthVision’ Time of Flight camera, which can judge depth and distance and be used to create bokeh-effect pictures, where the subject is in focus and the background blurred.
Meanwhile, the S20 Ultra has a whopping 108MP wide lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 48MP telephoto lens, as well as a DepthVision sensor.
All three models come with ‘Space Zoom’ – a combination of an optical zoom and an AI-powered digital zoom.
This allows you to zoom in up to 30x in the case of the S20 and S20+, and up to 100x in the case of the S20 Ultra, and crop photos while maintaining picture quality.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra can zoom in up to 100x using a combined optical zoom and an AI-powered digital zoom
The Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra come with Samsung’s ‘DepthVision’ Time of Flight camera, which can judge depth and distance
‘We want to make sure that consumers can capture content and really feel part of the action,’ said Mark Holloway, Head of Smartphone Product Operations at Samsung.
‘So if you’re sat at the back a football stadium, you can still capture what’s going on on the pitch and share it with your friends.’
The rear camera is also capable of recording video in 8K quality, which can be uploaded to YouTube in full resolution or converted to 4K, Full-HD or HD for sharing.
The S20 range comes with an array of software features designed to help you take better pictures including ‘Pro Mode’, which lets you tweak aperture, focus and exposure settings, ‘Super Steady’, which stabilises video footage, and ‘Night Hyperlapse’, which lets you take hyperlapse videos in low-light conditions.
There’s also a new feature called Single Take, which lets you record images from all the cameras on the back of the device simultaneously, so you can flick between different views and choose the best shot.
The Galaxy S20 comes in ‘cosmic grey’ (left) as well as an assortment of other colours depending on the model
The phones will go on sale in the UK on March 13, and will all be available with 128GB and 512GB storage options
The phones will go on sale in the UK on March 13, and will all be available with 128GB and 512GB storage options, expandable up to one terabyte through an SD card.
They will all be available in ‘cosmic grey’, as well as an assortment of other colours depending on the model.
Pricing has not yet been announced, but Samsung said that anyone who pre-orders the phone will get a pair of Galaxy Buds+ headphones free.
