Samsung’s Galaxy S20 launched at the end of February 2020, giving us an insight into what we can expect from the South Korean company’s smartphones this year.
The next major device is expected to be the Galaxy Note 20, which in the past has improved on the Galaxy S range and bettered it in certain areas, such as a design and camera.
Here’s everything we have heard so far about the Galaxy Note 20.
Release date and price
The Samsung Galaxy Note series usually launches in August. Last year was the first time Samsung released more than one size of the Galaxy Note, with the Note 10 and the Note 10+, followed by the Note 10 Lite a couple of months later. With the Galaxy S20 arriving in three sizes, we’d expect to see a Note 20 and Note 20 Plus this year too.
We’d also predict that Samsung will stick to an August launch for the Note 20, though of course this could be affected by the current Corvid-19 situation. We certainly don’t expect to see the Note 20 devices before August 2020 anyway.
In terms of price, we’d expect Samsung to launch the Note 20 devices around the same prices as their predecessors, or marginally higher. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 starts at £869 or $949 and the Note 10+ starts at £999 or $1099.
Design
• Waterproof
• Premium build
• Two sizes likely
• S Pen
There haven’t been a huge number of leaks surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 design as yet, though this is likely to change in the coming months. We’d expect the series to borrow from the Galaxy S20 series, though Samsung does typically make some changes to the Note devices. The centralised hole punch front camera was first introduced on the Note 10 before being introduced on the S20 range, for example.
Expect a waterproof metal frame sandwiched between glass panels and expect some interesting finishes too. An under display fingerprint sensor is likely, as well as a prominent rear camera housing and there will be a built-in S Pen. We’re also expecting at least two size options, with both featuring a similar design apart from the size. A Lite model may also appear.
Display
• Two or or three sizes
• 120Hz refresh rate
With Samsung introducing a 120Hz refresh rate display on all the Galaxy S20 models, the Note 20 models will likely also offer the faster refresh speed – it’s claimed it will be improved for the Note 20 though.
The Note 10 has a 6.3-inch display, the Note 10+ has a 6.8-inch display and the Note 10 Lite has a 6.7-inch screen. We’d expect similar display sizes for the Note 20 devices, with curved edges.
Some reports have suggested an under display camera, which would negate the need for the punch hole camera, but for now, this is just rumour and it may be that only one of the Note 20 models offers it.
Camera
Software improvements on S20 range likely
We’d expect the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series to take from the Galaxy S20 series in terms of camera. It’s therefore likely that the Note 20+ will offer similar camera specifications to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but with some new feature additions or improvements here and there, while the standard Note 20 will likely take its specifications from the standard S20.
If this is the case, the Note 20+ could have a 108MP main sensor, 48MP telephoto sensor, 12MP ultra wide and a DepthVision sensor on the rear. The standard Note 20 meanwhile, might offer a 12MP main sensor, 64MP telephoto seamer, 12MP ultra wide sensor and a DepthVision sensor, or it might only offer the first three sensors and ditch the DepthVision.
Hardware and Processor
• Qualcomm SD865 or Exynos 990
• At least 12GB RAM likely
• Large batteries
The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 will likely run on the same processors as the Galaxy S20 range with either the Samsung Exynos 990 or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 or any other improved chipset under the hoods, depending on which region you buy it in. It’s likely the Note 20 and Note 20+ will offer at least 12GB of RAM too, though Samsung might step up the RAM for the Plus model to match the Ultra, or perhaps even offer a Note 20 Ultra?
Some reports have suggested the Note 20 base model will drop its internal storage to 128GB instead of last year’s 256GB, but surely this will be partnered with the reintroduction of the microSD slot – a feature the Note 10 missed off its spec list.
Big batteries are also likely in the Note 20 series. The Samsung Galaxy S20 series ranges between 4000mAh and 5000mAh capacities. We’d expect the Note 20 series to sit at the top of this range with the Plus model also likely to offer a 5000mAh cell. Expect both wireless and reverse wireless charging.
