Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Samsung Galaxy S10: What’s Changed?

Samsung has finally taken the wraps off its latest flagship lineup, the Galaxy S20 series. Included in that is the standard Galaxy S20. As the successor to last year’s Galaxy S10, there’s bound to be a couple of differences between them. Read on to find out.

Beginning with the display, the S20 sports a 6.2-inch screen, slightly than the S10’s 6.1-inch panel. Both devices come with an Infinity O display, meaning that they employ a hole-punch module for their front cameras, and also have QHD+ resolution. The two handsets also come with a Dynamic AMOLED panel, but the S20 has the 2.0 version, which results in sharper and more detailed images. While they share some display aspects, the S20 has a refresh rate of 120Hz and support HRD10+, while the S10 only has support for HDR+. The S10’s display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6; on the other hand, it’s still unspecified what kind of Gorilla Glass protection the S20 has.

Under the hood, the S20 will either have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, or a Samsung Exynos 990 chipset. Compared to the year-old yet still highly capable Snapdragon 855 and Exynos 9820 on the S10, the SD865 and Exynos 990 are the newest chipsets from their respective companies. We’ve yet to see how well the Snapdragon 865 and the Exynos 990 chipset perform, but users can be assured they’re the best flagship chipsets that Qualcomm and Samsung respectively offer today. Previously, the S10 only offered 6GB or 8GB RAM. This time, the S20 paired up the SD865 or Exynos 990 with a base of 8GB RAM and a bigger one at 12GB.

Storage-wise, the S20 only offers one option at 128GB, while the S10 comes is available in two options at 128GB and 512GB. Despite having only one storage option, the S20 can be expanded to a larger one at 1TB, compared to the S10 that can only be further expanded up to 512GB.

A triple camera setup occupies the rear of both devices, however, they differ in pixel resolution and placement. The S20’s cameras are now placed inside a rectangular-shaped module and located at the upper left corner of the device, in contrast to the S10 that had its cameras horizontally lined up at the upper center. The S2o has a 12MP main shooter, 12MP ultra-wide, and 64MP telephoto, while the S10 has a 12MP wide, 16MP ultra-wide, and a 12MP telephoto.  Additionally, the S20 can now record video at 8K, compared to the S10 that could only record up to 4K. When it comes to zooming capabilities, the S20 offers a hybrid optic zoom 3x, Space Zoom, and a super-resolution zoom up to 30x. It’s quite an improvement, comparing it to the S10 that had up to 10x digital zoom.

The S20 and S10 both have a 10MP front camera, although they have a couple of differences between them, particularly in the placement. As mentioned earlier, while both are hole-punch selfie cameras, the S10 has its hole-punch located in the upper right corner, while the S20 now has it placed in the upper center of the display.

For features, the S20 is 5G capable although Samsung won’t be offering that in the Philippines. The two devices both have ultrasonic fingerprint scanning and face recognition as their biometrics options. They also offer NFC support and have an IP68 dust and water-resistance rating. However, the S10+ has a 3.5mm audio jack which the S20 lacks.

When it comes to battery, the S20 sports a larger 4,000mAh cell, in contrast to the S10’s 3,400mAh cell. Both the S20 and S10 have support for fast charging, and also have Wireless PowerShare. USB Type-C acts as the charging port for both devices. As for operating systems, the S20 has Samsung One UI 2.0, on top of Android 10, which is the latest. As the S10 was released a year ago, it comes with One UI based on Android 9 Pie out of the box; users don’t have to fret though as an update to Android 10 is already available for the S10.

If you’re coming from the S10 and wondering whether you should upgrade to the S20, all signs pretty much point to yes. With the S20, you get a somewhat improved design, a slightly larger panel, newer flagship chipsets, bigger RAM options, and a bigger battery capacity. If you’re new to Samsung’s flagships, then the S20 series is a good starting point.

Check out our Unpacked 2020 stories here:

1. Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra now official
2. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip officially unveiled
3. Watch: Samsung Galaxy S20 & S20 Plus Hands-On
4. Watch: Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Hands-On Review
5. Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20+ Hands-on
6. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Hands-on
7. Samsung Galaxy Buds+ now official
8. Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra: Which one to get?
9. Best Features of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Series
10. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra vs Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G Specs Comparison
11. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra vs Galaxy Note 10+ Specs Comparison
12. Samsung Galaxy S20+ vs Samsung Galaxy S10+: What’s Changed?
13. Samsung Galaxy S20+ vs Huawei Mate 30 specs comparison
14. WATCH: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Hands-On Review
15. Watch: Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra VS Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G Comparison Review