Samsung announces S20 range of smartphones

Samsung has announced its new range of Galaxy S20 phones with the handsets offering 5G connectivity and a wealth of powerful features.

Available in three different varieties, there's the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra to choose from. All 3 are 5G compatible providing you're on a network that offers it, and each are quite powerful upgrades from their predecessors. 

Most notably, all 3 utilise 120Hz AMOLED displays, that support HDR10+ for extra good looks. In the US, that's backed up with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor while Europe uses a Samsung Exynos 990 processor. Whichever you end up with, it means speedy performance with Samsung pivoting the device as ideal for gaming on the move. 

Reports suggest that the Snapdragon 865 processor should see a 25% performance improvement over previous models, with its GPU also seeing a 20% benefit. We'd assume the Samsung Exynos 990 provides similar results. 

Extended battery life is also a key component here with the S20 using a 4,000mAh battery, the S20+ a 4,500mAh battery and the S20 Ultra utilising a 5,000mAh battery. Wireless charging as well as quick charging is standard here. 

There's also the little matter of the S20's vastly improved camera. Samsung generally has a pretty good reputation when it comes to picture quality and that looks very likely to continue here. The S20 and S20+ will have a 64MP camera while the S20 Ultra has a 108MP camera. Backing that up will be hybrid optical zoom and AI-powered digital zoom which goes up to 100x zoom on the S20 or 30x on the S20 and S20+. 

You'll also be able to film in 8K resolution with all the phones, and take 40MP selfies on the S20 Ultra if that's your kind of thing. 

Predictably, all of this will come at a substantial price. The Samsung Galaxy S20 sim-free starts at £799 with the S20+ priced at £999 and the S20 Ultra is £1,199. 

There's also the Galaxy Z Flip which looks almost like a mini laptop but is also a little too reminiscent of the Motorola Razr of old. Yup, it's a flip phone, but it's far more powerful than any other flip phone you've seen. It has a 6.7 inch 1080p display with the thinking being that you can use it as a kind of miniature laptop, with features such as Multi Active Window allowing you to 'stack' apps up making it easier to multitask. Gimmicky? Maybe. It's important to note that it doesn't support 5G which feels like a mistake. It also costs £1,300 sim-free. 

The Galaxy Z Flip launches February 14th while the S20 range will be available from March 13th.