Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G vs Google Pixel 6a

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.5-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G) that was released on September 23, 2020, against the Google Pixel 6a, which is powered by Google Tensor and came out 20 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Reverse charging feature
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6a
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • 21% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (913K versus 752K)
  • The phone is 1-year and 8-months newer
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Google Tensor
  • 19% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1469 and 1234 points
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G and Google Pixel 6a crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Choose the importance of each parameter to more accurately identify the smartphone that best meets your particular needs.
Adjust priorities
Feature
Priority (Weight)
Display:
Camera:
Performance:
Gaming:
Battery Life:
The higher the priority, the more it will affect the final NanoReview score.

Value for money

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Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED OLED
Size 6.5 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 407 ppi 429 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 400 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1200 nits 1100 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 84.8% 83%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 95.7% 96.9%
PWM 227 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 2.8 ms 3 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
831 nits
Pixel 6a +6%
880 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 159.8 mm (6.29 inches) 152.2 mm (5.99 inches)
Width 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) 71.8 mm (2.83 inches)
Thickness 8.4 mm (0.33 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 190 g (6.7 oz) 178 g (6.28 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Rear material Plastic Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Purple White, Black, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
84.8%
83%

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G and Google Pixel 6a in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G Google Tensor
Max clock 2840 MHz 2800 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 585 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 585 Gold (Cortex-A77)
- 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 585 Prime (Cortex-A77)
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex A55
- 2 cores at 2.25 GHz: Cortex A76
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache 4 MB 4 MB
Lithography process 7 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 650 Mali-G78 MP20
GPU shading units 1024 1280
GPU clock 587 MHz 848 MHz
FLOPS ~1202.1 GFLOPS ~2170.9 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Pixel 6a +19%
1469
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Pixel 6a +6%
3629
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
Pixel 6a +21%
913419
CPU 233087 -
GPU 196634 -
Memory 141288 -
UX 175074 913000
Total score 752438 913419
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Pixel 6a +60%
6194
Max surface temperature 37.9 °C 41.4 °C
Stability 91% 56%
Graphics test 23 FPS 37 FPS
Graphics score 3875 6194
PCMark 3.0
11937
9865
Web score 9911 6181
Video editing 7167 5819
Photo editing 30035 17999
Data manipulation 9734 9436
Writing score 13112 15423
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6, 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 1024 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.0 Stock Android
OS size 25.6 GB 14.3 GB

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 4410 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (37% in 30 min) Yes (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:35 hr 1:51 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:02 hr 10:54 hr
Watching video 15:39 hr 16:44 hr
Gaming 04:33 hr 06:05 hr
Standby 110 hr 91 hr
General battery life
32:06 hr
32:11 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 12.2 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 114°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) 2 (12.2 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.76", Sony IMX555 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12.2 MP
- Aperture: f/1.7
- Focal length: 27 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX363 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 76 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.5" (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
-
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.0" (CMOS)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 17 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.9", Sony IMX386 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples - Photo samples of Google Pixel 6a from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 32 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 3840 x 2160
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Focal length 26 mm 24 mm
Pixel size 0.8 microns 1.12 microns
Sensor type CMOS Exmor-RS CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.74" 1/2.8"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5.2
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* No Yes
Hybrid slot Yes No
LTE Cat* 20 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
90.1 dB
87.4 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2020 May 2022
Release date October 2020 June 2022
SAR (head) 0.5 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.35 W/kg -
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Yes, 15 W Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the display, camera, connectivity, software, and sound are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G. But if the performance and gaming are more of a priority – go for the Google Pixel 6a.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
208 (62.3%)
126 (37.7%)
Total votes: 334

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