Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus vs Google Pixel 6a
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus (with Exynos 9 Octa 990) that was released on February 11, 2020, against the Google Pixel 6a, which is powered by Google Tensor and came out 27 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Supports wireless charging up to 15W
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB
- The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Thinner bezels – 7.5% more screen real estate
- 22% higher pixel density (524 vs 429 PPI)
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6a
- 48% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (774K versus 524K)
- Shows 14% longer battery life (32:23 vs 28:26 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- The phone is 2-years and 3-months newer
- Delivers 10% higher peak brightness (881 against 798 nits)
- Faster storage type - UFS 3.1 versus UFS 3.0
- More energy-efficient CPU – Google Tensor
- 50% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1366 and 911 points
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Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation
Value for money
You can enter your local price of these phones (in USD or any other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 524 ppi | 429 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 500 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1100 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 90.5% | 83% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.7% | 96.9% |
| PWM | 214 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 9 ms | 3 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 161.9 mm (6.37 inches) | 152.2 mm (5.99 inches) |
| Width | 73.7 mm (2.9 inches) | 71.8 mm (2.83 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 186 g (6.56 oz) | 178 g (6.28 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP67 |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Gray, Red | White, Black, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 990 | Google Tensor |
| Max clock | 2700 MHz | 2800 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 2 + 4) | 8 (2 + 2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 2 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A76 - 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Exynos M5 |
- 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 | 2 MB | 4 MB |
| Lithography process | 7 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Mali-G77 MP11 | Mali-G78 MP20 |
| GPU clock | 550 MHz | 848 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1196 GFLOPS | ~2171 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 135748 | 208269 |
| GPU | 155476 | 305908 |
| Memory | 113898 | 110039 |
| UX | 115935 | 144068 |
| Total score | 524923 | 774388 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 48.1 °C | 41.4 °C |
| Stability | 50% | 55% |
| Graphics test | 25 FPS | 37 FPS |
| Graphics score | 4293 | 6275 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 8688 | 6092 |
| Video editing | 5887 | 5676 |
| Photo editing | 30778 | 17494 |
| Data manipulation | 8535 | 9105 |
| Writing score | 12229 | 15469 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 1000 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) |
| ROM | One UI 4.1 | Stock Android |
| OS size | 23.6 GB | 14.3 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 4410 mAh |
| Charge power | 25 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (100% in 84 min) | Yes (42% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:25 hr | 1:51 hr |
| Web browsing | 09:33 hr | 11:03 hr |
| Watching video | 13:44 hr | 16:44 hr |
| Gaming | 03:56 hr | 06:15 hr |
| Standby | 92 hr | 91 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12.2 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 1.1x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 24FPS | 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 | 120° | 114° |
| Lenses | 4 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP + 0.3 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", Samsung S5K2LD (ISOCELL 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 | - 64 MP - Aperture: f/2.0 - Focal length: 29 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- |
| Ultra-wide lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung S5K2LA (ISOCELL 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) |
| Depth lens | - 0.3 MP - Aperture: f/1.0 |
- |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus from DxOMark | Photo samples of Google Pixel 6a from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 8 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 2592 x 3872 | 3840 x 2160 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 24 mm |
| Pixel size | 1.22 microns | 1.12 microns |
| Sensor type | CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" | 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 b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - 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 | 3.1 | 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 |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | Yes | No |
| LTE Cat* | 22 | 20 |
| 5G support | No | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | February 2020 | May 2022 |
| Release date | March 2020 | June 2022 |
| SAR (head) | 0.38 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.57 W/kg | - |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display, software, camera, and design are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus. But if the performance is more of a priority – go for the Google Pixel 6a.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 17