Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra vs Note 20
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (with Exynos 9 Octa 990) that was released on February 11, 2020, against the Samsung Galaxy Note 20, which is powered by Exynos 990 and came out 5 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the gadgets.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Comes with 700 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4300 mAh
- Delivers 45% higher peek brightness (899 against 620 nits)
- 30% higher pixel density (511 vs 393 PPI)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB
- The rear camera has a 4x optical zoom
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Note 20
- Faster storage type - UFS 3.1 versus UFS 3.0
- Weighs 28 grams less
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 | Super AMOLED |
| Size | 6.9 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 511 ppi | 393 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.9% | 89.2% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.2% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 250 Hz |
| Response time | 6.2 ms | 6.4 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 166.9 mm (6.57 inches) | 161.6 mm (6.36 inches) |
| Width | 76 mm (2.99 inches) | 75.2 mm (2.96 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.8 mm (0.35 inches) | 8.3 mm (0.33 inches) |
| Weight | 220 gramm (7.76 oz) | 192 gramm (6.77 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Gray | Black, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 990 | Samsung Exynos 990 |
| Max. clock | 2700 MHz | 2730 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 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 2 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A76 - 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Exynos M5 |
| L3 cache | 2 MB | 2 MB |
| Lithography process | 7 nanometers | 7 nanometers |
| Graphics | Mali-G77 MP11 | Mali-G77 MP11 |
| GPU clock | 550 MHz | 550 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1196 GFLOPS | ~1196 GFLOPS |
| RAM size | 12, 16 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | 2400 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 512 GB | 256 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max. size | Up to 1000 GB | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 159236 | 147614 |
| GPU | 234975 | 195295 |
| Memory | 111280 | 97621 |
| UX | 94560 | 108092 |
| Total score | 603539 | 551606 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Stability | 43% | 88% |
| Graphics test | 25 FPS | 25 FPS |
| Graphics score | 4295 | 4295 |
| PCMark 3.0 score | 11141 | 10531 |
Best Smartphones in AnTuTu (172nd and 191st place)
Software
| Operating system | Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) | Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) |
| ROM | One UI 4.1 | One UI 4.1 |
| OS size | 23.7 GB | 35 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 4300 mAh |
| Charge power | 45 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Fast charging | Yes (100% in 80 min) | Yes (50% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:20 hr | 1:05 hr |
| Web browsing | 08:26 hr | - |
| Watching video | 11:53 hr | - |
| Gaming | 04:13 hr | - |
| Standby | 93 hr | - |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 108 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 12032 x 9204 | 12000 x 9000 |
| Zoom | Optical, 4x | Optical, 3x |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 24FPS | Up to 24FPS |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 240FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 4 (108 MP + 48 MP + 12 MP + 0.3 MP) | 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens | - 108 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.33", Samsung Bright S5KHM1 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- 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 |
| Telephoto lens | - 48 MP - Aperture: f/3.5 - Focal length: 103 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/2", Sony IMX586 (CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- 64 MP - Aperture: f/2.0 - Focal length: 103 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
| Ultra-wide lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung S5K2LA (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus |
| Depth lens | - 0.3 MP - Aperture: f/1.0 - Pixel size: 5 micron |
- |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Note 20 from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 40 megapixels | 10 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 7864 x 5200 | 3872 x 2592 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Pixel size | 0.7 microns | 1.22 microns |
| Sensor type | CMOS | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.65" | 1/3.2" |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 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 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | Yes | No |
| LTE Cat* | 22 | 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
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | February 2020 | August 2020 |
| Release date | March 2020 | August 2020 |
| SAR (head) | 0.32 W/kg | 0.359 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.56 W/kg | 1.366 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor - 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, camera, and design are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. But if the battery life is more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 96