Samsung Unpacked 2020: Putting Samsung’s New Phones In Context
Techsponential’s Samsung Unpacked coverage includes three reports:
This report on Samsung’s Galaxy Note and Z in context of Samsung’s phone segmentation. [This report was updated Aug 18 after hands-on time with the Galaxy Note20 Ultra.]
Samsung has long believed in narrowly segmenting the market and offering products to every buyer at every price point. (There was a time when Samsung did this across multiple operating systems, too, before everything collapsed down to iOS from Apple and Google’s Android for everyone else.) Samsung’s product line is broad enough to include almost anyone: consumers who just want an AMOLED display and multiple cameras at a low price, and high end phones aimed consumers who can afford a phone that nearly replaces their computer and television. However, smartphones today are mostly a mature category with a single form factor, which is, let’s face it, a rectangle. Samsung is the only vendor that goes beyond just a single shape to include two different folding designs, along with traditional phones that are more productive thanks to the inclusion of an S-Pen.
Most of Samsung’s product line are traditional phones (rectangles) at price points all the way from $120 to $1400 (A and S series). At Samsung’s first virtual Unpacked event, Samsung focused on the high end of its portfolio, the Note line (premium phones with S-Pens from $1000 - $1300), and its Z series of folding phones (where the price isn’t really the point, but it’s $1300 - $2000). Samsung also launched new wearables and tablet computers.
There is now a fair amount of overlap between the high end of the S series and Note line, but it is important to put the Note and Z in context of Samsung’s overall lineup.
Not Just Premium Phones
The phones launched at Unpacked cost $1000 - $2000, but Samsung has been steadily launching lower priced devices throughout the year, and the company’s renewed focus on the entry level and midrange is paying dividends. Phones take a year or two to bring to market, and in 2018, Samsung was forced to make its A series phones more competitive on specs to compete with Huawei’s rapidly growing Honor brand, along with other export-oriented Chinese competitors such as Xiaomi and OPPO. By the time Samsung got these new products to market in 2019, Huawei’s Western push was checked by the U.S. Entity List designation, and the Galaxy A50 became Samsung’s best-selling phone globally, even without carrier distribution in Samsung’s largest market, the U.S.
In 2020, Samsung updated and expanded its A line, and brought more models to U.S. carrier shelves. Samsung is pushing 5G to lower price points with the $500 Galaxy A51 5G and $600 Galaxy A71 5G, but its more affordable 4G Galaxies such as the $180 Galaxy A11, $250 Galaxy A21, and $400 Galaxy A51 are also more competitive at their price points than Samsung has been in the past. This has helped Samsung’s smartphone business survive a global pandemic that has depressed sales of super-premium devices.
Samsung wasn’t the only vendor with new mid-tier phones and fortuitous timing; Apple’s stuffed an extremely powerful A13 Bionic SoC into an old iPhone 8 chassis, called it an “iPhone SE,” and priced it at just $400. It has sold well. Between the iPhone SE, Samsung’s A series phones, the $350 Pixel 4a from Google, and other phones hitting the market this fall from TCL, Motorola, and OnePlus, the pandemic may jumpstart the mid-tier segment in the U.S. for the first time.
Techsponential has Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71 5G review units in for evaluation; they offer a lot of display and camera for the money.
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra
Premium Phones: Introducing the Galaxy Note20 and Note20 Ultra
In 2019 Samsung introduced two Note10’s: the merely large 6.3” $950 Note10, and the huge 6.8” $1100 Note10+. Consumers clearly told Samsung that Notes are supposed to be enormous, because this year there is not as big a difference in screen size: the “smaller” Note20 is 6.7”, and the Note20 Ultra is 6.9”. Prices have grown as well; the Note20 costs $1000, and the Note20 Ultra is $1300. (U.S. carriers are offering generous BOGO and trade-in promotions to new and existing subscribers, but only with multi-year commitments to their Unlimited plans.) Here are the Note’s main differentiators:
S-Pen – The original Galaxy Note’s formula was to combine an oversized high-resolution display, an active S-Pen stylus, and Samsung apps that tied them together. Samsung has toned down its Android skin over the years and all smartphones have grown in size, leaving the S-Pen key to the Note’s DNA. The latest S-Pen drops latency down from 42ms to 9ms. This is an easily noticeable and useful improvement, making using the S-Pen for drawing and note-taking more tactile and immediate. It also makes Samsung competitive with stylus technology Apple and Microsoft use on their tablets.
Productivity – There are a host of semi-related features that all fall under the productivity banner: better handwriting recognition, PDF annotation, synchronizing note taking with audio recording, and better folder management. Samsung is getting deeper into bed with Microsoft, too. Samsung Notes can now automatically save to the cloud and sync across Samsung devices – or with Microsoft’s OneNote and Outlook. Reminders also can sync with Outlook, To Do, and Teams.
Gaming - Samsung and Microsoft are also collaborating on gaming, and the Note20 will be among the first phones to support the beta of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (the service formerly known as xCloud). While Samsung is unlikely to have an exclusive on this for long, it should be fun while it lasts.
Wireless DeX – While DeX was designed as a way to dock a phone into a desktop environment, Samsung has now made the dock, or even a docking cable, unnecessary. DeX does have some enterprise use cases, especially when combined with custom or remote access software, but the most intriguing use case for wireless DeX may be large-screen gaming.
Pro video recording - The Note20 has a variety of sophisticated video recording modes. [update Aug 18: Video capture is greatly improved and all the new features provide flexibility, but not all modes have full stabilization.]
5G with sub-6 and mmWave – All three U.S. carriers have mmWave networks, not just Verizon. In rare cases, these networks are accessible and useful. This should enable Samsung to post blazing fast download numbers in reviews and benchmarks, and Note users who are concerned about future-proofing can feel confident that their phone will work on whatever networks are deployed over the next few years.
But wait, there’s more!
The Note20 Ultra has a new 120 Hz variable refresh display that provides extremely smooth motion without the huge battery life hit of static 120 Hz displays. [Update Aug 18: in practice, this has proved to be one of the most impactful changes Samsung made. The screen is gorgeous, incredibly bright, and using it in 1080p mode with 120Hz on is a treat.]
The Note20 Ultra has the 108 MP main camera from the Galaxy S20 Ultra, paired with a new laser focus system. [update Aug 18: the new laser system overcomes the large sensor’s tendency for shallow focus. The 5x optical periscope zoom enables extremely sharp telephoto images, and usable zoom up to around 15x - 20x. Unexpectedly, Samsung’s night mode is now fully competitive with Google and Apple.]
Finally, the Note20 Ultra has UWB (Ultra Wideband). Right now this is a technology, not a feature. Eventually, it could be used to speed wireless file transfers, replace building key fobs, or serve as your car keys. Samsung will need to build out the ecosystem before UWB is meaningful.
[Update Aug 18: After over two weeks with a Galaxy Note20 Ultra, it is abundantly clear that you do get what you pay for. The display, S-Pen, and cameras are great. The laser autofocus, 108MP sensor, and improved processing produced consistently good images, while the true 5x telephoto (with additional hybrid zoom capabilities) adds tremendous flexibility not found on many rivals. The U.S. version we tested features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ processor; we did not benchmark it, but performance was never an issue. The battery is good enough for a day’s heavy use, at which point you can charge it quickly or wirelessly. Both new Galaxy Note models feature 5G with both sub-6 and mmWave support for future-proofing. The Galaxy Note20 Ultra uses the same ultrasonic fingerprint reader as the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but the Galaxy Note20 Ultra was more consistent, making it faster to jump in and out of the phone securely. The only real downside we encountered is the curved display, which can be difficult to use at the edges.
There are literally too many other features to test, and we will update this report again once we have a chance to explore the revamped Notes app, wireless DeX, and more.]
Perhaps Too Many Premium Phones?
Even before Covid-19, Samsung was facing powerful headwinds: with smartphones a fully mature product category, consumers are keeping their phones longer than ever. Samsung gambled that consumers who did need a new phone would pay ever-more-expensive prices, so it launched the Galaxy S20 at prices that started at $1,000. There is nothing wrong with super-premium products, but relying exclusively on them for the 2020 Galaxy S updates was a bad bet. There is plenty of value in the Galaxy S20, and even more in the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but Samsung is missing a new phone priced between $700 - $850. Apple priced its new premium phones starting at just $700, and the $700-$850 iPhone 11 became Apple’s best-selling phone, not the $1000-$1350 iPhone Pro or the $1100-$1450 iPhone Pro Max.
Part of Samsung’s price rise was due to support for 5G, which Apple’s phones won’t get until new models arrive this October. Unfortunately, while 5G is a key buying criteria in China (where Samsung has minimal presence) and in Samsung’s Korean home market, 5G isn’t a meaningful feature yet in Samsung’s largest market, the U.S.
The Note10 started at $950 last year, so the Note20 hitting $1000 is not unexpected. However, with the rise in price of the S20, the top of Samsung’s line is now extremely crowded, and the crucial $700 - $850 price band is left to Galaxy S10 holdovers from nearly 18 months ago. The baseline Note20 is also the victim of obvious cost-cutting to hit the price. Discounting could certainly be an approach to hit a price point, but Samsung can’t sacrifice profit margin and drop the Galaxy S20’s price without making the base Galaxy Note20 unattractive.
Samsung S and Note lineup; source: Samsung, Phonescoop, Techsponential August 5, 2020
The Galaxy S20 has an extremely high-resolution curved display with 120 Hz fast refresh rate, while the Note20 gets just a 1080p flat 60 Hz screen. The Note20 is the first $1,000 phone made mostly out of plastic rather than glass or metal. This means that the Note20 buyer needs to prioritize an S-Pen over features and materials. The Note20 Ultra doesn’t make any compromises in features or performance, but it starts at $1300. On the other hand, the Note20 Ultra makes buying a $1400 Galaxy S20 Ultra a questionable proposition – the S20 Ultra has more optical zoom levels in its periscope telephoto camera, but the Note20 Ultra has a more efficient 120 Hz display and a laser focusing system that better matches with the 108 MP sensor array.
Folding Phones: Not Mainstream Yet, but Samsung Is Leading the Way
Folding phones are not consumer products today as much as they are brand statements and R&D experiments. Nobody has more of them - and more good ones - than Samsung.
Galaxy Z Flip 5G
Just prior to Unpacked, Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, which looks and feels identical to the Galaxy Z Flip launched just six months ago. Techsponential has been regularly using a Z Flip since March and have encountered no reliability or durability issues. This form factor is not as useful in a time when there is nowhere to go, but it is simply delightful to use.
A feature update for the Z Flip was not strictly necessary; nobody buying a fashion-oriented device is likely to care about a slightly faster Snapdragon 865 Plus processor. Only T-Mobile consumers who live in major metropolitan areas with 2.5 GHz 5G deployments will see enough of a speed increase to justify paying a premium for the $1450 Z Flip 5G over the Z Flip, which is still available for $1300. In fact, the most significant addition to the Z Flip 5G may be the new copper colorway.
Galaxy Z Fold 2
The original Galaxy Fold got off to a disastrous start, with review units peeling and breaking before any consumer had a chance to buy one. Samsung delayed the launch to add additional seals around the edge of the folding plastic display, but by then the reputational damage had been done. (For what it’s worth, our long-term review unit from AT&T has held up without incident, although we have been scrupulous not to use it around moisture.) Even without the launch fiasco, the Galaxy Fold was clearly a 1.0 product. The outer display was cramped and looked silly, unnecessary camera modules intruded into the main display, it was thicker than two phones stacked together, and most apps were not well optimized for the larger display.
Give Samsung credit: it has addressed nearly all the complaints about the original Galaxy Fold with the Galaxy Z Fold 2. The outer display spans the full front of the phone. The inner display is larger and has just a single, small cutout. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is slightly thinner when closed, but thanks to the changed dimensions, it looks thinner than it actually is. The main display now refreshes at 120 Hz, which should make scrolling around the big screen smoother. It has also been upgraded from folding plastic OLED to folding glass with a plastic layer over OLED, the same technology used on the Galaxy Z Flip. The real-world improvement here is minor, but it is still amazing that super-thin glass can bend without shattering. To ensure that early adopters won’t feel that the Galaxy Z Fold 2 leaves anything out, 5G with mmWave support is included as well.
Samsung has adopted the Adaptive Flex Mode hinge and software from the Galaxy Z Flip to bring tent mode, tripod, and new angles for viewing photos. There are other details we are expecting to be released on September 1. Techsponential is looking forward to testing the Galaxy Z Fold, and we will update this report accordingly.
The Galaxy Z Flip, Z Flip 5G, and Z Fold 2 are expensive, but they offer unmatched experiences, and Samsung currently faces no meaningful competition in what could become a significant segment of the market. Huawei is iterating rapidly on the Mate X, but it is even more expensive than the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Huawei is hobbled by lack of Google software and services. Motorola’s razr has reportedly has high failure rates. TCL has not yet brought any of its prototype designs to market. LG makes flexible displays but is choosing to sit things out until the materials science improves. (LG’s DualScreen case option for select phones adds a second display at an affordable price, but the software experience is lacking and the combined hardware is bulky.) Samsung could see some competition from Microsoft’s Duo this fall, but the Duo’s two separate displays that fold together are not the same as a folding contiguous screen.
Galaxy Note20 Spec sheets (Global Versions; U.S. specs slightly different)
Updated 8/5/2020 5:47 PM with corrected pricing for Galaxy Z Flip
Updated 8/5/2020 7:30 PM with additional context (and less rectangles)
Updated 8/18/2020 with findings after two+ weeks testing the Galaxy Note20 Ultra