Hands-On & Analysis: Samsung's Flagship Galaxy S20 and Folding Smart FlipPhones
The new Galaxy S20 positions Samsung well for the future, but at $1000 and up, many will be priced out for now.
The Galaxy Z Flip is extremely desirable; while it is also seemingly priced for early adopters, it targets customers who value fashion and form factor.
[Originally published Feb 11, 2020; updated March 3 with additional comments after testing production units.]
Galaxy Z Flip: Samsung Gets it Right the Second Time
The original Galaxy Fold stumbled out of the gate with a slew of bad press, but I have had no reliability issues with my AT&T unit after using it for the past three months. Battery life is spectacular. That said, there are serious compromises with the Fold’s form factor: the external screen is suitable mainly for notification triage and application launching, the interior screen shape is great for eBooks but not video, and apps generally show less information on the large screen than traditional phones. The folding display looks good but has a noticeable crease. Finally, there are missed opportunities: if I’m carrying a $2000 device that transforms into a tablet for productivity, where is the S Pen?
Samsung’s second folding phone avoids a lot of the problems with the Fold’s design by trying a completely different shape, aimed at a different audience that may be more forgiving of technical shortcomings. Samsung teased the Galaxy Z Flip vertical folding design at its developer conference last year, and then pre-announced the phone with a commercial aired twice during the Oscar telecast. The latter venue is telling: new form factors often require new software, and Samsung is targeting the phone at fashion-oriented buyers, not tech early adopters. The $1380 price of the Galaxy Z Flip will certainly limit who can afford to buy one, but this new generation of folding flip-smartphones targets customers who value fashion and form factor. They are used to paying for design and exclusivity.
Samsung is using some sort of physics-defying folding glass it calls an “Infinity Flex display featuring Samsung Ultra-Thin Glass.” There is still a crease across the middle - you feel it more than see it - and the display still feels like plastic because of the non-removable protective plastic overlay. The hinge stops at three different points. Future versions of Android will support this “Flex Mode” natively, but Samsung is using it today for a delightful camera feature: selfies where the camera effectively becomes its own tripod.
The Galaxy Z Flip’s design is cleaner than Motorola’s nostalgia-heavy razr, and the screen occupies the full interior. In fact, the Z flip looks and feels exactly like almost every other smartphone with a 6.7” today, until it folds in half to fit in your pocket. The standard shape when open means that apps can run on the Z Flip with no modifications.
It’s still early in the folding phone game, and while the Galaxy Z Flip feels like a more complete product than the Fold, it is far from perfect. The specs are fine. There is no 5G, and it is running last year’s top Snapdragon processor and essentially the same camera as the one on last year’s Galaxy S10. However, the outer display is tiny, ensuring that you have to open the Z Flip every single time you use it. Some people will decide that they like adding friction to their user experience and claim that it helps them break their Instagram addiction. It won’t, and a better exterior display needs to be part of the Z Flip 2.
The early reviews of the Moto razr have been brutal. Samsung won’t have all the same issues with the Z Flip – the hinge on the unit I held makes no noise, it won’t be a Verizon exclusive in the U.S., and the camera is a lot better – but some tech reviewers are still likely to miss the point of the form factor. There are a lot of people out there who want a large phone but don’t have large pockets. The Z Flip will likely be purchased by more women than men, though this male analyst badly wants the purple one. (Samsung will also have a Thom Browne version; future colors and fashion collaborations are a natural for this product.) This is not the typical flagship smartphone buyer, although Apple sells well into this design-centric audience, which is why the Galaxy Z Flip will pull more buyers from Apple than usual.
The Galaxy Z Flip is a big Samsung Galaxy phone that folds down so it’s more portable! That’s it – that’s the market, and it looks like Samsung nailed it.
[March 3 update: Living with the Galaxy Z Flip has been delightful - it really is basically a Galaxy S10 that folds down in half for better portability. We have had no issues with durability, despite an accidental short drop onto asphalt due to one of the product’s key flaws: the case is too slippery. Until Samsung can change the exterior finish to add some grip, it should bundle the $79 leather case with the phone. The other issue with the Galaxy Z Flip is availability: Samsung has not been able to satisfy demand with the supply available at launch. This is a shame, but the Z Flip was always going to be more of a brand image ambassador for Samsung at first, not a volume leader.]
Samsung’s Newest Galaxy S Phones Are Necessary, and Worthy of the Flagship Designation - But at a Price
Samsung may seem to have the premium Android smartphone market locked up, and it has certainly beaten back traditional rivals LG, HTC, and Sony. However, new rivals have cropped up, including Google, Huawei, Xiaomi, and BBK’s family of companies: OPPO, Vivo, Realme, and OnePlus. Samsung still commands the lions’ share of the Android market in the carrier-driven U.S., but the company is under pressure in Europe and is not a serious competitor at all in China (unlike Apple).
The next Galaxy needed to be impressive across the board, but in one key area, Samsung badly needed to differentiate: the camera. Google, Apple, and Huawei have been trading blows around image processing, low light performance, and zoom. With the Galaxy S20 Ultra, Samsung is promising big gains in all three. We were not able to test the camera in our brief hands-on time with the phones ahead of launch, but at least on paper, Samsung should be competitive. I am particularly looking forward to testing the periscope zoom on the S20 Ultra and comparing it to Huawei’s P30 Pro; while computer vision can turn night into day, telephoto pictures still benefit from lenses and space.
Samsung claims that the name jump from S10 to S20 is because the new phones are so much more advanced for the new decade, but it is not coincidental that the new naming convention puts Samsung’s flagships numerically ahead of Apple rather than behind. The phones certainly have the latest specs: Qualcomm’s fastest processor and 5G across the board, a home-grown 120 Hz variable refresh rate display in 6.2”, 6.7”, or 6.9” sizes, and cameras galore. Battery life should be reasonable as long as you keep the 120 Hz refresh rate off thanks to 4000, 4500, and 5000 mAh batteries. Memory is extensive, with even the base S20 coming with 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage – which can be further expanded with microSD cards. There is an updated One UI interface and a few new software tweaks for sharing music, starting Spotify playlists, and launching HD Duo video calling. A nifty multi-format camera mode lets you shoot first and choose photos or video later. However, Samsung is really focused on providing future-proof hardware, not gimmicky features or even specific 5G functionality as the reason to buy.
Warning: Sticker Shock
Consumers now upgrade their phones approximately once every two and a half years. Samsung is betting that when consumers are ready to invest in a new phone, they want to ensure that it will last that long, and it has stuffed the Galaxy S20 with features. The move to 5G – with mmWave support on the S20+ and S20 Ultra – accounts for some of the cost increase, but there will be 5G phones coming to market in 2020 that undercut the S20 significantly on price.
In markets like the U.S., carriers allow consumers no-interest financing over 20 – 30 months, making increasingly expensive phones more accessible. The Galaxy S20 Ultra may still be priced out of reach for average consumers, but that’s OK – it isn’t designed for everyone. However, Samsung is missing an S20 entry in the $700 - $800 price range where the bulk of flagship phones are sold. Samsung is keeping some older phones on the market at lower price points – a strategy Apple has benefited from for years – but if you want Samsung’s newest phones, you’ll have to pay considerably more for them.
One other concern, though this is common to nearly all phone vendors these days: the new Galaxy S20’s are physically large devices. If you need a 5G phone from Samsung that fits in a smaller hand, the S20 is the only non-folding phone announced today that fits the ($1000) bill.
Galaxy S20 in the Enterprise
TCL recently lets its BlackBerry license lapse virtually unnoticed because the majority of enterprises have standardized around Apple and Samsung. The new Galaxy S20’s may strain corporate budgets, but IT departments should love them. In addition to Samsung’s Knox security and management suite, there is now an embedded secure element for two-factor authentication without a physical card reader (which is both more convenient for employees and saves money for the company). A new Network Storage option allows for saving documents to secure FTP or network drives. Finally, a future firmware upgrade will light up a second eSIM slot, which can be used for private networks or for call billing purposes.
[March 3 update: Samsung provided reviewers and select analysts with the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, not with any of the other variants. This may have inadvertently hurt its launch, as the Ultra appears to have camera focus issues that may be unique to its larger sensor. Samsung will hopefully address this problem in software, possibly even before it reaches consumers on Mar 6, but the damage to preorders has been done. In other areas, the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G impresses: the 120 Hz display is incredible, and even with 120 Hz mode enabled, battery life is strong enough to last through a full day of heavy use. While Samsung’s “100x Space Zoom” is useless, having sharp 10x hybrid zoom is fantastic. Once the camera bugs are fixed, the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G will be a fair value, though we don't expect it to be a high volume seller. As above, our main criticism is that the S20 line starts at $1000, not that there are $1400 options within it.]
Also, There are New Galaxy Buds+. They’re Fine.
Galaxy Buds+ are Samsung’s next generation fully wireless earbuds. They are the same small size as the Buds and are just as comfortable to wear while adding impressively long 11 hours of battery life - much longer than rivals. Sound quality is fair: they are nicely revealing in upper frequencies, and voices are natural, but bass is underwhelming. They do not have active noise cancellation (ANC), so these are not competitive with Apple’s AirPods Pro. Despite some limited iOS compatibility, Samsung will primarily sell Buds+ into its own installed base. The Buds+ cost $149, putting them at roughly the same price as Apple’s second generation AirPods. Samsung includes wireless charging at that price, Apple doesn’t, but that’s not a huge selling point. Amazon’s Echo Buds undercut both on price (and sound significantly better, especially in the bass and midrange), and there are plenty of even less expensive options from 1More, Anker, and others. Samsung needs an ecosystem of its own accessories around its phones, and while the Buds+ are not groundbreaking, they fill their strategic role well.
To discuss the implications of this report on your business, product, or investment strategies, contact Avi at avi@techsponential.com or +1 (201) 677-8284.
