Samsung released a new model of the Galaxy S20 with support for Verizon’s Ultra Wideband millimeter-wave 5G network last week, but it turns out the device includes some compromises over the standard model.
As spotted by Digital Trends, the Galaxy S20 5G UW has 8GB of RAM, which is 4GB less than the standard Galaxy S20. The Verizon model also does not include a microSD card slot, which allows owners to expand the phone’s storage capacity. “We had to make certain design and hardware decisions to provide a device with the form factor and price point as other S20 models,” a Samsung spokesperson told Digital Trends. The Galaxy S20 5G UW costs $999.99, the same price as the Galaxy S20.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 line launched in March, and it was the first line of mainstream 5G smartphones. Though the standard S20 includes 5G support, only the S20 Plus and S20 Ultra included support for faster mmWave connections, on which Verizon’s 5G network is based. That meant the entry-level S20 model couldn’t access 5G on Verizon’s network. Verizon later worked with Samsung to develop this new model, which includes mmWave support but at the expense of other features. The standard Galaxy S20 can still be used on Verizon’s network, but it only supports LTE.
My colleague Dieter Bohn pointed out in his review that while the Samsung Galaxy S20 had good battery life and a high refresh rate screen, the inclusion of 5G did not justify the hefty price tags for the S20 line.