South Korean tech giant Samsung has released some of the first official, public-facing marketing materials for its forthcoming Galaxy S20 line in its ‘Galaxy’ range of mobile devices.
The S20 trio are successors to the S10 line (the S10e, S10 and S10+), which were released during the 10th anniversary of Samsung’s ‘Galaxy’ range
A remarkable feature of the S10 phones was the inclusion of integrated support for digital assets and blockchain technology, with a pre-installed cold-storage (hardware) cryptocurrency wallet. Good news is that the wallet is set for inclusion with all S20 models.
Listed in order from entry-level to high-end: Galaxy S20 will consist of the ‘S20’, ‘S20+’ and finally the ‘S20 Ultra’. All of which will be available from March 6, in the United States, Australia and the United Arab Emirates, and from March 13 in the United Kingdom.
Samsung Galaxy S10 range, which included some of the first post-iPhone mobile devices to challenge the (previously unfettered) popularity of Apple’s hardware. Its commercial and critical success proved that Google’s Android could compete against the iOS mobile operating system.
The inclusion of this wallet feature originally last year turned Samsung into one of the first major smartphone manufacturers to officially acknowledge and facilitate cryptocurrencies.
It also reflects the international tech giant’s interest in blockchain technology, confirmed later in the same year with the reveal and subsequent marketing campaign of the ‘Samsung Blockchain’ platform SDK.
Contrasting its relative significance in early 2019: the integrated cryptocurrency wallet feature barely features in the S20s marketing campaign, despite it returning from the S10 range.
Instead the S20 products page emphasises other features, particularly highlighting the power and advanced technology behind the phones’ integrated camera hardware…
| General Camera Specs | Itemised Camera Specs |
| S20 • 6.2” screen • 563 ppi • 10MP Selfie Camera | S20 (triple) Camera 1: 12MP Ultra Wide Camera • Pixel size: 1.4μm • FOV: 120˚ • F.No (aperture): F2.2 Camera 2: 12MP Wide-angle Camera • Super Speed Dual Pixel AF, OIS • Pixel size: 1.8μm • FOV: 79˚ • F.No (aperture): F1.8 • 1/1.76″ image sensor size Camera 3: 64MP Telephoto Camera • Pixel size: 0.8μm • FOV: 76˚ • F.No (aperture): F2.0 Space Zoom • Hybrid Optic Zoom 3x • Super Resolution Zoom up to 30x OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) Tracking AF |
| S20+ • 6.7″ screen. • 525 ppi • 10MP Selfie Camera | S20+ (quad) Camera 1: 12MP Ultra Wide Camera • Pixel size: 1.4μm • FOV: 120˚ • F.No (aperture): F2.2 Camera 2: 12MP Wide-angle Camera • Super Speed Dual Pixel AF, OIS • Pixel size: 1.8μm • FOV: 79˚ • F.No (aperture): F1.8 • 1/1.76″ image sensor size Camera 3: 64MP Telephoto Camera • Pixel size: 0.8μm • FOV: 76˚ • F.No (aperture): F2.0 Camera 4: DepthVision Camera • Space Zoom • Hybrid Optic Zoom 3x • Super Resolution Zoom up to 30x OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) Tracking AF |
| S20 Ultra • 40MP Selfie Camera • 6.9″ screen. • 511ppi | S20 Ultra (quad) Camera 1: 12MP Ultra Wide Camera • Pixel size: 1.4μm • FOV: 120˚ • F.No (aperture): F2.2 Camera 2: 108MP Wide-angle Camera • PDAF, OIS • Pixel size: 0.8μm (12MP 2.4μm) FOV: 79˚ • F.No (aperture): F1.8 • 1/1.33″ image sensor size Camera 3: 48MP Telephoto Camera • Pixel size: 0.8μm (12MP 1.6μm) • FOV: 24˚ • F.No (aperture): F3.5 Camera 4: DepthVision Camera Space Zoom • Hybrid Optic Zoom 10x • Super Resolution Zoom up to 100x OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) Tracking AF |
Samsung isn’t the only player in the mobile device sector to be working on integrated hardware and software solutions to support cryptocurrency and blockchain on their commercial devices.
For example: Taiwanese hardware manufacturer HTC released its Exodus 1 phone in early 2019, with a cheaper follow-up model called the ‘Exodus 1s’ arriving later in the same year. The device stood out, in particular, as the original model was only purchasable via Bitcoin cryptocurrency transaction (thus, eschewing traditional payment methods entirely).
Beyond cryptocurrency, the latest trend (or “bandwagon”) for Samsung to have supported in full-force appears to be foldable screen technology – with its ‘Galaxy Z Flip’ range of devices.
