On February 11th, Samsung will unveil

their brand new flagship for this year,

the Samsung Galaxy S20.

Like pretty much each every smartphone these days,

the Galaxy S20 is pretty thoroughly leaked to this point.

So we're looking at five variants,

the Samsung Galaxy S20, the S20 5G,

the S20 Plus, the S20 Plus 5G,

and of course the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G,

because why not.

So in addition to 5G being an option

across the entire range, we're also looking

at a ton of major upgrades on the spec front.

So cameras, specifically this year,

seem to be a major focus.

We're talking about four cameras

on pretty much all the Galaxy S20s.

So on the standard S20, S20 Plus range,

we're looking at a 12-megapixel camera,

a 64-megapixel camera,

as well as a three-times optical zoom,

as well as the little sensor for depth of field.

Depth of what, no, no, what is it?

- [Ken] Time of flight.

- Time of flight, thank you very much.

Time of flight, thanks, Ken.

What would I do without you?

Be wrong, I would be wrong.

Jump up to the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

and the specs get even more ridiculous.

So the main camera's upgrade to 108 megapixels.

Sorry, I'm just gonna let that sink in, 108 megapixels.

Oh, and it'll also record 8K video, because why not.

You'll also have a 10-times optical zoom camera

with 48 megapixels, which is actually kind of cool.

I'm, like, kind of excited for that one.

We also have 12-megapixel ultra wide camera,

as well that same time of flight sensor.

There's a lot of ridiculous specs here,

and that's just on the camera side.

All of the S20 models this year should be taking advantage

of either the Snapdragon 865 or the Exynos 990.

And when you go up to the Ultra edition,

that is going to have an option

to go 16 gigabytes of RAM on your phone,

as well as 512 gigs of storage which you could back up

with a one-terabyte micro SD card.

'Cause obviously, 1.5 terabytes of storage

is about what I what I need in my phone.

Now this is all being powered

by a 5,000 milliamp-hour battery,

according to the rumors.

And all of the S20 models

supposedly will be taking advantage

of a 120 Hertz display this year.

Now when you look at all of these specs, it is very clear,

Samsung are going hard for the most spec-ripped,

over-the-top ridiculously powerful phone that they can do.

But really, what I'm curious about

is is it actually worth it?

See, I got the Is It Worth It in there.

You didn't see that one coming, did ya?

The real question here is obviously the Galaxy S20,

and pretty much all the 2020 flagships

are going to be insanely high end.

You've got all the specs you could ever hope for.

But at what point does it not matter any more?

I mean, sure, I'm a nerd, I'm a geek,

I love that sweet Geekbench score

and that extra 37 megapixels on my camera.

But at the end of the day,

we're all doing very similar things on our phones.

And while, yes, I love to have a 100-megapixel camera,

everyone's looking at that photo on Instagram.

Does it really make a huge difference,

and is it worth spending that $1,000 plus to upgrade?

Probably not.

The real differentiator as we go

into this decade for smart phones,

I think really is on the software side of things.

To go a little deeper,

I sat down with my good friend Myke Hurley,

who's the co-founder of Relay FM

and the host of many excellent podcasts,

including Cortex, as well as Connected, and many more.

What exactly can you do to differentiate?

Because everyone's using so many of the same parts.

And I argue what you do to differentiate

is you focus on software,

because that's really what makes these phones different.

That's the only thing that really gives you

some kind of sense of a, oh look,

my phone will take better photos because of the software.

It's faster because it's better optimized.

Whatever the case is, software is really the key

that is making all these phones

not just the exact same thing every year.

- Yeah, 'cause otherwise you've got gimmicks.

- Not everyone needs a brand new phone every year,

every two years, every three years.

And I think software is a huge part

of why that differentiation can even happen.

Now, I'll actually single out Samsung

for this specific point, because software, I think,

entails a lot of different aspects of a phone.

One of the things I think goes under

the radar a lot is software support.

I think in this day and age, a lot of phones are outdated

not because their hardware breaks,

not because the batteries are out,

but because they no longer receive timely software updates.

And that's something I will give Apple huge props for.

The iPhone 6s, which is like four

or five years old at this point,

still gets absolute day-and-day updates

with every other iPhone out there.

Take a look at a Samsung Galaxy S9 even, or an S8,

and you're lucky to get a couple

of years of updates if even at that.

And it sometimes it takes your forever

to actually get the correct update at the right time,

you might be six months behind.

I mean, it's an absolute mess.

So when I say that software is incredibly important

going into this decade, I mean that in a lot of contexts.

Samsung, for a while,

was really on top of the Android game,

as far as design, right?

So especially when like--

- Oh, there was like a few years

where they were making better looking phones than Apple.

- [Austin] Absolutely. - Like, without a doubt.

- Like with the S7 when they started doing, like,

the curved edges and everything was super smooth.

But now it's like, okay, cool,

you've kinda pushed that design as far as you can.

Now obviously, companies like Huawei are, like,

doing the full waterfall design

where the screen almost wraps all the way around.

That, to me, kinda feels a lot like a gimmick.

It doesn't really change the fact

that this sort of, as of now in 2020,

is sort of like the ultimate in smart phone design.

What it comes down to

is that phones today are all excellent, right?

Now, back in 2012, 2013, there were massive differences

between going for the Samsung, or the HTC, or the iPhone.

And while, of course, there are still differences,

and some of them can be significant,

we are very quickly hitting a point

where pretty much any phone,

even budget phones, are good enough.

I mean, there are a ton of manufacturers

who exclusively focus on phones that cost, like, two, three.

I mean, even the Google Pixel 3A that was $400

was absolutely fine for almost everyone.

And it didn't really sacrifice

on a lot of major areas, such as the camera.

Now as we continue to go, and as we continue

to look at these ridiculous overkill phones,

I get why Samsung and Apple and everyone

are trying to innovate by, like,

oh look, we have four cameras on the back,

or five, or we have 16 gigabytes of RAM,

or whatever the case is.

But at the end of the day,

these phones are incredibly expensive,

and you have to justify that to consumers.

To really illustrate one of the biggest differences,

or rather, one of the biggest

similarities between phones lately,

let me play you a clip from my review

of the Galaxy S10 from last year,

just with some slight edits to fit the Galaxy S20.

On the back of the Galaxy S20 Plus,

we have a full four cameras.

So pretty much all of them have 12 of ram,

with the exception the base model of S20 which has 12 gigs,

as well as the high end version

of the S20 Plus which has 16.

- [Ken] What does that say about your videos?

- It says that I am a consistent person

with the same opinions that never change,

even when I realize that things I say are wrong sometimes.

(laughing quietly)

I feel like we're reaching peak smart phone, right?

This design, which has been around since,

what, 2007 with the iPhone,

has really kind of hit its sort of ultimate form,

because there's a couple of key components

that all of these phones share.

- There is only so much that can happen,

right, in this type of design.

And I think that, I mean, again,

like the back of these things is where

companies are trying to push themselves now

to show that they're a little bit different.

But the smart phone design now is becoming very iterative.

They add new little things every now and then.

But I agree with you in the sense that, like,

this idea of what a device like this looks like,

this is probably, I mean, you say these things

and you look silly in a couple of years,

I think this is about where as maximum as it can go.

- Now there's certainly nothing wrong

with having phones that have a,

I don't want to say a perfect design,

but it very much approaching, like,

kind of as far as that we can realistically push things,

but it removes a lot of the fun out of it.

And especially when it comes to if you're a Samsung,

if you're a OnePlus, if you're an Apple of the world,

you have to make that new phone.

And how do you differentiate?

Right now, they're just continuing to push

on higher megapixel cameras, higher refresh rate displays,

whatever gimmicks or whatever kind

of legitimately useful features they can throw at it.

There's only so far you can push it

when the phones continue to look the same.

And for years now, they've largely been good enough.

Don't get me wrong, the Samsung Galaxy S20 5G Plus Ultra,

whatever they decide to call it,

looks like an excellent phone.

But the issue is, so does the next generation OnePlus,

and iPhone, and Pixel.

The differentiation here is not with the hardware,

it's not with the specs, it's not with the megapixels.

What it's really about is how these phones

will continue to age into the future,

and how software can really be

the main differentiating factor

between all of these different devices.

It's gonna be a brave new decade, my friends.

So if you enjoyed this video,

definitely be sure to subscribe.

I will certainly be doing a video all about

the S20 and all its wonderful variants.

And until next time,

Uncle Austin signing out from his rant corner.

(Austin chuckling)

That was the worst outro I've ever done.

(laughing)