The Galaxy S20 5G UW is finally out as of last week following a three-month delay and some major sacrifices which Samsung now officially confirmed. Namely, in order to enable millimeter-wave connectivity in its 6.2-inch flagship, the company cut the RAM down by 4GB. The microSD card slot present in the regular Galaxy S20 5G has also been removed. Not that integrating extra wireless hardware made more than 8GB of RAM impossible to include. It's just that doing so would have resulted in a device that was significantly more expensive to manufacture. Naturally, consumers would have been expected to eat those additional costs in that scenario.
It's not difficult to imagine why Verizon wasn't thrilled with the idea of a more expensive 5G-ready Galaxy S20 model; the optics would have been pretty bad even if the Galaxy S20 5G UW released alongside the rest of the series in early March. Not to mention carriers' profit margins on smartphones aren't exactly stellar in this day and age. Ultimately, the more modest RAM configuration shouldn't amount to massive differences in real-world performance, Samsung said. Compared to other members of the lineup featuring up to 16GB of RAM, the Galaxy S20 5G UW can only keep a single app “pinned” in memory for immediate access. The rest of the smartphone family can do between three to five.
4GB of RAM vs. faster Internet speeds
On the other hand, the decision to remove the microSD card slot from the Galaxy S20 5G UW may not have been as cost-driven as that. Samsung confirmed the device features new RF components not found in other Galaxy S20 models, whereas the microSD tech itself has been around for a long while and isn't a significant factor impacting the overall cost of contemporary smartphones, particularly at this level of operations.
The “Ultra Wideband” referenced by the device's name is essentially the “real” 5G that's been generating all that hype in recent years. It utilizes high-frequency bands capable of delivering significantly higher speeds and lowed latencies, albeit at the expense of reach, which is why Verizon's been investing billions of dollars in countless small cell stations.
