Galaxy S9 owners who have skipped last year's flagship series might now want to consider upgrading to one of the latest Galaxy S20 models. Although the Galaxy S9 is still a decent performer in various areas, its time as a flagship device has passed and the Galaxy S20 presents numerous advantages over it.
Today we're looking at some of these key differences, from better performance to improved software support, and why Galaxy S9 owners might want to upgrade.
Bigger displays, smaller bodies
Samsung continued to trim down its screen bezels over the past couple of years since the Galaxy S9 was introduced. Its screen-to-body ratio kept improving, and it reached a point where the Galaxy S20 with its 6.2-inch display has a smaller footprint than the Galaxy S9+ featuring a similarly-sized 6.2-inch panel.
Of course, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is still a giant beast – arguably for good reasons – and there's no way around it. Either way, the increased screen-to-body ratio on Samsung's latest flagship series brings noticeable advantages and a more streamlined design.
120Hz refresh rate displays
The Galaxy S20 is Samsung's first flagship series to adopt a display with a refresh rate higher than 60Hz. The Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra all come with a 120Hz display, and this provides a couple of benefits over lower refresh rate panels.
Essentially, a 120Hz panel will make animations look twice as smooth and responsive compared to 60Hz. This effect is difficult to appreciate through videos, so if you're skeptical, your best bet to see the difference is to try the Galaxy S20 first-hand. Go to a local store, make sure the S20s they have on display have been set to 120Hz mode, and let the smooth animations do the talking.
Better… Much better cameras
This is one of those areas that have changed drastically over the past couple of years. The Galaxy S9 was launched at a time when Samsung was transitioning from a single to a multi-rear camera setup, and the flagship series itself is split between these two philosophies. The Galaxy S9 has a single main camera, while the Galaxy S9+ has a dual-camera combo.
The Galaxy S20 series is simply in another class. Both the standard model and the Galaxy S20+ have 12MP wide sensors, 12MP ultra-wide shooters, and 64MP telephoto units with 3x optical and 30x digital zoom. The Galaxy S20+ even adds a ToF depth sensor.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is in a class of its own, even when compared to the S20 and S20+. It has a 108MP main camera, a 48MP telephoto lens with 10 x optical and 100x digital zoom, a 12MP ultra-wide shooter, and a ToF sensor. Not to mention that selfie enthusiasts work with a generous 40MP front-facing camera.
Bigger batteries with better fast charging
While the Galaxy S9 and S9+ come with 3,000mAh and 3,500mAh batteries, the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra boast 4,000mAh, 4,500mAh, and 5,000mAh units, respectively.
That larger batteries are needed for the more power-hungry screens, but they will also provide better autonomy and faster charging. The Galaxy S9 has 15W wired fast charging capabilities, while the Galaxy S20 series tops 15W wirelessly. On wired charging, the Galaxy S20 and S20+ are capable of 25W, while the S20 Ultra boasts 45W.
5G is the future, and the Galaxy S20 is more futureproof
5G is not yet available in every market, which is why Samsung offers the Galaxy S20 in LTE flavor in some regions. But if you want to buy a more futureproofed flagship then the Galaxy S20 is it.
The Galaxy S9 lineup will forever be limited to 4G networking, and there's no way around it. It's a hardware limitation that cannot be overcome unless you want to upgrade to a new flagship. Why not make it the S20?
More memory = better multitasking
Memory usage has increased considerably over the years. Having 4GB or 6GB of RAM on the Galaxy S9 and S9+ was impressive a couple of years ago, but nowadays, even the Galaxy A51 ships with those exact same RAM capacities.
The more RAM a smartphone has, the more apps it can keep open at once, and the better it is at multitasking. The Galaxy S20 lineup has plenty of RAM, ranging from 8GB on the Galaxy S20/S20+ to a whopping 16GB on the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
On top of that, the Galaxy S20 has more base storage at 128GB built-in, while the Galaxy S9 series had 64GB of storage at the lowest.
Android OS Support
The last, but not necessarily the least reason to upgrade from the Galaxy S9 to the Galaxy S20 is better Android OS support. You knew this was coming, but the reality of the situation is inevitable. Samsung offers two major OS updates for its flagship phones, and the Galaxy S9 already got updated from Android Oreo to Android Pie and Android 10.
Support for the Galaxy S9 series will now be reduced to security patches, while the Galaxy S20 lineup is guaranteed to be updated to at least Android 12 over the next few years. If you want to experience future Android OS versions and benefit from better software support then it's probably time for you to upgrade to one of Samsung's new flagships.
Are you planning on buying one of the Galaxy models? Are there any Galaxy S9 features that you're afraid you might be missing once you switch to the newer flagship? And what are some of the main Galaxy S20 advantages that might persuade you to adopt one of the latest models? Let us know in the comment section.
