When Samsung announced the Galaxy S10 Lite many, many months after the Galaxy S10 lineup was launched, everyone was left scratching their heads. A new Galaxy S10 model simply did not make any sense to any of us, until we actually used the device and realized it's quite a good phone (read our review here).
A Snapdragon 855 processor under the hood, a beautiful Super AMOLED display, surprisingly good cameras, and fantastic battery life make the Galaxy S10 Lite an attractive proposition. And Samsung is only going to continue the new trend of ‘lite' variants of flagship Galaxy phones. As we exclusively reported earlier today, Samsung is now working on a ‘Fan Edition' of the Galaxy S20, which is most likely going to be a Lite version of Samsung's 2020 flagship.
And while it's too early to say what the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition's spec sheet will look like, I already have a (short) wishlist for what features I'd like to see on the device.
Snapdragon 865 for all markets
The best thing about the Galaxy S10 Lite was the fact that it allowed more Samsung fans to buy a Galaxy S10 smartphone with a Snapdragon 855 processor instead of an Exynos chip. The Exynos 9820 that powered the Galaxy S10 in most markets was not as good as the Snapdragon 855, just as the Exynos 990 powering the Galaxy S20 falls short of the Snapdragon 865, leaving many angry with Samsung's insistence on using its inferior in-house silicon.
If the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition/Lite is anything like the Galaxy S10 Lite, then it's possible that Samsung will equip it with the Snapdragon 865 in all countries. Or, well, I hope that's the case. Samsung clearly isn't going to stop using Exynos chips in its flagship phones, and while that's understandable from a business standpoint, the least Samsung can do is offer alternatives for those who want a Galaxy phone with the latest top-of-the-line Snapdragon chip, even if it has to make concessions in some of the other specs (like the cameras).
120Hz display
Indeed, one feature Samsung should carry over from the flagship Galaxy S20s is the 120Hz refresh rate. The high refresh rate is, in my opinion, the best thing about the Galaxy S20 lineup in addition to the zooming prowess of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Actually, if I had to switch to the Galaxy S10 Lite from the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the only thing I'd really miss is the high refresh rate display. That's because while the high-quality zoom is great to have, the high refresh rate becomes necessary once you've used it, a sentiment I'm sure many of you who are using a Galaxy S20 will agree with.
5,000 mAh battery
I wrote earlier about how I think the Galaxy Note 20+/Ultra feels less exciting than it should have, and one of the reasons is that Samsung is evidently equipping it with a battery that's smaller than the Galaxy S20 Ultra. It's probably a sacrifice Samsung has to make if it wants the S Pen to fit inside the phone, but there's no S Pen on the Galaxy S series, so there's nothing stopping Samsung from equipping the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition with the same 5,000 mAh battery as the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
A 5,000 mAh battery would ensure that the device can last long even with the high refresh rate enabled, and it would just make for an attractive selling point in general. I mean, if the Galaxy S10 Lite can have a battery that's bigger than all three flagship Galaxy S10 models (except the S10 5G, which was launched in very few regions), the Lite version of the Galaxy S20 can certainly have the same capacity as the top Galaxy S20 model.
What would you like to see from a Galaxy S20 Lite/Galaxy S20 Fan Edition? Let me know down in the comments!
