Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review: specs, battery & used prices

Summary

The Galaxy S20 Ultra was Samsung's maximalist statement for 2020: the first 108 MP main camera, a periscope zoom system with 100x marketing and real 10x utility, a 6.9-inch 120 Hz OLED and a 5,000 mAh battery. Our camera score of 61/100 is the best of the 2020 cohort. The Exynos 990 underneath is the honest asterisk — and the used price has settled the argument.

Display and design

The 6.9-inch OLED at 120 Hz and 800 nits is enormous and excellent; screen score 61/100. At 220 g with IP68, it was the biggest mainstream phone of its year, and the 69/100 compactness score records that honestly. This is the two-hands design that defined the Ultra line's identity from the start.

Performance

The Exynos 990 is the generation's known weakness: everyday 61/100, gaming 16/100 — quick in bursts, inefficient under sustained load, with autofocus quirks in early camera firmware that updates later fixed. The software window has long closed. The phone's argument was never the chip; it was the camera stack.

Camera

The headline hardware: a 108 MP main with OIS, a high-resolution periscope zoom and an ultrawide, with 8K24 video. The 61/100 score tops the 2020 field in our scale — the zoom range remains more versatile than most modern mid-rangers, and the main sensor's detail holds up. Early autofocus teething is long behind the platform.

Battery and charging

A 5,000 mAh cell at 40/100 with 45 W charging (26/100) — the family's fastest top-up, feeding a big panel through an inefficient chip for a solid heavy day. The 45 W capability was the Ultra's quiet differentiator in 2020.

Verdict

Used supply is the deepest of the S20 line: 12/128 units cluster around $166 (eleven listings) — a periscope-zoom 108 MP flagship for mid-range money, with the chip's reputation priced in as the discount. For zoom-per-dollar, little in the catalog competes. The S20 Plus is the saner-sized sibling; the S21 Ultra is the corrected follow-up — though its used market is nearly empty, which tells you what owners think of it.