Tech
Samsung ‘accidentally’ leaks bronze Galaxy Note20 Ultra
Okay, this "Mystic Bronze" looks hot. Like really hot.
Oops? Eagle-eyed leakers noticed Samsung posted images of the unannounced Galaxy Note20 Ultra on its Russian website. The images show the backside of the alleged Note20 Ultra in "Mystic Bronze," its bulging camera bump housing triple cameras and a depth sensor, and matching stylus.
Kinda hot — Not to poo-poo all over the gray, blue, and pink versions of the Galaxy S20, but those were relatively tame colors. Samsung dabbled with the prismatic Aura Glow for the Note10 and now it seems it's swinging to the opposite side of the pendulum with a colorway that's more luxe.
It's been ages since phone makers went more premium. Rose gold was probably the last time smartphone colors tried to make phones more like jewelry and less like computers.
Accident or not? — The pics were uploaded to Samsung's Russian website. Considering how weak S20 sales were, it's very possible these were a controlled leak shared briefly and intentionally to drum up interest for the phone during these challenging economic times. Controlled leaks: they exist!
Drip, drip, drip — Rumored Note20 specs have been making their way onto the internet in the past few weeks. The latest rumors suggest the Note20 will come in two models like the Note10: small and big. It'll be powered by a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ chip and come with a display with 120Hz refresh rate. Don't expect the headphone jack to make a return.
Other rumored specs include up to 12GB of RAM, up to 512GB of storage, and 5G. Unsurprising since the top-tier S20 Ultra comes with these beefy specs.
Fixed camera autofocus — Input was the first to call out the S20 Ultra's painfully slow camera autofocus system, noting its inferiority compared to the autofocus on the S20/S20+ and S10 series. Samsung released a software update for some S20 Ultra phones (we never got one) that seemed to speed up the autofocus by a little, but not enough to make it rock solid.
No 100x zoom — The S20 Ultra's 100x Space Zoom was pure overkill. A fun party trick, but impractical in real-world use. Samsung's reportedly dropping the 100x zoom on the Note 20 and including a more modest and usable 50x zoom. That's probably a wise decision; in our camera comparison, we noted 30x and 50x zoom still produced respectably sharp images. Not to mention, the viewfinder didn't become completely shaky during capture.
August 21 unveil? — Leaker Max Weinbach said last month Samsung's aiming to announce the Note20 in a virtual Unpacked event on August 21. Historically, Samsung has announced a new Note in mid to late August so it checks out.
