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The kicker is that you likely won’t be able to use that 5G anytime soon.
The Galaxy S20 mmWave model that is available from Verizon, has a few caveats, and they are not good ones.
With this new model that is exclusive to Verizon (only because it’s the only carrier using mmWave right now) drops the micro SD card slot and also drops a lot of its RAM. While the main Galaxy S20 smartphone comes with 12GB of RAM like the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra, the Galaxy S20 mmWave model comes with just 4GB of RAM.
That’s bad. Like really bad. Stock Android struggles with 4GB of RAM – just look at the Pixel 3 series. Never mind a smartphone that runs on a fairly heavy skin like One UI. So the experience is not going to be great. Omitting the micro SD card slot isn’t that big of a deal, but dropping 8GB of its 12GB of RAM is.
Why did Samsung do this?
The simplest explanation is because mmWave antennas need more space within the phone. It’s true, and we’ve seen this with other 5G smartphones for Verizon, like the OnePlus 8 5G UW model. Which didn’t really omit anything, but it did move the volume rocker a bit so that other OnePlus 8 cases wouldn’t fit properly.
mmWave antennas are larger than standard Sub-6 antennas. And they need more space within the phone.
When Samsung announced the Galaxy S20 earlier this year, it noted that the Galaxy S20 supported Sub-6 5G, while the Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra supports both Sub-6 and mmWave 5G networks. Samsung said that a mmWave version of the Galaxy S20 would come later this year for Verizon. Which made it seem like it wasn’t the original plan to bring this model to Verizon.
Is the Galaxy S20 mmWave model worth buying?
Probably not. 4GB of RAM on a 2020 smartphone is going to be pretty rough. And considering you can pay $200 more to get the Galaxy S20+ with the full 12GB of RAM, the price on the Galaxy S20 is not a good one.
Of course, this is really only an issue for Verizon customers, as every other carrier that is carrying the Galaxy S20 offers the regular model with 12GB of RAM. The real question you’ll need to ask yourself is, do I need the Galaxy S20, or can I get the Galaxy S20+? Which is going to provide a much better experience.