The Samsung Galaxy S20 series is less than a month away, and now we are starting to see the first real photos with one of the devices.

So far we have relied on 3D models made according to the plans received by the accessory manufacturers to visually represent the three Samsung S20 phones, but now we have the first image with what looks like the Galaxy S20+ 5G model. It looks like there will be an S20 Ultra, which will be larger.

The photos were leaked by XDA-developers and come from a source verified by the famous publication. Looks like someone managed to get their hands on an early version of the device and made some frames with it.

We are talking about a black model, with a rectangular, perforated screen and less curved edges than other Samsung smartphones of the last period. We do not have very new details offered by these images, but at least we can confirm some of the rumors.

The camera seems to use four different sensors, along with a 3D TOF sensor, positioned in the lower-right corner of the assembly. The flash is positioned at the top. It seems that this model, Galaxy S20 +, will not benefit from a zoom camera with periscopic lens. All four rooms are circular, without the square lens, characteristic of larger zoom cameras. That camera may be kept for the top model, the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The screen is similar in design to the Galaxy Note10 and the recent Note10 Lite and S10 Lite models. It has a subtle cut in the center, where the front camera is integrated. In fact, it seems to be protected again with a plastic foil at the factory, just like the S10 and Note10 series.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Performance Testing

Now that we have seen for the first time the design of one of Samsung's Galaxy S20 models, it's time to see how well the new devices will perform. The Geekbench website has now listed a new Samsung smartphone model, equipped with Qualcomm's new generation of Snapdragon 865 chipsets.

With this occasion we can see not only how powerful the Galaxy S20 is compared to the Galaxy S10, but also how powerful the Snapdragon 865 is in general, as there are not many synthetic tests with this processor.

The listing on GeekBench describes a Samsung SM-G986U smartphone, a new model with no final name attached. It is supposed to be the Galaxy S20+, the letter "U" in the name probably referring to the fact that we are dealing with a US version, being equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 processor.

This model also uses 8 cores and a base frequency of 1.8 GHz, but can reach a boost frequency of "only" 2.84 GHz, compared to the top frequency of 2.96 GHz on the Snapdragon 855+. However, the new Snapdragon 865 manages to outperform last year's Snapdragon 855 with a 25% margin, in keeping with Qualcomm's promises.

Of course, here we compare only two implementations from Samsung, which demonstrate the performance contribution from year to year. Other implementations, with better cooling systems, could provide even better performance.

Another detail that we can extract from this test is that the new smartphone uses 12 GB of RAM, compared to the 8 GB on the Galaxy S10. Of course, there were also variants of S10 with 12 GB RAM, so it is possible that the S20 also comes in the basic version with 8 GB.

Given that information about phones with 16 GB RAM is already beginning to appear, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is likely to offer a premium version with this capability.

In the GeekBench 5 test, the Samsung Galaxy S10 with the Snapdragon 855 processor variant scored 736 points in the Single-Core test and 2,623 points in the Multi-Core test. The Snapdragon 865, on the other hand, scored 923 points in the Single-Core and 3,267 points in the Multi-Core test.

Even though both processors are built on 7nm architecture, the 865 uses a new technique called 7nm + EUV, which allows for even greater efficiency. Also, the new chipset benefits from a better GPU.

So far the Samsung Galaxy S20 seems to bring real performance improvement over the last generation, so let’s wait and see what will be the real power of the S20 when will be officially launched.