$790

The 5x optical camera zoom crushes it

Release date: August 2020 | Weight: 208g | Dimensions: 164.8 x 77.2 x 8.1mm | OS: Android 10 | Screen size: 6.9-inch | CPU: Exynos 990 / Snapdragon 865 Plus | RAM: 12GB | Storage: 128GB/256/512GB | Battery: 4,500mAh | Rear camera: 108MP/12MP + 12MP + 12MP | Front camera: 10MP

Amazing camera zoom

Handy S Pen stylus

'Ultra' expensive

Photos exhibit skin smoothing

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is Samsung's most expensive non-foldable phone, and this year's big perk of the Note is that it comes with an amazing camera. Get ready for extreme close-ups with the 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom. The S Pen returns with new tricks like recording voice notes and syncing them with handwritten notes.

Why it's ranked 3rd: This is Samsung's most powerful phone, but more expensive than the S20 series. You get it all with the Note 20 Ultra: a stylus, a camera with a 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom, a faster chipset (at least in the US version) and a 6.9-inch 120Hz screen. Not everyone needs an 'everything phone' like this, but if you want it all and don't want to wait for the Galaxy Z Fold 2, this is Samsung's best.

Screen: The 6.9-inch Note 20 Ultra display is massive, but only is a fraction of an inch larger than last year's 6.8-inch Note 10 Plus screen. This year's big difference is in the fluidity of the screen via a 120Hz refresh rate. No, you can't enable both the WQHD+ resolution and 120Hz at the same time, but the pixels look fine at 1080p on a screen of this size vs having to go back to 60Hz. Another literally small perk: the front-facing camera punch hole is smaller than ever.

Battery life: The Note 20 Ultra has a solid 4,500mAh battery, and we found that it goes more than a day with normal use without a problem. Even power users won't have a problem, based on our tests. Samsung includes a 25W fast wired charger in the box and offers compatibility with 15W fast wireless charging, but it has backed off of supporting 45W wired charging for some reason.

Camera: The Note 20 Ultra has the best camera on an Android phone, and that's in part because of its 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom. It makes 2x optical zooms from the iPhone seem like minor cropping at the edges of 1x photos. With 5x optical and, in good light, 10x digital, Samsung punches in with a dramatic zoom and usable photos on Instagram (50x zoom is mostly a party trick). We also found this phone to have the best ultrawide camera, and the regular 12MP camera is sharp. You don't need the 108MP camera and should watch out for skin softening in low-light.

Read our Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra review