Samsung Galaxy Note 20 vs A55 5G

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 20 (with Exynos 990) that was released on August 5, 2020, against the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G, which is powered by Exynos 1480 and came out 3 years and 7 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Note 20
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • Reverse charging feature
  • Weighs 21 grams less
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Shows 37% longer battery life (26:41 vs 19:26 hours)
  • Delivers 63% higher peak brightness (1001 against 615 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 13
  • Comes with 700 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4300 mAh
  • 12% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1021K versus 913K)
  • The phone is 3 years and 7 months newer
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Exynos 1480

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and A55 5G crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 50% Yes
Maybe, but mainly if you specifically want better display.
This is a situational upgrade. It makes the most sense if better display matters to you.
Main improvements: display and battery life.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in connectivity and camera.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.6 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 393 ppi 390 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 600 nits 1000 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate - 240 Hz
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Gorilla Glass Victus Plus
Screen-to-body ratio 89.1% 85.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 100%
PWM 250 Hz 120 Hz
Response time 6.4 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
615 nits
1001 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 161.6 mm (6.36 inches) 161.1 mm (6.34 inches)
Width 75.2 mm (2.96 inches) 77.4 mm (3.05 inches)
Thickness 8.3 mm (0.33 inches) 8.2 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 192 g (6.77 oz) 213 g (7.51 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Green, Brown White, Blue, Purple, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
89.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Samsung Galaxy A55 5G
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 1480
Max clock 2730 MHz 2750 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 2 + 4) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A76
- 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Exynos M5
- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.75 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache 2 MB 4 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 7 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Yes
GPU
Graphics Mali-G77 MP11 Xclipse 530
GPU shading units 352 128
GPU clock 832 MHz 1300 MHz
FLOPS ~585.7 GFLOPS ~665.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Samsung Galaxy A55 5G
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
3437
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 4101
Single-core score 1190 1137
Multi-core score 2964 3437
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1021736
CPU 367742 348485
GPU 161823 226076
Memory 165680 182794
UX 218675 264381
Total score 913920 1021736
Samples [3 tests] [29 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 88% 98%
Graphics test 3 FPS 3 FPS
Graphics score 443 459
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 88% 98%
Graphics test 8 FPS 5 FPS
Graphics score 1419 982
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
13134
Web score 8678 11788
Video editing 5768 7255
Photo editing 29836 23283
Data manipulation 7918 10941
Writing score 12118 17673

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy Note 20
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-14 (TimFire)AnTuTu 11868691
📘 2026-07-24 (Ctvy970)AnTuTu 11922959
📘 2026-05-09 -> Jazari28AnTuTu 11913920
📘 2023-10-26 (Saleh)Geekbench 6 CPU1190 / 2964
Samsung Galaxy A55 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-17 (Артем)AnTuTu 111080442
📘 2026-08-23 (No)AnTuTu 11965699
📘 2026-08-14 (Brice)Geekbench 6 CPU1115 / 3126
📘 2026-08-06 (Mazen)AnTuTu 111057022
📘 2026-06-28 (SK.EMTIAZ)AnTuTu 111021736

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2400 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM One UI 5.0 One UI 8.5
OS size 35 GB 20.1 GB
OS updates 2 years 4 years
Security updates 4 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 4300 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 30 min) Yes (55% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:05 hr 1:03 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:01 hr 10:24 hr
Watching video 12:33 hr 17:52 hr
Gaming 04:55 hr 05:16 hr
Standby 96 hr 125 hr
General battery life
19:26 hr
26:41 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 8160 x 6120
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 240FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 64 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 26 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX555 Sony IMX906
Sensor size 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1.8 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 64 MP -
Aperture f/2.0 -
Focal length 27 mm -
Sensor Samsung Bright S5KGW2 -
Sensor size 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch) -
Pixel size 0.8 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5K2LA Sony IMX258
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution - 5 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Sensor - GalaxyCore GC5035
Sensor size - 1/5" (≈ 0.2 inch)
Pixel size - 1.12 micron
Stabilization - Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh - 45
Preview - 54
Zoom - 75
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Note 20 from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A55 5G from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 6464 x 4864
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX374 Sony IMX616
Sensor size 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
Photo 103 -
Video 95 -

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5.3
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Depends on the region
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No Yes
LTE Cat* 20 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
87.9 dB
91.4 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced August 2020 March 2024
Release date August 2020 March 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $1000 $439
Successor - - Samsung Galaxy A57 5G
SAR (head) 0.359 W/kg 0.68 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.366 W/kg 1.04 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger - Not included
Further details
Notes on Galaxy A55 5G:
    - The barometer is only available in the model for the USA.
    - SM-A556B/DS and A556E/DS models come with two physical SIM cards.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
33 (48.5%)
35 (51.5%)
Total votes: 68

User opinions

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