Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Note 20

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on January 22, 2025, against the Samsung Galaxy Note 20, which is powered by Exynos 990 and came out 4 years and 6 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
  • 3.4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3128K versus 913K)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 130% higher peak brightness (1416 against 615 nits)
  • Shows 48% longer battery life (28:43 vs 19:26 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • 27% higher pixel density (498 vs 393 PPI)
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 13
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Snapdragon 8 Elite
  • Comes with 700 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4300 mAh
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Note 20
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Weighs 26 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Note 20 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 97% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy Note 20 to Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: gaming, performance, and display.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.9 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3120 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 498 ppi 393 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness - 600 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 2600 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Armor 2 Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 92.4% 89.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.7% 99.9%
PWM 240 Hz 250 Hz
Response time 1 ms 6.4 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S25 Ultra
6.9″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 18.1 in2
Galaxy Note 20
6.7″ (20:9 ratio) = 16.8 in2
~7% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
1416 nits
615 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 162.8 mm (6.41 inches) 161.6 mm (6.36 inches)
Width 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) 75.2 mm (2.96 inches)
Thickness 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) 8.3 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 218 g (7.69 oz) 192 g (6.77 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gray, Blue Black, Green, Brown
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Good (3.23/5) -
Drop resistance Excellent (A) · 270 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Note 20
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Samsung Exynos 990
Max clock 4470 MHz 2730 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M)
- 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L)
- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A76
- 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Exynos M5
L3 cache 8 MB 2 MB
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 3 nanometers 7 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 830 Mali-G77 MP11
GPU shading units 1536 352
GPU clock 1100 MHz 832 MHz
FLOPS ~3379.2 GFLOPS ~585.7 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Note 20
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
10347
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 26581 -
Single-core score 3202 1190
Multi-core score 10347 2964
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
3128552
CPU 987646 367742
GPU 1190760 161823
Memory 362214 165680
UX 587932 218675
Total score 3128552 913920
Samples [66 tests] [3 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 61% 88%
Graphics test 17 FPS 3 FPS
Graphics score 2272 443
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test 40 FPS -
Section 1 50 FPS -
Section 2 40 FPS -
Section 3 29 FPS -
Graphics score 10441 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 56% 88%
Graphics test 34 FPS 8 FPS
Graphics score 5827 1419
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
19901
Web score 21582 8678
Video editing 8625 5768
Photo editing 34425 29836
Data manipulation 17556 7918
Writing score 26844 12118

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-09 (IceBaer)AnTuTu 123395994
📘 2026-10-04 (Gun park)AnTuTu 123085318
📘 2026-10-04 (potatowan)Geekbench 7 CPU2791 / 10180
📘 2026-10-03 (Apple Slayer)AnTuTu 123529678
📘 2026-10-02 (potatowan)AnTuTu 123590956
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

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock 5300 MHz 2400 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 9.0 One UI 5.0
OS size 30.4 GB 35 GB
OS updates 7 years 2 years
Security updates 7 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 4300 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (25 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes -
Fast charging Yes (72% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:59 hr 1:05 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 11:10 hr 07:01 hr
Watching video 19:32 hr 12:33 hr
Gaming 06:22 hr 04:55 hr
Standby 132 hr 96 hr
General battery life
28:43 hr
19:26 hr

Main camera

Matrix 200 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 16320 x 12240 4000 x 3000
Zoom Optical, 5x Optical, 3x
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 24FPS
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 240FPS Up to 240FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Telephoto: 10 MP
4) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 64 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 200 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.8
Focal length 23 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP2 Sony IMX555
Sensor size 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch)
Pixel size 0.6 micron 1.8 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 64 MP
Aperture f/3.4 f/2.0
Focal length 111 mm 27 mm
Sensor Sony IMX854 Samsung Bright S5KGW2
Sensor size 1/2.52" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 0.8 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN3 Samsung S5K2LA
Sensor size 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 165 -
Preview 81 -
Zoom 137 -
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Note 20 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 10 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 3872 x 2592
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU Sony IMX374
Sensor size 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 103
Video - 95

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) 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 5.4 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 20
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
93 dB
87.9 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2025 August 2020
Release date February 2025 August 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $1299 $1000
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra -
SAR (head) 1.25 W/kg 0.359 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.42 W/kg 1.366 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included -
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S25 Ultra:
    - Supports up to 2 eSIMs. The international model has 2 physical SIM slots, while the U.S. version has 1.
    - Uses Grade 5 titanium and Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass on both sides.
*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 S25 Ultra is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
9 (47.4%)
10 (52.6%)
Total votes: 19

User opinions

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