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Samsung may have randomly revealed the radical new Galaxy Note 20 design

Updated: Jul 23, 2020, 5:46 AM

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Galaxy Note 20 concept render with no hole punch

It's no big secret that Samsung is already hard at work preparing its next glamorous Unpacked event, which might take place on schedule in August or late July without a live audience to introduce the Galaxy Fold 2 and Galaxy Note 20 to the world.

We also seem to know a couple of things about the company's next "mainstream" S Pen-wielding flagship and second-gen horizontally folding device, but one key detail that remains unconfirmed is the front design of the Note 20. While that doesn't technically change today, SamMobile may have found an important hint in the oddest of places, seemingly suggesting the hole punch selfie camera is on its way out.

No notch, no hole punch, and almost no bezels whatsoever

Samsung itself might have let the cat out of the bag, revealing an image that stars a curious-looking product alongside the dual front shooter-sporting Galaxy S10+ and a Galaxy S20-series phone with a centered hole drilled into its beautiful screen. This mysterious device has razor-sharp edges, no right side-mounted physical buttons, and most importantly, no right side-located or centered hole punch.

Possible Galaxy Note 20 teaser image with hidden selfie camera sandwiched between S10+ and S20

If that doesn't look or sound in any way familiar, it's probably because no such smartphone is available today. That gives birth to a couple of theories, with the most innocent (and uninteresting) one suggesting some sort of a photoshop fail or a concept image that was never meant to leave the computer of a careless Samsung designer.

But it's also possible this is our first official glimpse of the Galaxy Note 20 (or Note 20+), which was obviously not supposed to happen either. Because the handset's top left corner is not visible in this surprising teaser image, there's still a chance Samsung will play it safe and drill a hole to accommodate the next big thing's front-facing camera. Then again, the Note 10, Note 10+, S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra all come with centered hole punches, and we don't see why Samsung would feel inclined to move that thing to the top left corner all of a sudden.

Instead, you can consider this the strongest hint yet at a full-screen Galaxy Note 20 design with a groundbreaking under-panel camera that Samsung has been reportedly working on for a number of years now. The breakthrough was previously not deemed ready for primetime, impacting the performance of the hidden selfie shooter, but the company was expected to overcome that challenge sooner or later.

Other Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20+ expectations and rumors

The moment we've all been waiting for could finally be near, even though one tipster claimed just yesterday the under-display camera technology is not coming to the Galaxy Fold 2. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Note 20 is pretty much guaranteed to strongly resemble the S20 Ultra from behind, with a large and protruding rear-facing camera module in tow shaped like a rectangle and most likely consisting of four similar imaging sensors.

Galaxy Note 20 concept render with S20 Ultra-style camera setup

Of course, the question of how many main Note 20 variants are in the pipeline and how might they differ from one another remains unanswered. The "regular-sized" model is expected to pack a generous 4,000mAh battery squeezing between the 3,500 and 4,300mAh cell capacity of the Note 10 and Note 10+ respectively, and somewhat disappointingly, both the Note 20 and Note 20+ could come with a relatively modest (by today's ultra-high-end standards) 128 gigs of internal storage space in their entry-level configurations.

Another disappointing rumor calls for an 8GB RAM count on the 5G-enabled Galaxy Note 20+ in the US, which would actually represent a downgrade from the 4G LTE-only variant of last year's Note 10+, but obviously, nothing is etched in stone until Samsung properly confirms it.

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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.