Update, June 12, 2020 (11:42 AM ET): The article below originally had incorrect information. The amount of RAM in the Verizon Galaxy S20 is 8GB, not 4GB as originally stated. Android Authority regrets the error. All other information remains unchanged.
Although the Samsung Galaxy S20 line came out in February, the Verizon Galaxy S20 only hit store shelves recently. The reason for the delay is that Samsung needed to figure out how to cram mmWave 5G antennas into the vanilla S20 since that’s the only 5G protocol Verizon supports.
However, according to Digital Trends, the sacrifices Samsung needed to make to bring in mmWave compatibility are pretty significant. We can now confirm that the Verizon-branded Galaxy S20 has just 8GB of RAM. That’s a bit of a drop from the 12GB included with the unlocked Galaxy S20 you can buy from other sources (albeit without mmWave support).
Additionally, the Verizon Galaxy S20 doesn’t have a microSD card slot, which is included with the unlocked variant.
Why is the Verizon Galaxy S20 altered like this?
What’s likely happening here is that Samsung needed to figure out a way to bring mmWave support to the Verizon Galaxy S20 without increasing manufacturing costs too much. For whatever reason, it decided dropping the RAM amount by 4GB and ditching the microSD card slot — which is a big reason people buy Galaxy S phones — would be the best way to cut costs.
This means Verizon customers need to decide if saving $200 by skipping the Verizon Galaxy S20 Plus — which has a microSD card slot, 12GB of RAM, and mmWave support — is worth it in the long run. I don’t know about you, but paying $1,000 for a flagship phone that is missing these significant features would get a huge “hell no” from me.
