Samsung's Decision With Note 20 Might Benefit iPhone 12

Leaks say that Samsung Galaxy Note 20 might be losing its time of flight sensor eventually decreasing its AR performance

A concept render of Galaxy Note 20 (Image source: phonearena.com)

After the successful launch of Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra now the time has come for samsung to add a new smartphone to the Galaxy note lineup and as always leaks of the phone's specifications have already arrived the market. This time the leaks say that Samsung is officially discontinuing the time of flight (ToF) camera in Galaxy Note 20. This gives Apple a chance to win by having a LiDAR sensor in iPhone 12.

To explain in brief the  time-of-flight sensor included in the camera setup of previous enabled the smartphone to capture Live focus videos,  3D scanning and enhancement in portrait mode shots. Time-of-flight sensors are a kind of depth sensor. These are cameras that don't take pictures but measures the distance between your phone and the object which you are shooting. This helps to improve the background blur effect. The ToF sensor was introduced by Samsung in Samsung Galaxy S10+ 5G which is the latest smartphone available from the note series launched in 2019, then it was also included in Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra.

The only reason of Samsung ditching the ToF sensor is due to less interest in it by consumers even after many improvements in its software. The 3D scanning enabled by Tof sensors in the smartphones caused heating issues as it used more resources. Simply consumers could not find any effective use of it.

On the other hand the iPhone 12 releasing this year is rumored to include a LiDAR sensor in their rear camera setup. Apple phones have always been robust competitor to Samsung phones in terms of specs. This inclusion of LiDAR sensor will surely increase the AR status of the iPhone eventually beating Samsung Note 20 in the field. Similar situation has occurred in past between these companies when Apple introduced Animoji in iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9 came with its AR Emoji, here Apple of course was the winner due to the IR sensors included in its front camera setup. Looks like something similar is going to happen this year.  

Apple introduced LiDAR sensors in iPad pro 2020 models which uses laser technology similar to the ToF sensors but till now it has got positive reviews and user interests unlike Samsung. Also with the inclusion of A14 Bionic chip whose leaked benchmark scores have beaten the latest Snapdragomn 865 iPhone 12 may show the best AR performance. 

However ditching the old technology may give an indication that a new one is going to be included but till now the leaks does not show any positive signs for it. Ditching the ToF sensor will definitely decrease Samsung's photo quality. Other leaks say that Note 20 will have a 120Hz refresh rate display, an upgraded S Pen and a new design. Improvements in battery life and performance is also expected.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 will most likely roll out in August 2020 with Galaxy Fold 2. Untill then keep on being updated through our blogs.