Did they not have access to the OnePlus 8 as yet? It might beat the S20 Ultra, at least, and be the best benchmarking Android phone.
The S20 Ultra is a poor phone with a great zoom camera that doesn't even always work.
The S20 series are the worst Galaxy S phones so far. Technically they are flawed on many more levels than any other S series phone to date, but that's not really saying enough considering the reputation that Samsung had for releasing technologically excellent devices.
With the S20s, they released phones that don't deserve to be out, and I'm really disappointed. More-so that they are charging more than ever for them and not getting enough scrutiny - even with the disappointing sales, they are still selling more than they deserve and getting more attention than they deserve just due to their reputation.
You know how we had companies that were known for excellent product lines that suddenly released a garbage product? That's how I feel about Samsung now. I just hope it's not going to turn into one of those stories of companies that used to be known for great products that are incapable of reproducing their former success anymore.
Yeah, I know companies like that but it usually happens after they get a big change in management or straight up get bought out by a bigger company that values profit margins over quality. I don't think either of those things happened to Samsung and they did whatever they did on their own volition. They may have the worldwide sales numbers advantage over Apple and every other OEM, but they still lack the clout of Apple to shit on a piece of paper and ask for $1000+ for it.
The S20 lineup is on ridiculous discount, at least through carriers. I think they can be leased for $20 a month, or less, for 12 or 18 months. So $240 for a year with a $1200+ phone? Not bad.
I don't have any issues with my S10+ so far and I did pay about $200 less than MSRP. Since our carrier plan now separates service charges from the phone installment charges, we are only on the hook for the phone and can pay it off in a lump sum and leave whenever we want. Alternatively, once the phone is paid off, we only pay for service and it makes it easier to keep a phone for longer. Previously, our plan included the phone subsidy with the cost of the plan so there was some sort of pressure to upgrade as soon as you could otherwise the carrier was still charging you for your phone with the monthly bill. Every month beyond your 24 month contract was another installment paid on a phone you already owned.
So with that being our reality now, once I pay off my phone, I'm going to baby the hell out of it and run it in to the ground before upgrading. The update schedules are getting ridiculous for all OEMs and you can tell Samsung is trying to compensate hard for not having the prestige and "control" over consumers that Apple has with its iPhones and other products. And I think that's a big reason for Samsung putting out a rushed product. They could have just skipped the S20 altogether and hid behind the coronavirus outbreak and just had a refined phone released around the same time we expected the Note, in the Fall. Instead they released the phone and then hid behind the virus outbreak as an excuse for why it didn't sell well. I believe it did have a small-to-medium effect on their sales but I could also be proven wrong once the sales numbers come out for other big releases during the outbreak, like the SE and the OP8. If their numbers are better than the S20's, at least relative to their year-over-year sales adjusted for the outbreak, then there's no excuse. Samung fucked up the pricing and then delivered a mediocre product on top of that.
You may have had closer ties to Samsung and loved and respected the brand more than I did. I like them and I've had three models in 7.5 years and I still associate the brand with quality stuff, for the most part. The S20 might be a big blemish but it also might be a one-time blemish, assuming they learn from their mistake. But I would liken it to my diminishing faith in Apple with its Mac lineup. My first Mac was great and lasted me 7 years and a few months before it took its final bow. My 2017 has been fine too, albeit the BF keyboards are a huge stain on the models from 2015 until the recent change back to scissor-style keyboard. I had to send it in once under recall but that was fine. Given to the store on a Saturday evening and it was mailed back to my doorstep the very next Tuesday at 7 AM.
My issue is what Apple did with Catalina and the compatibility issues that arose from it. Sure, I don't use 32 bit apps anymore and it's OK they wanted to end support for that (for me, at least, not sure about apps people actually depend on that weren't updated). But Apple further clamped down on the OS and I think they ended support for Widevine. Maybe I screwed something up but it would not load videos on Hulu or Amazon Prime. Some Googling brought up the same issues for macOS Firefox users. Worked fine in Safari, though, but I don't use Safari anymore after Apple screwed that up before Catalina even came out last year by ending support for non-approved browser extensions. uBlock Origin? Gone. RES? Gone, Apple didn't like that.
Not to mention the dumb decision in 2016 to make all ports USB-C/TB3 only and not including even just one legacy USB port like OEMs did back then and continue to do so now. I don't use my ports often, save for my eGPU which requires TB3 anyway, but those odd occasions when I want to pull media from an SD card or even a flash drive? Better hope I brought my shitty adapter/hub. Same with if I need to connect to a monitor via HDMI. Fortunately, I have a DP-to-USB-C cable but I'd need to bring that along too if I ever left the house. The only thing keeping me sane is that my eGPU has 4 USB 3.0 ports in it so when I'm at home, my accessories connect via that.
The Mac Pro is probably analogous to the S20 pricing but probably three times as egregious. $700 for fucking wheels to wheel it around. $6K monitor? $1000 stand? I'm sure it's great but Apple knows they can get away with it for professionals that are entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. Which lends itself to what Casey was saying earlier. What're they gonna do?
Not pay $20k for a Pro machine and instead shift over to Windows? After Apple last released a Pro desktop back in 2012 or 2013 and nothing else until 2019/20?
I love the Mac hardware quality and the feel of the OS. I do prefer it to Windows but Win10 is really not that bad. Unless Apple does some thinking about pricing, features, etc., once my current MBP kicks the bucket, I'd rather spend $2K on an XPS or a Thinkpad X1 Extreme. The latter coming with an OLED display and priced at about the same as a base model 16" MBP. With 32 GB RAM vs Apple's 16.
I know it's always been known the hardware specs on paper were always better on a Windows machine but it always felt better integrated on a Mac. But with Apple exercising more and more control over the direction the Macs are going, it's getting tougher and tougher to justify it. And with rumors about entry-level Airs and/or 13" MBPs with ARM swirling for 2021, that's going to be just another move Apple makes to upend its user base.
