Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 vs Note 20 Ultra: Which One Is Right For You?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are both pricey phones. If you only have the budget for one, which phone is right for you?

We reviewed the original Z Fold and it was a gamechanger of a phone, with that foldable display and high-quality build. It was definitely one of our favourite Samsung phones of all time, but then we got our hands on the Z Fold2.

The engineers did an amazing job with the phone, from the weight to the build quality. The hinge is more refined and opening and closing the phone feels great. The main display is vibrant with a 120Hz refresh rate, and the outside display is now a 6.2″ AMOLED display with no more big, chunky bezels from the old Fold.

This could be the best looking phone of 2020 and it’s just the minor details, from the way the edges are brushed to the speaker grills, the hinge, the way the glass merges into the metal, Samsung has really done a great job.

We thought the Note 20 Ultra was a beautiful phone, and it is, but the Z Fold2 is even better. Let’s talk about what’s inside the phone. The Note 20 Ultra uses the Exynos 990 processor, and there’s been a lot of talk about it, but we’re not going to get into it.

The Z Fold2 uses the Snapdragon 865 Plus in Singapore, so that’s the main point why we would go for the Z Fold2. It also has 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and unfortunately, we aren’t getting the 512GB variant here in Singapore yet.

It’s also a 5G phone and 5G capabilities will be enabled from launch. You get three 12MP cameras on the rear, an ultrawide, the main lens with OIS and a telephoto lens. The selfie camera on the front is a 10MP lens, and while the cameras aren’t the same as the Note 20 Ultra, most people will likely be getting the Z Fold2 for the display and less for the cameras.

That being said, the photos and videos that come out of the Z Fold2 are decent and you’ll be able to use them for social media and the likes, no issues at all.

So the question is, which phone to get? Personally, we think the Note 20 Ultra is a beautiful phone, but it’s really big. The Z Fold2 is a bit shorter, even though it’s bulkier thanks to the folded screens.

The other big selling point of the Note series is the S Pen, and this is really dependent on whether you’ll use the pen or not. In our testing, we only used the pen around 20-30% of the time, so if you’re not into the S Pen as much, the Z Fold2 might be a better option.

The battery in the Z Fold2 is a 4,500mAh battery, which is around the same as the Note 20 Ultra. You might think that the bigger display might run through the battery quicker, but with the previous Fold, it was already an all-day phone. With the Snapdragon processor in the Z Fold2, you might actually get better battery life with the Z Fold2 compared to the Note 20 Ultra and the Exynos processor.

Not to say the Exynos is a bad processor, it just chews through the battery a bit quicker than the Snapdragon processor would. There is a big price difference though, so that’s something to be taken into consideration.

The Z Fold2 is going at S$2,888 and the Note 20 Ultra is about a thousand dollars cheaper, which is a pretty big deal, but that’s the price to pay for innovation.

Personally, we like the Z Fold2. The engineering is great, the size of it fits well and it feels more refined than the original Galaxy Fold. Just based off the quick half an hour with the phone, we would choose it over the Note 20 Ultra.

For more information about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 (S$2,888) or to support us, you can get it on Amazon here.