Samsung Galaxy S20 Lite launch looks imminent — here's the proof

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By Roland Moore-Colyer
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Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition could be joined by the S20 Lite

Samsung Galaxy S20 Lite rumor
(Image credit: Future)

While it was thought that the Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition and Galaxy S20 Lite could be the same phone, both appear to be separate handsets and could launch soon. 

Twitter leaker @smartvenkat95 spotted references on the support pages of Samsung U.S. and Samsung Germany websites that relate to the Galaxy S20 Lite. And MySmartPrice found a mention of the Galaxy S20 FE on a Bluetooth SIG certification document. 

The Galaxy S20 Lite was mentioned in the support pages for the Gear 360 app, though Samsung appears to have scrubbed it from those pages. But it’s also mentioned on a developer-centric web page detailing Samsung’s Adaptive Performance for its phones. 

Along with spotting the Galaxy S20 FE on a Bluetooth SIG document, My SmartPrice also found the phone mentioned on the Wi-Fi Alliance certification documents. That pretty much confirmed that the Galaxy S20 FE is in the works. 

Neither of the listings detail much about the specs of either Galaxy S20 handset. But we’re expecting both devices to be lower-specced takes on the current Galaxy S20 phones.

From the rumors so far, we predict the Galaxy S20 FE and the S20 Lite to come with a Snapdragon 865 or Exynos 990 chip, and 6GB or 8GB or RAM. This will be a slight downgrade on the flagship Galaxy S20 devices, but we still expect it will keep the S20 series’ main features such as a 120Hz refresh-rate display. But to keep costs down, Samsung might opt for a plastic rather than glass back; we’ve seen it do this with the Galaxy Note 20.  

Rear cameras for the Galaxy S20 FE remain a mystery, though one leak suggested it could come with a 12MP ultra-wide angle lens and an 8MP telephoto lens with a 3x optical zoom. Again, to keep prices down we could expect Samsung to only give the Galaxy S20 FE and the Galaxy S20 Lite two rear cameras. 

However, with some features cut from the Galaxy S20 FE and Galaxy S20 Lite, we’re hoping Samsung will give them a bigger battery, say a 4,500 mAh cell over the 4,000 mAh battery found in the regular Galaxy S20. 

In short, we’re expecting both the phones to have some of the most appealing features of the Galaxy S20 range only without a whole lot of extras, such as expandable storage, 100x digital zoom and a time-of-flight sensor. What the differences between the Galaxy S20 FE and Galaxy S20 Lite will be remains unclear. 

There’s no word on release date or pricing, But such listings are normally an indication that the phones are imminent. And given the predicted reduced specs, we expect the Galaxy S20 FE and Galaxy S20 Lite to be a good few hundred dollars cheaper than the main Galaxy S20 phones. 

Roland Moore-Colyer
Roland Moore-Colyer

Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.