Samsung is giving its popular A-series smartphones two new flagship models: the Galaxy A35 and A55 to replace their predecessors, the A34 and A54. The South Korean manufacturer once again mixes up the formats, with both smartphones being hardly distinguishable from one another. Read the first nextpit hands-on to find out why the Galaxy A55 is still clearly ahead.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 in a nutshell
The good news first: the Samsung Galaxy A55 is now more affordable than its predecessor, albeit only by €10. For those living Stateside, €489 is $534 after conversion, making it way more expensive than the Galaxy A54’s $449 price tag across the pond For the basic version with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB ROM, Samsung has applied a €479 MSRP, while the version with double the flash memory costs €529.
Pricing in the US would not run too far from its predecessor, and will almost be cheaper than their European counterparts. The bottom line? You get a nice mid-range smartphone for your money, which improves on the Galaxy A54 (review) and the A35, particularly in terms of performance. In fact, it feels more like an S-class than an A-class with its new metal chassis.
Samsung Galaxy A55 design and build quality
The Galaxy A55 follows Samsung’s current smartphone design language, which we are already familiar with thanks to the existing Galaxy S24 series. The three individually mounted camera lenses are located at the top left behind, with the Gorilla Glass-protected back being completely smooth. You get to choose from colors like Awesome Iceblue, Navy, Lilac, and Lemon. By the way, Samsung offers the same colors for the Galaxy A35.
However, there is a new feature on the sides: For the first time in a Samsung A series device, the frame is made of metal. The brushed aluminum feels high-quality and looks really chic. However, you have to look very closely to see the difference between the A35 and its plastic frame. Depending on the device color, the frame of the Galaxy A55 is a little more shiny and features plastic antenna strips for better mobile phone reception.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 feels very good to hold in the hand. The flat frame fits comfortably in the hand, and the slightly rounded elevation on the left means that the volume rocker and the on/off button can be immediately felt, even with your eyes closed.
The front display measures 6.6 inches across diagonally. An AMOLED panel with Full HD+ resolution and 120 Hz is in action here, with a peak brightness (HBM) of 1,000 nits. This is not a surprise from Samsung as the display on the Galaxy A55 looks first-class.
Power and battery
The Samsung Galaxy A55 takes the processor a generation further. The Koreans South are moving the Exynos 1380 from the A54 down a notch to the A35 in 2024, while the Galaxy A55 will receive the new Exynos 1480, which is manufactured using the 4 nm process instead of the 5 nm process. A difference in performance is also noticeable in our brief hands-on.
The operating system ran smoothly on the Galaxy A55. This is partly due to the 120 Hz display, but also attributed to the SoC. In a direct comparison, the A35 is not quite as fast, but gamers are likely to benefit even more from the upgrade. According to initial benchmarks, the A55 increases by a good 31% compared to its predecessor in the Geekbench 6 GPU benchmark, which is very much in line with the 32% increase in performance promised by Samsung. The increase in CPU performance is much more moderate at 10 to 20 percent, depending on the benchmark.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 has a 5,000 mAh battery. At 25 W, the fast charging ‘feature’ doesn’t necessarily deserve its name, but at least the battery should be able to charge from zero to 52 percent in 30 minutes. According to Samsung, a full charge takes 84 minutes.
There is also good news in terms of operating system updates: Samsung promises four years of OS updates and five years of security patches. Although this is not quite on par with Google’s Pixel 8 series or the Galaxy S24 models, it is still excellent for a mid-range smartphone. Wonderful!
Samsung Galaxy A55 camera
The camera in the Galaxy A55 was a bit of a disappointment. Nothing has changed in terms of hardware. Software innovations were also very limited. Thanks to the addition of AI and NPU, photo quality should be a little better, with a dual recording function for the front and rear cameras, and a little more image stabilization.
Yes, Samsung is sticking to the same old camera configuration of a 50 MP main camera, a 12 MP ultra-wide angle, and a rather useless macro camera in the top A series model in 2024. Presumably, the A55 will take photos that are on par with its predecessor, the A54, which was no longer particularly impressive with its camera in the nextpit review a year ago.
Early Verdict
All in all, the Samsung Galaxy A55 is a moderate update as Samsung doesn’t need to do more. The Galaxy A series commands close to 50% of the market share for phones within the $500 price range, and the A55 will continue to offer an excellent overall package for the masses in 2024 without excelling in individual areas.
However, those who are not fixated on Samsung will also find other exciting smartphones in this price range. The Google Pixel 7a (review), for instance, probably offers a significantly better camera, while the Poco F5 (review) and the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ (review) are exciting options from Xiaomi.
