Samsung has just unveiled its Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35, drawing some attention away from the altogether flashier (and only two months old) AI-bolstered Galaxy S24 lineup. The A-series duo is just as — if not more — important than the S24 series because it demonstrates “Samsung’s ongoing commitment to making the best of mobile innovations available to everyone.”
In other words; this is the South Korean’s mid-ranger portfolio, garnering a few thousand less than even the most basic S24 out there. But we’ll get into all the pricing later. South Africa doesn’t yet have official pricing, but we’ve got some rough European currencies to convert until that happens. It’s already turning up in some South African stores, however, with Vodacom leading the pack. Only on contract, though, at R540/m.
It’s a hard Knox life
As usual, Samsung’s Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 were some of the worst-kept industry secrets we’ve yet seen. We’ve already had our eye on the specs and even the devices themselves for some time now — but you can never be too careful around leaks. Best to wait for Samsung’s official say-so. Well, there we go.
The ringleader is the Galaxy A55, occupying a more premium end of the mid-range spectrum, closely followed by the budget-friendly Galaxy A35. Samsung’s thrown in a fair few upgrades this year — none that’ll have you Circling to Search — but a refurbished display and major security upgrades should be enough to make you forget about Galaxy AI.
The big differentiator for the A-series this year is the inclusion of Knox and Knox Vault — a first for the mid-range series. That’s where you’ll store your more secret passwords and biometrics “by constructing a secure execution environment that is physically isolated from the system’s main processor and memory.” Not a bad shout, Samsung.
Speccy gits
Both devices look about as Samsung as anything can, and, according to GSMArena, employ glass on both the front (duh) and the back of the devices — a first in the A-series. The A55 specifically uses Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both ends, while the A35 only gets a front coating. There’s no word yet on what glass will be found at the back.
That Gorilla coating protects the phones’ 6.6in FHD+ Super AMOLED displays that refresh at 120Hz on both devices. But aside from the shared 5,000mAh battery, that’s where the similarities end.
Inside, the A55 is sporting the Exynos 1480 SoC, and has the Xclipse 530 GPU to handle the other stuff. You’ll have a choice of 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage. Next, the A35’s Exynos 1380 processor, prominent in last year’s A54, supports 6GB or 8GB of RAM.
The A55’s rear shooter is a triple-sensor affair, bringing in a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide sensor, and a 5MP Macro. Flip it ’round and you’ll have a 32MP front-facer for selfies. The A35 mimics the A55’s main sensor and 5MP Macro lens, swapping out the ultrawide for a weaker 8MP sensor and a 13MP on its front end.
Samsung’s set the to €480 (roughly R9,800) for the 8/128GB model and €530 (R10,800) for the 8/256GB version. The 12/256GB A55 price has yet to be announced. The A35 will fetch €380 (R7,750) for the 6/128GB specs and only goes as high as €450 (R9,200) for the 8/256GB.