Despite the many leaky holes in Samsung’s ship, the South Korean company has finally announced the budget Galaxy A27 on its own time. We think we’ve got a pretty good idea why the Galaxy A26’s successor took so long to reach shelves. That would be the R2,000 price hike Samsung has introduced without any worthwhile upgrades. Unlike last year’s Galaxy A efforts, which cost R5,000, the Galaxy A27 wants R7,000 of your budget bucks.
In a lot of ways, the Galaxy A27 is the inferior choice for buyers looking to wring every bit of value out of their smartphone. Unless you’re really ravenous for the Exynos chipset included here — the only upgrade Samsung has introduced — you’re probably better off sticking with last year’s Galaxy A26. We don’t make the rules.
The chutzpah on Samsung
Samsung has, at least, retained the 6.7in Super AMOLED that was one of the A26’s strongest selling points. The 120Hz refresh rate has stuck around, too, though Samsung has made some changes to the overall look. Well, one change. Where the A26 sported a classic waterdrop notch to hide the camera, it now features a pinhole design.
Don’t go falling off your chair just yet — we haven’t even gotten to the ‘good’ stuff yet. Inside the phone lies the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset, released in 2024. Hey, at least it isn’t Exynos, right? The phone has at least stuck with the same 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage that we saw tied to the cheapest Galaxy A26 last year.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy A57 review – One year on, very little has changed
Now for the bad stuff. The cameras have taken a bit of a beating to make the R2,000 hike worth it (see how that doesn’t make sense?). The same 50MP shooter has returned to service, as has the 2MP macro fixed to the rear. The ultrawide took the brunt of the downgrade, dropping from an 8MP sensor to a weaker 5MP one. The selfie camera has also been axed, now sporting a 12MP shooter instead of the 13MP found inside its predecessor.
Buyers will also want to be a bit more careful when handling their Galaxy A27. This one has only got a measly IP64 rating, compared to the IP67 rating buyers enjoyed previously. The 5,000mAh battery is functionally identical to the A26’s, as is the 25W wired charging that goes with it. You can grab that all for R7,000 when the Galaxy A27 lands locally on Wednesday, 1 July. (Pssst, the Galaxy A26 is right there for R5,000. Just saying.)
