The Galaxy A55 from Samsung is the new entrant into this hugely popular mid-price segment; this device promises to bring some improvements over its predecessor. The device’s features, performance, and overall value proposition are discussed in detail in this article.
Build and Design Quality
The Galaxy A55 has kept up with the aesthetics of the A50 series, carrying on the flat glass back with a separate ring for the cameras. Now, the difference for this year is that the frame is flat aluminum—no plastic to be found—to kick its premium feel up a notch. That’s combined with IP67-rated dust and water ingress protection, a first for the A series, to align the device with flagship models like the Galaxy S24.
Display
The screen has been upped to a 6.6-inch OLED this year over last year’s model. It features a 1080p resolution and 120-Hz refresh rate, making for sharp, smooth visuals. Gorilla Glass Victus Plus also protects the screen. While some competitors now have gone with smaller bezels, the A55’s panel is still strong, with good contrast and HDR10+ support.
Brightness is about the same as last year, with a manual maximum of 450 nits, boosting to over 1000 nits in auto under bright light conditions.
Audio
With a pair of stereo speakers, the Galaxy A55 enjoys a louder and more wholesome sound compared to its predecessor, which was mono. Of course, now the audio quality comes with improved bass and more precise vocals, meaning an upgrade in the general audio performance.
Performance
The new Exynos 1480 chipset at the heart of the Galaxy A55 is miles ahead of the Exynos 1380 found in the A54. Running some of the benchmark tests showed competitive scores in CPU and GPU performance, ensuring smooth everyday use and gaming capability. Thermal management is excellent, and it will keep retaining high performance without significant throttling or heat build-up, even after prolonged stress tests. It is not that powerful a processor, but it is powerful enough for daily tasks.
Battery Life
The phone comes with a 5,000mAh battery, just like last year. But then, it posts significantly improved battery life, due to some software optimization and the new chip. Charging speeds are still pegged at 25 watts, which increases the phone to 55% in 30 minutes and up to a full charge in almost an hour.
Camera
The camera arrangement on the Galaxy A55 is the same as on the A54, with a 50MP primary camera, 12MP ultra-wide, and a 5MP macro. While the hardware remains the same, changes in the processing result in photos that are just a tad sharper, though color reproduction is more conservative. The low-light performance with the primary camera is solid and automatically utilizes night mode for detailed and clean photos. The video is also intense at 4K resolution, with vibrant colors, good contrast, and excellent stabilization.
However, the digital zoom of the primary camera is quite a weak link because its images seem somewhat fuzzy and noisy. The ultra-wide camera is quite lovely for good light, where it gives good images with excellent sharpness and good detail, but it is not equally lovely in low light. Videos from the ultra-wide are softer and less detailed in 4K but excellent for an ultra-wide camera.
The selfies taken by the 32MP front camera are detailed and sharp and display natural color, completing the A55’s capable camera features.
Software and Upgrades
Powering the Galaxy A55 is Samsung’s latest – One UI 6.1 on top of Android 14. It comes with almost all the software features that Samsung packs into its phones. However, a few AI-related functionalities that the flagship Galaxy have, A55 are missing those AI capabilities. Samsung has promised four years of major OS updates and five security patches, so it’s good with longevity.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a well-rounded phone in the mid-range class; it also has a really good battery life and a decent camera, with a nice build, though. It was a bit pricey when it launched. But now it is available at 365$ for the base 8 GB RAM and 128 GB Storage model. Which makes it a significantly good option at this price.
