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Samsung’s A series may not be powerhouses like the flagship Galaxy S series or unique like the Galaxy Z series, but it has one thing going for it: the price. Compared to its cousins, the Galaxy A series certainly places itself in the budget to midrange sector, while still keeping all the Samsung prowess that we all know and love.
This round, we’re reviewing the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G, the higher end of the A series.
Samsung Galaxy A55 5G Specifications
- Display: 6.60" Super AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1000 nits (HBM)
- Processor: Exynos 1480 (4 nm)
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM
- Operating System: Android 14, One UI 6.1.
- Rear camera: 50 MP (wide/main), 12 MP (ultrawide), 5 MP (macro)
- Front camera: 32 MP
- Battery: 5000mAh
Design
The Galaxy A55 bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor, the Galaxy A54, with only subtle changes. In fact, it also looks similar to the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+, with Samsung’s distinct module-less camera design on the back. There’s something to be said about Samsung unifying the design of all of their smartphones (apart from the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the flagship of the flagships), but that’s probably a whole ‘nother article of its own.
The flat aluminium side frame and the slightly raised area around the power key and volume rocker are the biggest differences in design between the Galaxy A55 5G and the other phones. I do like the somewhat matte finish on the sides, which contributes to a pretty good feel in hand, but the opposite is true for the back cover of the phone, which is plasticky and extremely prone to fingerprints.
Our review unit was Iceblue, which is a very pale blue that looks almost white. There are also other colourways available for the phone.
Besides that, the display sports Gorilla Glass Victus+, which is great for durability, and the phone has IP67 certification to protect against water and dust.
Display
The Galaxy A55 is slightly bigger than the Galaxy A54 at 6.6". The OLED screen sports a 120Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The screen is bright and responsive, though I really dislike the thick bezels around the phone that make it look like something out of the 2010s.
The display brightness reaches up to 1,010 nits in auto mode and 446 nits in manual mode, offering solid sunlight legibility for its price range.
The refresh rate control offers Adaptive and Standard options, with Adaptive aiming for 120Hz in most scenarios but dropping to 60Hz for static images or video playback.
Performance & Battery
The Samsung Galaxy A55 5G runs on Android 14 out of the box, coupled with Samsung's One UI 6.1. The software is pretty intuitive for those already familiar with Android smartphones.
Powered by the new 4nm Exynos 1480 processor, the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is a pretty standard smartphone that will work great as a daily driver, especially for students and professionals who don’t need all the bells and whistles.
Besides that, the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is great for gaming too, with its brilliant screen and smooth graphics. Thermal-wise, the Galaxy A55 5G also does really well, as it maintains a comfortable temperature even after about two hours of gaming on PUBG.
On the battery front, the Galaxy A55 5G sports a standard 5000 mAh capacity that’s typical of its price range. With the upgrade to the processor, though, the phone is pretty efficient in power consumption, lasting a full workday with the occasional gaming thrown in. It took a little over an hour to fully charge the phone from 8%, which is a decent charging speed.
Samsung Knox
Samsung commits to providing up to 4 years of major OS updates and 5 years of security patches for the Galaxy A55, so long-term support and longevity shouldn’t be a problem.
Besides that, the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G, which were released at the same time, are thoroughly protected by Samsung Knox, which we feel is important enough to warrant a call-out section on its own.
The Galaxy A55 5G and A35 5G are also fortified by Samsung Knox, a multi-layer security platform ensuring end-to-end secure hardware, real-time threat detection, and collaborative protection across the entire Galaxy ecosystem.
The Samsung Knox Vault, a hardware-based, tamper-resistant security solution creates a secure execution environment which is physically isolated from the main processor and memory. It offers comprehensive protection against both hardware and software attacks, safeguarding critical data like lock screen credentials and device encryption keys.
You also can’t access the Secure Folder without a PIN, so you can hide all your secrets here!
Besides that, Galaxy A series users can enjoy the Security and Privacy Dashboard, making it easy to monitor and control their data. This feature provides transparency and empowers users to withdraw permissions whenever they choose. Additionally, Private Sharing within Quick Share ensures the secure and encrypted sharing of private files, with users maintaining control over recipient access permissions and file expiration dates.
Camera
The Galaxy A55 5G retains the same camera setup as its predecessor, featuring a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, a 5MP dedicated macro unit, and a 32MP selfie shooter.
Daylight photos captured by the main camera are quite sharp and clean, though we still had to pay close attention to the lighting conditions as the photos tend to get overexposed in overly bright lighting, especially in the 2x zoom mode.
In ultrawide, the Galaxy A55 5G produces satisfactory images, though detail and clarity suffer a little under low light.
As always, nighttime camera performance is generally solid, particularly when using the Night mode, which produces natural-looking, detailed, and clean photos with accurate colours and contrast.
