New workhorse Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 phones make global debut
While most of the limelight is still on their flagship Galaxy S24 series smartphones, Samsung’s midrange Galaxy A series remain one of the cornerstones of their smartphone line-up and they’ve just expanded their line-up with the addition of the newly announced Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 which succeed last year’s Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34.
In keeping with their playbook, the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 both have features culled from the flagship Galaxy S series line while featuring hardware and specifications that are typically rare in a midrange phone.
Aesthetically speaking the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 both look similar to each other and sport the same Key Island design language as the Galaxy S24 series which consists of rounded corners, a flat chassis and a vertically aligned camera array. Where they differ slightly is in terms of what processor they use, RAM and storage options as well as the selfie camera as well as the ultra wide angle camera sensor size.
Colour options for both the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 consist of a choice of four colourways – Awesome Iceblue, Awesome Lemon, Awesome Lilac and an Awesome Navy colourway though availability will of course vary based on region.
Both phones also get four years of Android updates and 5 years of security updates which is two years less than the Galaxy S24 but is still impressive for a midrange phone. The Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 both also get a new Samsung Knox Vault that secures critical data like passwords and credentials on a hardware-based secure execution environment to prevent tampering. Both phones also now have an Auto Blocker mode which adds additional security to a phone by blocking app installations from unauthorised sources along with an improved Security and Privacy dashboard for a better overview of how well secured your phone is.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 have similarly sized screens this time around with slight differences in terms of the hardware under the hood.
Samsung Galaxy A55 Specs
The Samsung Galaxy A55 hosts a 6.6-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with their Vision Booster tech for better clarity in daylight conditions and up to a 120Hz refresh rate and an Exynos 1480 processor running the latest Android 14 with OneUI 6.1 under the hood with AMD RDNA2-based Xclipse 530 GPU. RAM and storage options vary depending on region but you can opt for a 12GB RAM/256GB storage or an 8GB version with either 128GB or 256GB storage.
The rear hosts a triple camera setup which consists of a 50MP F/1.8 primary camera with optical image stabilisation which is a rarity in midrange phones, a 12MP F/2.2 ultrawide angle camera and a 5MP F/2.4 macro camera. Up front you get a 32MP F/2.2 selfie camera for mugshots. Keeping it powered is a 5,000mAh battery with 25W wired fast charging.
Samsung Galaxy A35 Specs
The Samsung Galaxy A35 has a similarly sized 6.6-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with Vision Booster tech and a 120Hz refresh rate as the Galaxy A55 but uses the same Exynos 1380 chipset used in last year’s Galaxy A54 running Android 14 with OneUI 6.1. Storage options consist of either 8GB RAM with either 128GB or 256GB storage or a baseline 6GB RAM with 128GB storage model.
The rear camera setup is slightly different though with a slightly smaller 8MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera though the primary 50MP F/1.8 main camera with OIS and the 5MP F/2.4 macro camera are identical to the higher end Galaxy A55. The front selfie camera for the Galaxy A35 is also a bit more modest with a 13MP F/2.2 model for mugshots and video calls. Keeping the whole affair powered is a 5,000mAh battery with 25W wired charging.
In terms of prices, the Samsung Galaxy A55 starts from €480 (about RM2,459) for the 8GB RAM/128GB variant while the Galaxy A35 has prices that start from €380 for the base 6GB RAM/128GB variant (about RM1,946). At present, there are no official prices or details for a Malaysia launch for the Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 but odds are good that they will inevitably make their way to our shores in the near future.