Weekly poll: would you rather have the Galaxy A55, Galaxy A35 or neither?

Check out this report from Forbes on the Top 10 best-selling phones for the first half of 2023. The Galaxy A54 sold 8.8 million units, putting it very close to the S23 Ultra and its 9.6 million units. The A34 wasn’t far off with 7.1 million units. The Galaxy A series is a big deal (the A14 actually sold more units than the Ultra).

Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35

This week we saw the launch of their successors. The Samsung Galaxy A55 shows massive improvements. It got a larger 6.6” display, now with Gorilla Glass Victus+. The plastic frame and back of the A54 are replaced with aluminum and Gorilla Glass.

And, most importantly, the phone is powered by the Exynos 1480. It probably won’t challenge the Exynos 2200 inside the Galaxy S23 FE in raw performance, but it may have its number in terms of efficiency. Also, the first AMD GPU in a mid-range phone is exciting to see.

The Samsung Galaxy A35 is a smaller change over its predecessor. The screen gets new glass and the 13MP selfie camera is in a punch hole rather than a notch, but the AMOLED panel is the same. Also, the camera is now 50MP instead of 48MP (the sensor size is effectively the same) and the frame is still plastic.

Cameras: Galaxy A55 • Galaxy A35

Again, the chipset is the biggest change – it’s the Exynos 1380, which was used by the A54 last year. At least we know how it will perform compared to the Dimensity 1080 that it replaces – a small overall improvement.

Both phones launch with Android 14 out of the box and will receive 4 OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches. Not on the level of the S24 series, but as good as the older S23 FE and as good or better than any Android not named Pixel (or Fairphone, but that’s more niche).

Let’s look at the prices quickly and then we will have to talk about the prices not listed.

In case you missed it, the A55 isn’t coming to the US, Samsung will only sell the Galaxy A35. The same goes for Canada. Mexico is the only one place in North America that is getting the A55.

Note that in some places like India and Indonesia, the A55 has a version with 12GB of RAM (and 256GB storage). And yes, the Galaxy S23, S23 FE and even the new S24 all have only 8GB of RAM. Some flagships. If it makes you feel any better, we don’t think that the 12GB model is coming to Europe. And in some regions the A35 will have 6GB of RAM instead of 8GB.

The Samsung Galaxy A55 and A35 will start rolling out next week. Would you be lining up to buy one? Let’s start with the A55. Keep in mind that Google will soon be launching a Pixel 8a, meanwhile, Apple will eventually release a wholly redesigned iPhone SE (probably in mid-2025). And there’s the Nothing Phone (2a) and others to worry about (well, not in the US).

And what about the Galaxy A35 – great, good enough since the A55 isn’t coming or not good at all? The same arguments apply to the A35, though we hear that the new Pixel 8a will be pricier than the 7a.