Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) review: Alphabet soup

20 January 2017
A 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display, 14nm Exynos chipset, a body made out of a glass/metal combo, IP68 certification, 16MP f/1.9 cameras front and back - it sure sounds like Samsung’s next flagship. Only it's not the flagship we're talking about, but the Galaxy A5 (2017) premium mid-ranger.

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After Samsung lost plenty of money with note 7 , now they just want to squeeze as much as they can from their fans. They know they will buy every years model, so lets make them more expensvive than last year but without uprading them much.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • thw
    • 21 Jan 2017

    Frenna, 21 Jan 2017There's a reason why Chinese brands are cheaper. I'm not ta... moreNoe nokia is a china too.

      Similar priced: IphoneSE, S7, G5. There are also older like Z5Premium, note4, 950XL. What would you choose? Definitely not this...

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        • buymobile
        • XN1
        • 21 Jan 2017

        Samsung Galaxy A5 is a good mobile phone but here also a common fact that battery time is low of this mobile phone

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          • Frenna
          • mSu
          • 21 Jan 2017

          geewaiho, 21 Jan 2017As a user for both the previous a3 and a5 2016, if you can ... moreThere's a reason why Chinese brands are cheaper. I'm not talking about Huawei but all the other brands. There are no service centers for Xiamo, Meizu etc. in my country The Netherlands. Also I don't trust Chinese brands. Installed spyware on Lenovo laptops, also spyware on some Chinese brand phones. I would pay more money for brands that I trust like Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG and Nokia, which can be repaired if there's something wrong with my phone. My S6 had a problem with auto-rotation last year, what if that happened to my cheap Chinese phone? Should I have sent it to China and not knowing if or when I will ever get it back?

            As a user for both the previous a3 and a5 2016, if you can find either models for substantially lower prices (eBay or good contract) then the A series is Deffo worth it. £400 for this model and £300 for A3 is just to much. Especially with cheaper and better specced smartphones from Chinese brands. If A5 was £300 and A3 £200 then it would be easiar to stomach. However, I've seen a new s6 go for £200 and s6 edge for £250.

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              • AnonD-237389
              • Lh0
              • 21 Jan 2017

              Low performer for it's price, A serie sucks

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                • AnonD-539824
                • tDM
                • 21 Jan 2017

                Good review as always GSMArena. Why game launcher sub-topic is on performance section?

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                  • Anonymous
                  • 3SL
                  • 21 Jan 2017

                  AnonD-476243, 21 Jan 2017although smartphones last year galaxy s6 far cheaper than a... moreyes

                  old flagship > new mid/low range

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • 6XU
                    • 21 Jan 2017

                    Anonymous, 20 Jan 2017GSMarena, can you do proper reviews with low light performa... moreCompletely agree with this statement!

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                      • Abhinav
                      • fCE
                      • 21 Jan 2017

                      When A5 2017 model available in Indian stores.

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                        • AnonD-505842
                        • gMK
                        • 21 Jan 2017

                        overpriced average device!😒

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                          • Umer
                          • uWx
                          • 21 Jan 2017

                          Its Really wonderful.. only one thing is missing "Notification Light" if they can add set is complete....

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                            • AnonD-632062
                            • 3Yg
                            • 21 Jan 2017

                            Very good battery life, although the phone is slightly overpriced. I liked the comparison that shows the gulf (of quality) between the front camera and the rear camera.

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                              • AnonD-111968
                              • tRg
                              • 21 Jan 2017

                              AnonD-476243, 21 Jan 2017although smartphones last year galaxy s6 far cheaper than a... moreYes but a5 2017 have many advantages also. Larger battery,ip68,card slot.

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                                • supm
                                • LH0
                                • 21 Jan 2017

                                Exynos 7880 to combat Snapdragon 620

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                                  • AnonD-584899
                                  • sEy
                                  • 21 Jan 2017

                                  No sensor review ? like gyro or light sensor ?

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                                    • Goku
                                    • rJY
                                    • 21 Jan 2017

                                    I love Samsung more than any other brands, but one thing I hate about them is that they launch to much phones. Just launch one phone in one phone range and make that a great one

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                                      • AnonD-476243
                                      • tDM
                                      • 21 Jan 2017

                                      although smartphones last year galaxy s6 far cheaper than a5 2017 it also has gpu and memory better than a5 2017, and again surprisingly galaxy a3 2017 is the same price as galaxy s6 to present, A list of samsung always very expensive

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 7Xr
                                        • 21 Jan 2017

                                        why a3 is in touchwiz and a5 is in grace ux?