Samsung Galaxy A16 4G review

A basic triple camera setup

The camera setup is one area where the Galaxy A16 4G hasn't been downgraded compared to its 5G sibling. Both devices seem to share the same rather basic imaging hardware.

That includes a 50MP main camera with just basic autofocus and no extra bells and whistles. You also get a pretty low-res 5MP ultrawide and a supplementary 2MP macro shooter on the back. The front isn't much better with a 13MP fixed-focus snapper.

The main camera uses the pretty common Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN1 sensor, commonly known as the JN1. It is a 1/2.76" sensor with 0.64µm individual pixels.

The 5MP ultrawide is based on a fairly obscure SmartSens SC501 sensor. It has a 1/5" optical size and 1.12µm individual pixels. The macro cam is unsurprisingly based on a pretty mundane GalaxyCore sensor.

The selfie camera is based on a GalaxyCore GC13A0 sensor with 1/3.1" size and 1.12µm pixels.

• Wide (main): 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN1 f/1.8, 1/2.76", 0.64µm; 1080p@30fps
• Ultra wide angle: 5 MP SmartSens SC501, f/2.2, 1/5", 1.12µm; 1080p@30fps
• Macro: 2 MP GalaxyCore GC02M1, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm.
• Front camera: 13 MP GalaxyCore GC13A0, f/2.0, 1/3.1", 1.12µm; 1080p@30fps

The Galaxy A16 4G can only capture 1080p video on its main camera. Unlike its A16 5G sibling, which can technically do 4K through unofficial means, for the 4G model, the FullHD limitation seems to be hardware.

The camera app is the same as you'd find on every Samsung phone these days. You only get Pro mode on the main camera, while night mode can be used across the main and selfie cams.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The main camera on the A16 4G captures binned photos at 12.5MP by default. These look fairly decent for a budget device. Colors are nice and natural. Dynamic range leaves more to be desired in certain scenes but that's to be expected.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 12.5MP main camera samples

Photos of people are not great. Facial features come through like wax-figure looking, with the skin getting way too smooth and unnatural.

Portrait mode photos are all right, even if the background blur effect is a bit too strong.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

You can force the main camera to capture in its full 50MP resolution. These shots definitely have more fine detail.

Other than that, processing seems very similar, with unfortunately limited dynamic range and contrast.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 50MP main camera samples

2x zoom crops from the main camera look very similar to 1x shots. The overall processing is solid, and so are details and colors. There is a bit of softness, especially on surfaces. The contrast and dynamic range are far from perfect.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 12.5MP main camera 2x zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera on the Galaxy A16 4G is pretty basic. It only has a 5MP resolution and nothing fancy like autofocus.

Image quality is unimpressive. They are soft and blurry without much detail and with even more aggressive corner softness. The dynamic range is poor, and so is contrast. At least the colors look nice and are well-matched to the main camera.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 5MP ultrawide camera samples

Macro camera

The 2MP macro camera on the Galaxy A16 4G is nice to have but definitely nothing to get excited about. You can still get some decent photos for social media if you tap into your artistic side, but don't expect it to be easy since the focal plane is fixed and fairly narrow.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 2MP macro camera samples

Selfie camera

The selfie camera on the Galaxy A16 4G isn't particularly great. It has a fixed focus and can only capture 1080p video. The focal plane is pretty deep and forgiving, which is great. Quality is far from impressive, though. Skin texture rarely comes through. We do believe the Galaxy A16 5G manages better quality from the hardware at hand.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 13MP selfie camera samples

Low-light camera quality

We can't say that we are overly impressed by the low-light performance of the main camera. Contrast and dynamic range are far from perfect and there is some noise in the frame.

On the plus side, the detail isn't bad, and darker areas are surprisingly well-developed.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 12.5MP main camera low-light samples

The Galaxy A16 4G lacks an automatic night mode. You have to trigger it manually; it only works on the main and selfie cameras.

Using the night mode has benefits if you value sharpness and dynamic range, as both have improved considerably.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 12.5MP main camera night modes samples

Digitally zoomed-in 2x crop photos from the main camera at night are decent but largely unimpressive. They are soft and have plenty of noise.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 12.5MP main camera 2x zoom low-light samples

The ultrawide is not great in low-light conditions. All of the shots look soft with poor dynamic range, which causes highlights to clip.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 5MP ultrawide camera low-light samples

The selfie camera captures passable photos in low light. Faces look well-defined, even if a bit soft and lacking in skin texture.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 13MP selfie camera low-light samples

Using night mode on the selfie camera improves general exposure quite a bit. The background seems to benefit most from the extra processing.

Samsung Galaxy A16 4G: 13MP selfie camera night mode samples

Video capture quality

The Galaxy A16 4G captures videos in AVC/h.264 by default, but you could also switch over to HEVC/h.265 to save some space. Videos end up with a 17 Mbps or so video stream (1080p) and a 48 kHz stereo audio stream inside an MP4 container. Pretty standard stuff.

The Galaxy A16 4G can capture videos at a maximum of 1080p with its main, ultrawide selfie cameras. Unlike the A16 5G, which technically allowed us to capture 4K using Open Camera, the A16 4G seems to be hard-limited to 1080p by the chipset. It's not a huge loss, to be honest, since the 4K on the 5G model isn't true 4K anyway.

The unfortunate major omission on the Galaxy A15 4G is video stabilization. While the 5G version can do it at its native 1080p resolution, the 4G model doesn't offer it at all. This can result in pretty shaky videos in motion.

When properly stabilized, however, the Galaxy A16 4G manages to capture quite decent videos. Nothing spectacular, but it is quite sharp and detailed for a budget device.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

The contrast and colors are fine. Even low-light videos come out with good dynamic range.