Samsung Galaxy A16 5G review
Display
The Galaxy A16 5G has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED panel. It has a standard FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. This works out to a pixel density of around 385, which looks perfectly sharp in person.
Samsung advertises 800 nits of whole display brightness for the Galaxy A16 5G. We managed to exceed this figure in our standardized testing, reaching up to 824 nits. That's not super bright, especially by today's standards, but we found it comfortable enough for outdoor use.
As mentioned, the A16 5G has a proper light sensor hidden away underneath the display. It does a perfectly adequate job of adjusting the brightness. You probably want to leave it enabled, too, since without auto resolution, the phone managed a mere 413 nits of max brightness in manual mode by maxing out the slider.
Max display brightness test
White test pattern, 75% fill (nits)
- Manual mode
- Auto mode
Poco X6
Moto G84
Redmi Note 13 5G
Galaxy A54
Poco F5
Galaxy A16 5G
Galaxy A15
The Galaxy A16 5G has a 90Hz refresh rate. That's basic by today's standards, but we still appreciate anything over 60. There are two modes available in display settings. One simply locks the refresh rate to 60Hz, conserving power, while the other locks the refresh rate to 90Hz. There is no automatic refresh rate switching.
We tried some high refresh rate games on the A16 5G as well, and as long as the hardware can actually render more than 60fps, the display was usually happy to accommodate and run at 90Hz.
The Galaxy A16 5G lacks any display HDR support. On a more positive note, the A16 5G has the highest possible Widevine L1 DRM certification, allowing streaming services like Netflix to offer up FullHD streams.
Battery life
The Galaxy A16 5G has a 5,000 mAh battery, which is pretty standard nowadays. We expected pretty solid battery life from the A16 5G. Twelve hours or so of Active Use Score isn't bad, but it's merely okay, nothing spectacular. It’s quite alright for the class, but the individual battery runtimes are considerably shorter than the previous model.
Charging speed
The Galaxy A16 5G supports Samsung's PD-based fast charging at up to 25W. Hence, it should charge at a pretty familiar rate and indeed it does charge at a pace practically identical to the Galaxy A15. That is to say, not too slow, but definitely not too fast, by today's standards.
Fifteen minutes on the charger took the phone from dead to 25% charge, another fifteen minutes made that 47% and a full charge took us 1:21h.
Charging speed
- in 15 min
- in 30 min
- Time to full charge (from 0%)
OnePlus Nord CE4
Galaxy A15 5G
Redmi Note 13 5G
Nothing CMF Phone 1
Galaxy A25
Galaxy A16 5G
Galaxy A15
Speakers - loudness and quality
The Galaxy A16 5G has a single, bottom-firing speaker at its disposal. There is no stereo setup here, not even a hybrid one.
The A16 5G was Very Good in our loudness testing, mostly thanks to its high-pitched sounds. Quality-wise, the speaker is passable but unremarkable. It mostly focuses on highs, with decent enough vocals and practically no bass.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Connectivity
As its name suggests, the Galaxy 16 5G is a 5G device. It supports SA/NSA Sub-6 connectivity. The A16 5G comes in either a single SIM variant, with a dedicated microSD slot or a dual Nano-SIM model with a hybrid second slot that can take a SIM or a microSD card. There is no eSIM support. There is GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS and QZSS support for location. Local connectivity is handled by dual-band Wi-Fi ac and Bluetooth 5.3 with LE support. There is NFC, but it is market-dependent, meaning its availability will depend on where you are getting the phone so best to check with your retailer if it's an important feature to you. There is no FM radio; or a 3.5mm audio jack.
The Type-C port on the Galaxy A16 5G is backed by a simple USB 2.0 controller, which means a theoretical max data transfer speed of 480 Mbps. There is nothing fancy like video output. However, the A16 5G does support USB Host/OTG.
Unfortunately, the Galaxy A16 5G has a virtual proximity sensor. Given its budget price, this is not entirely unexpected, but it is still not ideal. Still, it works well enough to turn off the phone's display during calls. Other than that, there is an STM LSM6DSOTR accelerometer and gyroscope combo, an AMS TCS3701 ambient light sensor and a Haechitech MXG4300S magnetometer and compass combo. There is no barometer.
Reader comments
- Trav
- 18 Nov 2024
- t7X
2024 and still has that teardrop design.
- Anonymous
- 16 Nov 2024
- Sr6
It's the shrinkflation my dear. And the fanboys and girls seem to love it. The less features they get the happier they are. Less features, more price.