Samsung Galaxy A16 5G review
Android 14 with One UI 6.1
The Galaxy A16 5G boots Android 14 with Samsung's latest One UI 6.1 software layer on top. Samsung recently redesigned its software support scheme, and the Galaxy A16 5G became eligible for a whopping six major Android upgrades. Compared to competitors, this is a very strong positive in favor of the Galaxy A16 5G as long as you can trust the budget hardware to run Android smoothly six years from now.
In case you were wondering, Samsung's Galaxy AI isn't present on the A16 5G. It is still relegated mostly to flagship devices, though Samsung has been broadening the reach of the features a bit lately. Not quite this much, though.
Some of the notable One UI 6 novelties include a redesigned Quick Panel, better notification visualization, an improved and simplified camera app, and more powerful gallery and editing tools.
The Galaxy A16 5G gets a pretty feature-complete version of One UI 6.1. You are getting the same general UX and even most of the features of the Galaxy S series.
The good news to all Galaxy users is that the list of software features reserved for the flagships has been shrinking in recent years and currently includes niche things like Samsung DeX.
Everything else is typical One UI - lockscreen, homescreen, widgets and icons, theme handling, multi-tasking (available in both pop-up and split-screen state), and default apps.
You can read more details about OneUI 6 in our Galaxy A25 review.
Benchmarks and performance
As mentioned, the Galaxy A16 5G is in a weird position regarding hardware since, depending on the region, it can come with a Samsung Exynos 1330 chipset or a MediaTek Dimensity 6300. Our review unit is running the Exynos 1330.
The Exynos 1330 is a 5nm chip with an Octa-core (2x2.4 GHz Cortex-A78 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) CPU setup and a Mali-G68 MP2 GPU. The Mediatek Dimensity 6300 is a 6nm chip with an Octa-core (2x2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) CPU setup and a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.
The Exynos 1330 has already been available in the Galaxy A14 5G. Unfortunately, we haven't seen that particular variant at the office. So, effectively, both the Exynos 1330 and the Dimensity 6300 are new chips for us.
For memory, the Galaxy A16 5G comes with either 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. As far as we can tell, the storage chips used here are of UFS 2.2 speed, which is not ideal but certainly better than budget eMMC chips. Storage is expandable via a microSD card. Our review unit is the base 4GB RAM and 128GB one. Those 4GB of RAM have us a bit worried about future-proofing. Still, Samsung has promised up to six major updates, and we have to take that promise for what it is.
Let's kick things off with GeekBench and some CPU testing. The Exynos 1330 is far from the most powerful chip in its price segment, but it holds its own quite well, particularly in single-threaded workloads. It is comparable in performance to the Exynos 1380 and the Exynos 1280. The Dimensity 6080 isn't too far off either, and the same goes for the Helio G99 Ultra. The Snapdragon 695 and Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 are also in the same rough performance ballpark.
GeekBench 6
- Multi-core
- Single-core
Poco X6
Redmi 13 5G
Redmi 12 5G
Tecno Pova 5 Pro
Galaxy A25
Galaxy A16 5G
Moto G84
AnTuTu is a much more compound benchmark with memory and GPU tests in its roster. It positions the Galaxy A16 5G as having pretty middle-of-the-line performance in its price bracket, similar to the Redmi 13 5G, the Xiaomi Poco M6 Pro and the Redmi Note 13 5G.
AnTuTu 10
Nothing CMF Phone 1
Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G
Galaxy A25
Redmi Note 13 5G
Redmi 13 5G
Galaxy A16 5G
Redmi 12 5G
The Mali-G68 MP2 inside the Galaxy A16 5G is certainly not the most powerful GPU, but it gets by pretty well and a bit better than the popular Mali-G57 MC2 setup that so many chipsets use. The Samsung Exynos 1280 and 1380 might offer CPU performance similar to the Exynos 1330, but both have more cores in their GPU and, hence, notably better graphical performance.
3DMark (offscreen)
- Wild Life (1440p)
- Wild Life Extreme (2160p)
Nothing CMF Phone 1
Galaxy A54
Galaxy A35
Galaxy A35
Galaxy A25
Galaxy A16 5G
Redmi Note 13 5G
Going by benchmarks, the Galaxy A16 5G is clearly not starved for performance. However, from a more practical standpoint, we have to say that we don't particularly like the way our review unit is running One UI 6.1. There are plenty of slowdowns and even the occasional stutter. In our opinion, the 4GB of RAM is probably a bit too little for things to run smoothly.
Thermal-throttling
The Exynos 1330 might not be super powerful, but at least it doesn't put out too much heat. It thermal-throttles quite smoothly and gracefully.
Thermal-throttling
The phone's surface doesn't get too hot either; it is just lukewarm, even with prolonged stress testing.
Reader comments
- Sammy Fan
- 23 Nov 2024
- tVX
On paper, this looks like a great deal for the budget-conscious. But sadly the lack of esim is a dealbreaker for me. Oh well...
- Trav
- 18 Nov 2024
- t7X
2024 and still has that teardrop design.