Samsung Galaxy A16 5G review

Basic triple camera setup

The Galaxy A16 5G has what we would call a pretty basic triple-camera setup. The main camera is a 50MP unit without any bells and whistles. Then you get a pretty low-res 5MP selfie and a supplementary 2MP macro cam.

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. We couldn't find any info on the hardware of the 2MP macro cam.

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, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 13 MP GalaxyCore GC13A0, f/2.0, 1/3.1", 1.12µm; 1080p@30fps

The Galaxy A16 5G is limited to only recording 1080p video on its main camera. However, that limitation seems to be artificial. It doesn't come from the camera or the chipset, and we were able to record 4K videos with the Open Camera app. But more on that later.

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 5G captures binned photos at 12.5MP by default. These are pretty solid overall but fail to truly impress. Detail is good, though there is quite a bit of softness on surfaces. Colors look nice and natural.

Dynamic range, however, isn't great. The sky is often clipped. Contrast isn't great, either. The processing is rather aggressive, with plenty of sharpening going on.

Samsung Galaxy A16 5G: 12.5MP main camera samples

The main camera does all right with people. Facial features come through, and skin tones look nice, even if they are not exactly true to life.

Portraits are very convincing, with nearly perfect subject detection and separation and a convincing background blur effect.

Samsung Galaxy A16 5G: 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.

Samsung Galaxy A16 5G: 50MP main camera samples

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

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. Contrast and dynamic range are far from perfect.

Samsung Galaxy A16 5G: 12.5MP main camera 2x zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

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

Samsung Galaxy A16 5G: 5MP ultrawide camera samples

We can't say that we are overly impressed with the quality of these shots. 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.

Macro camera

The 2MP macro camera on the Galaxy A16 5G 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 5G: 2MP macro camera samples

Selfie camera

The selfie camera on the Galaxy A16 5G is not particularly special in any way. It has a fixed focus and can only capture 1080p video. The focal plane is pretty deep and forgiving, which is great. Quality isn't half bad. Skin tone and gesture come through nicely in these shots.

Samsung Galaxy A16 5G: 13MP selfie camera samples

Low-light camera quality

The main camera captures decent but far from spectacular low-light photos. The detail is good, and so are the colors. There is some noise, but it is kept to a minimum. Darker areas are surprisingly well-developed.

However, light sources are blown out. Contrast and dynamic range could use some work too.

Samsung Galaxy A16 5G: 12.5MP main camera low-light samples

The Galaxy A16 5G lacks an automatic night mode. You have to trigger it manually yourself and it only works on the main and selfie cameras.

Using the Night mode has benefits if you value sharpness and dynamic range as both are improved considerably.

Samsung Galaxy A16 5G: 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 5G: 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 5G: 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 5G: 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 5G: 13MP selfie camera night mode samples

Video capture quality

The Galaxy A16 5G 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 and a 48 kHz stereo audio stream inside an MP4 container. Pretty standard stuff.

The Galaxy A16 5G can capture videos at a maximum of 1080p with its main, ultrawide, selfie cameras. This doesn't seem to be a hard chipset limitation, though, since we were able to capture 4K using Open Camera. Unfortunately, the 4K clips end up with the same video bitrate as the 1080p videos (around 17 Mbps), which is way too low for UHD. And you lose the video stabilization when shooting in 4K in this way. So we recommend sticking to the default 1080p recording, which produces nice videos.

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

FullHD video from the main camera on the A16 5G is quite alright. The contrast and colors are fine. Even low-light videos come out with good dynamic range.

Stabilization works really well in 1080p too, even if you don't get Samsung's SuperSteady mode here.