Samsung Galaxy A42 5G review

Android 10 and OneUI 2.5

The Galaxy A42 5G boots Android 10, and our review unit arrived with Samsung's latest OneUI 2.5 on top.

The lockscreen is a familiar sight with a couple of shortcuts in the bottom corners and notification icons under a clock. Unfortunately, the Galaxy A42 5G does not support Always-On Display.

Unlocking the Galaxy A42 is best done with the under-screen fingerprint sensor - it works well enough with good speed and accuracy.

If, for whatever reason, you're not thrilled about the A42's fingerprint reader performance, there's also face recognition. It's just camera-based, no 3D face scanning, but it still offers a convenient (if not as secure) way to access your homescreen.

Lockscreen • Biometrics

There's little to set the OneUI 2.5 on the A42 apart from other current Samsung phones, regardless of the OneUI version - it all looks familiar.

Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Notification shade • Quick toggles • Task switcher

Gesture navigation is available, and you can choose that in the initial setup process or later on. A system-wide dark mode is par for the course, too.

Navigation options • Navigation options • Navigation options • Dark mode

Edge panels are present on the Galaxy A42. It is a well-known, long-standing feature that gives you quick access to apps, actions, or tools with a single swipe from the side. You can choose which side the handle is located on and adjust its position along the edge of the phone.

Edge panels

Otherwise, the software package is similar to other Samsung phones, with an in-house Gallery app and a file manager. What you won't find on the Galaxy flagships, however, is an FM radio, and there is one here.

There is no Samsung web browser on the Galaxy A42. Google's Chrome is the default app instead.

Gallery • Files • FM radio

Performance and benchmarks

The new Snapdragon 750G 5G is powering the Galaxy A42 5G. It is only the second time we meet this SoC, but we already know it is quite a capable piece of hardware. It's a typical mid-range SoC filling the gap between the Snapdragon 765G and the Snapdragon 690. It can also be considered as a successor to the Snapdragon 730G. It's still built on the 8nm node.

The CPU configuration is as follows - 2x Kryo 570 Gold (Cortex-A77 derivative) at 2.2 GHz and 6x Kryo 570 Silver (Cortex-A55 derivative) at 1.8GHz. The chipset also gets a slightly newer Adreno 619 GPU, which is expected to be 10% faster than the Adreno 618 found in the SD730G.

The "G" at the end of the name denotes that the chipset has been optimized for gaming as well supporting Snapdragon Elite Gaming and the fifth-gen AI Engine.

As for memory, the handset starts at 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal UFS 2.1 storage. You cannot opt for beefier storage, but you and can purchase models with 6GB RAM and even 8GB of RAM.

Let's see this chipset in action.

The Snapdragon 750G 5G offers similar raw CPU performance in single and multi-threaded scenarios as the Snapdragon 765G, and it is better than the Dimensity 800U inside the Realme 7 5G.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  2009
• OnePlus Nord
  1953
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  1927
• Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
  1910
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  1848
• Realme 7 Pro
  1811
• Realme 7 5G
  1794
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  1785
• Poco X3 NFC
  1777
• Samsung Galaxy M51
  1774
• Realme 7
  1681
• Poco M3
  1398
• Samsung Galaxy A41
  1175

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  661
• Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
  643
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  616
• OnePlus Nord
  610
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  608
• Realme 7 5G
  598
• Realme 7 Pro
  576
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  571
• Poco X3 NFC
  568
• Samsung Galaxy M51
  546
• Realme 7
  536
• Samsung Galaxy A41
  309
• Poco M3
  308

The Adreno 619 is an excellent performer in this class and offers up to par raw performance.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord
  38
• Realme 7 5G
  35
• Realme 7
  34
• Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
  33
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  33
• Poco X3 NFC
  33
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  31
• Realme 7 Pro
  30
• Samsung Galaxy M51
  30
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  26
• Samsung Galaxy A41
  13
• Poco M3
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  8.1

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord
  21
• Realme 7
  20
• Realme 7 5G
  20
• Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
  19
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  19
• Poco X3 NFC
  19
• Realme 7 Pro
  18
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  18
• Samsung Galaxy M51
  17
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A41
  8.1
• Poco M3
  7.2
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  5.2

The Galaxy A42 5G has a huge advantage over its peers, though - the 720p screen. And when it comes to onscreen performance, the Galaxy A42 is a real champ.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
  56
• OnePlus Nord
  34
• Realme 7 5G
  31
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  28
• Realme 7
  28
• Poco X3 NFC
  27
• Samsung Galaxy M51
  26
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  26
• Realme 7 Pro
  25
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  23
• Samsung Galaxy A41
  12
• Poco M3
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  7.4

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
  33
• OnePlus Nord
  19
• Realme 7
  17
• Realme 7 5G
  17
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  16
• Poco X3 NFC
  16
• Samsung Galaxy M51
  15
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  15
• Realme 7 Pro
  14
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A41
  6.9
• Poco M3
  5.9
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  4.6

The lower screen resolution probably helped the Galaxy A42 5G beat any other competitor on the AnTuTu 8 test, and it came on top of or mid-range chart.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
  324686
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite
  318882
• Realme 7 5G
  318535
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G
  318117
• OnePlus Nord
  312794
• Realme 7
  292828
• Poco X3 NFC
  283750
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  279625
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  279579
• Realme 7 Pro
  278414
• Samsung Galaxy M51
  266620
• Poco M3
  177904
• Samsung Galaxy A41
  170044

There are only good things we can say about the Galaxy A42 performance. First, it offers an excellent CPU, GPU, and overall raw performance.

We tried various games, and the phone offers flagship performance in all of them. While the A42 doesn't have an HRR screen, it still offers one of the smoothest and best-quality gaming experiences you can get at that €299 price.

The phone doesn't get hot and doesn't throttle even when running 3D Mark's 20minute WildLife Stress test four times in a row. Nope, the Galaxy A42 is 99.6% stable in all runs. Just wow!

Finally, as you can imagine, the phone handles Android and One UI lag-free and as smooth as it can get.

Yes, the Galaxy A42 5G is a real powerhouse - it offers outstanding gaming performance and a stutter-free Android experience. It's more than we could have wished for at that price, and if it comes at the expense of the higher resolution, well, then perhaps it was worth it.