Samsung Galaxy M31s hands-on review

Conclusion

At the beginning of this preview, we mentioned that the Samsung Galaxy M31s is a familiar device, and you know what they say about familiarity. While Samsung keeps switching things around, this still is fundamentally the same phone that we looked at back in June, and before that in February, and before that in December.

Now there are some good bits in here; the display is still good quality, even if it's just 60Hz. The main camera can take decent quality pictures. And lastly, the massive battery with improved fast charging is class-leading. But all of it is based around a fairly old chipset at this point, which was never particularly quick to begin with, and is now thoroughly outclassed by all the quicker Snapdragon models around it.

And that's the issue with the Galaxy M31s as a whole. There are several devices you could purchase instead, which are either cheaper and are a bit better or are similarly priced and are a lot better. For example, you can pick up the Realme 6 Pro, which has a better chipset, a smooth 90Hz display and more premium build with a glass back. Or you could get the Realme X3, which costs just a bit more than the Galaxy M31s and has a Snapdragon 855+ and a 120Hz display. Even last year's Xiaomi K20 Pro is a better deal in comparison.

So even though the Galaxy M31s is not an expensive phone, it is still not great value when compared to everything else that is on the market. Even if this phone came with a more modern and competitive Snapdragon chipset, it would be worth recommending but the combination of the slow and aging Exynos 9611 chipset and an increasingly outdated 60Hz display means the M31s just feels like you're using a phone from a year ago. Which, if you think about it, it is.

Pros

• Great display quality
• Massive battery with fast charging
• Decent 64MP main camera

Cons

• Slow and outdated Exynos chipset
• Only 60Hz display
• Mediocre ultrawide camera
• Excessive pre-installed bloatware with aggressive attempts to install even more
• Plasticky design