The smartphone mid-range sector has become very competitive in recent years, and Samsung managed to be one of the main players in this market too, with its Galaxy A5x line-up. However, in 2024, the competition is tougher than ever and the new Samsung Galaxy A55 has to outmatch not only phones from other brands but also last year’s Galaxy A54 and other Samsung smartphones with a relatively similar price. In this review, I evaluate the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G, the improvements that it brings, and the user experience it offers, and I also compare it with its predecessor. Read on to see whether the Galaxy A55 is a good choice for you:

Samsung Galaxy A55 5G: Who is it good for?

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a good choice for:

• People who want a stylish Android smartphone
• Those who need a phone with good build quality
• Anyone looking for a mid-range option from Samsung

Pros and cons

The best things about the Samsung Galaxy A55 are:

• Good performance both in daily tasks and gaming
• It has a bright Super AMOLED screen with 120 Hz refresh rate
• The camera system is good for its price and has OIS (Optical Image Stabilization)
• Solid build and Gorilla Glass Victus+
• It’s protected against dust and water (IP67 certification)
• It comes with the latest Android 14 and Samsung One UI 6.1
• Good battery life
• You can add more storage with a microSD card

There are some downsides, too:

• There’s no charger included in the box
• Lots of preinstalled bloatware
• The launch price is a bit high

Verdict

The previous Samsung Galaxy A5x models were easy to recommend to anyone looking for a great mid-range smartphone. However, this year, people have many more great alternatives, and the Samsung Galaxy A55 feels like it has changed too little over its predecessor to stand out in this cut-throat market. Don’t get me wrong, the Samsung Galaxy A55 is a good smartphone with excellent battery life, a beautiful bright screen, and excellent gaming performance. However, its predecessor, the Galaxy A54, has a better price and offers a similar experience, while the competition charges less for similar devices. The Galaxy A55 is a good choice for people who want a Samsung Galaxy mid-range smartphone, and it will be an even better choice when Samsung lowers its price and aligns it with the rest of the market.

Design and build quality

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a big and heavy smartphone, about 6.34 inches long (161.1 mm), 3.05 inches (77.4 mm) wide, and 0.32 inches (8.2 mm) thick. It weighs 7.51 ounces (213 grams). This might be too heavy for some people, but it’s probably because Samsung put a big 5000 mAh battery in it. On the bright side, this weight also makes the phone feel strong and sturdy.

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a large phone

The back of the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is covered with tough Gorilla Glass, although I’m not sure which version exactly because the company doesn’t specify. The phone only has the cameras and the Samsung logo on its back. Since it’s shiny, it reflects a lot of light and tends to gather many fingerprints and smudges. Oh, and the cameras stick out a bit, but the flash is level with the back of the phone.

The back looks similar to that of the Galaxy S24

The model I tested was the Awesome Navy color, which looks serious and elegant. However, if you prefer a more playful look, you can also get it in three other colors: Awesome Iceblue, Awesome Lilac, and Awesome Lemon.

Color options for the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G

On the front, the Galaxy A55 5G has a big 6.6-inch AMOLED screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+.

The hole for the selfie camera is pretty small, and the top speaker is hidden under a long, thin cutout between the screen and the phone’s aluminum frame.

The Samsung Galaxy A55 5G features a large screen

On the phone’s top edge is a tiny hole for a microphone and a slot for the SIM card tray.

The top edge of the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G

The left side lacks buttons, while the right side has the Volume rocker and the Power button.

The right edge of the Samsung Galaxy A55

At the bottom of the phone’s body, there’s the USB-C port, a loudspeaker, and two more small holes for microphones.

Notice the design of the loudspeaker. Looks a microSD card slot, doesn't it?

Last but not least, it’s worth noting that, unlike many mid-range Android phones, this device is IP67 certified for protection against dust and water (up to 1 meter deep for a maximum of 30 minutes).

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a large Android smartphone that feels solid despite being covered by glass on both sides. It has a classic, elegant Samsung-specific design, and except for its size, it is difficult to tell it apart from its predecessor, the Galaxy A54.

Hardware specifications

When it comes to what’s on the inside, one of the essential things about the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is that it runs on a Samsung-made Exynos 1480 chipset. It has eight cores - four are performance cores and run at a frequency of 2.75 GHz, and four are energy-efficient ones, ticking at a 2.0 GHz clock. The chipset also includes an Xclipse 530 graphics unit. The smartphone sample I tried had 8 GB of memory (RAM) and 256 GB of storage space. There are two other versions of this phone that come with 128 GB of space and 8 GB of memory, or 256 GB of space and 12 GB of memory.

Storage and battery details

The screen on the Samsung Galaxy A55 is pretty good. It uses a Super AMOLED panel with vibrant colors and a high 120 Hz refresh rate. It can also get really bright, up to 1000 nits, which is great when using it outdoors, in direct sunlight. The screen resolution of 1080 by 2340 pixels paired with the large 6.6 inches diagonal size translates into a 390 ppi density (pixels per inch). In layman’s words, this means that you can clearly see details in images and text.

The display settings and refresh rate

There are three cameras on the back of the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G:

• The main camera has 50 megapixels, PDAF (phase detection autofocus), f/1.8 aperture, and OIS (optical stabilization system)
• An ultrawide (123˚) camera with a 12-megapixel sensor and an f/2.2 aperture
• A 5-megapixel macro camera with an f/2.4 aperture

The cameras on the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G

Behind the screen, towards the top of the phone, there’s also a selfie camera with a 32-megapixel sensor and an f2/2 aperture. The Samsung Galaxy A55 can shoot videos in up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second or in 1080p resolution at a framerate of either 30 or 60.

The selfie camera on the Samsung Galaxy A55

In terms of connectivity and sensors, you should know that the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G comes, as its name suggests, with 5G support. It’s available either as a single-SIM or dual-SIM phone (nano-SIM plus eSIM) and has support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3.

The Samsung Galaxy A55 can use a micro SD card

Depending on the region you live in, the phone also includes an NFC chip (like in the European Union). On top of all that, the smartphone is equipped with many sensors: GPS, accelerometer, gyro, virtual proximity sensing, compass, and an under-display optical fingerprint scanner.

The battery inside the Galaxy A55 is generous, with a capacity of 5000 milliampere-hours (mAh), so it should last you for at least a day, if not two, before having to charge it. The smartphone also supports 25-watt wired fast charging. However, it doesn’t support wireless charging.

Battery and charging details

For the complete list of technical specifications, check the official product page: Samsung Galaxy A55 5G.

Turn the page to see what my experience using the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G was like, what I found out about its cameras and the results the smartphone got in a couple of benchmarks.