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Samsung has been making smartphones – great smartphones, even – for long enough to have the recipe pretty much perfected.
For a mid-range device like the Galaxy A55, that recipe is fairly straightforward: A solid camera, robust build quality and an attractive price.
The goal is to make it appealing for the mass market, but at a more affordable price than the flagship smartphones on offer.
So while Samsung still keeps its best goodies for the Galaxy S series and the Galaxy Z series, the Galaxy A55 is a more balanced phone.
There’s still plenty to get excited by though. It does get a taste of AI functionality, plus improved security and a more robust body than last year’s Galaxy A54.
Samsung Galaxy A55 review: Design
The A55 doesn’t have the same sleekness as the S24, but it’s still a handsome device in its own way.
Wider across and with sharper edges, the A55 has seen a reasonable improvement over last year’s A54 design.
Both the front and back of the phone are now Gorilla Glass Victus for a more robust product, and the frame of the phone is now aluminium.
That combination gives the phone a bit of heft. While it feels maybe a little too wide for my hands, the corners mean you get a solid grip, and it doesn’t feel like it will slip and fly away too easily.
The phone is IP67 rated for dust and water, which means you can get the phone dirty and the dust won’t get in. It can also survive short periods of immersion in shallow water.
Display
The display itself is 6.6 inches on the diagonal, with rounded corners that help the screen fill the front of the phone.
The resolution is 1080 × 2340 FHD+, and there’s a small pinhole camera that breaks up the front panel.
It also boasts a 120Hz refresh rate, which helps the screen respond quickly and smoothly across the various navigation and settings I’ve tested so far.
Camera and other specs
Flip the phone over, and you can see the three lenses of the camera array. You get a 50MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture, alongside a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide and a 5MP f/2.4 macro lens.
While it’s a little disappointing, there’s no telephoto lens here, it’s not too much of a surprise given the phone’s price.
Samsung does make it up a little by offering 4K video recording at 30fps.
Oh, and also slipping in some S24 series’ AI features. Namely, you can swipe up on a shot from the gallery to see AI suggested edits, like remastering the shot or removing reflections for photo’s taken through windows.
Rounding out the rest of the specs inside the device is a 5,000 mAh battery which will give you 1-2 days worth of juice, an Exynos 1480 powering the device and 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage.
Samsung Galaxy A55 review: Performance
I’ve been using the A55 for a couple of weeks now, and I can comfortably say that the phone is no slouch.
For a mid-weight phone, the A55 is snappy and responsive to commands, and the screen is quick to respond.
Here’s how it stands up against the other smartphones we’ve tested in the same price bracket:
Single-core:
Multi-core
Vulkan Compute
As you can see, the A55 stands victorious on the CPU front, with a strong GPU score as well.
But more importantly, the phone just feels responsive. It’s not as quick as the S24 series, but it still feels quicker than the likes of the Moto G84 5G.
Battery life
The A55’s 5,000mAh battery has it sitting on par with other mid range devices, though I do find it amusing that it’s technically bigger than both the S24 and the S24 Plus.
Capacity is only one part of the equation though – things like the processor and the display technology do play a part in how quickly a battery will drain.
Fortunately, Samsung has found a good balance here. I comfortably got through a full day of use without any real concerns.
I did find that coming from a more premium device, I missed wireless charging as a default way to add some juice to my device, but I can understand why it isn’t included here.
Camera performance
Samsung has a history of over saturating its images, but it seems the company has taken this feedback on board this year and toned it down.
Pictures look crisp and detailed, with good colour reproduction and exposure.
The camera array isn’t too different from last year’s A54 5G, though software improvements help.
Here are some sample images to give you an idea of what it’s like to shoot with the A55.
The other feature worth calling out here is that Samsung has introduced some of its image editing AI features to the A55.
By swiping up on an image in Samsung’s Gallery app, you are given prompts to improve the picture by removing reflections or remastering the image.
It works reasonably well, some of the time.
The below shots were either “remastered”, made into a portrait or had shadows removed using the quick AI editing tools. The first three are probably fine, but the shadow removal on the plant looks quite average.
Samsung Galaxy A55 review: Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a solid smartphone that does everything you need it to, and does it well.
When you factor in that it is comfortably below the $1000 mark, yet still delivers a solid depth of features and robust performance, then it becomes extremely enticing.
Samsung has said that in Australia, the A series makes up somewhere around 40% of its sales, behind the flagship S series. With belts tightening this year due to the constant increase in the cost of living, the A55 is definitely a strong device to help push that percentage higher.
Buy the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G online
Samsung supplied the product for this review.
