- Sturdier design
- Premium features
- Great screen and specs
- No wireless charging
- Battery life lags behind flagship models
- No headphone jack
Once a formidable force within the mid-range market, Samsung’s budget-friendly A-series hasn’t lost ground so much as its lustre. In recent years, it’s settled into something of a safe bet and that doesn’t fundamentally change this time around. If you’re seeking a reason to upgrade from an earlier A-series device to the new Galaxy A55, you probably won’t find a huge list of reasons to do so. On the other hand, those in search of an alternative to flagship phones like the Galaxy S24 will likely find a fresh one here.
The Galaxy A55 might be half the price of its flagship counterpart, but the difference between the two isn’t nearly as large as you might expect. Where last year’s Galaxy A54 made strides towards looking more premium, the Galaxy A55 feels the part and then some.
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Telstra
$93.41/mth
Min. cost $735.76
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It’s hard to talk about the Samsung Galaxy A55 without touching on how it compares to the cheaper Galaxy A35. Both devices are built around a 6.6-inch Super AMOLED screen with a 120hz refresh rate and 1080p+ resolution. However, the more expensive of the two is built of sterner stuff. I mean that literally. The sides of the Galaxy A55 are made from aluminium instead of plastic.
Although small, this detail sets the tone for much of what works about the Galaxy A55. While the Galaxy A35 is far from frugal, there’s a willingness to indulge here that sets its sibling apart from Samsung’s other budget-friendly devices. The storage and screen involved might be identical. Nevertheless, the Galaxy A55 succeeds in upping the ante with more memory (with a total of 8GB), a faster (Exynos 1480) processor, snazzier stylings, and a superior camera setup.
The front of the Galaxy A55 houses a lone 32MP selfie camera. Meanwhile, the reverse side is home to a triple-lens configuration that leverages the combined might of a 50MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide lens, and a 5MP macro lens. In practice, I found that this hardware didn’t blow me away but it did acquit itself well in most situations.
The Galaxy A55 isn't likely to sate those who hunger for additional zoom or are big on content creation, but there's just enough fidelity and flexibility to handle more everyday needs. The night mode here isn’t on par with something like the iPhone 15 or Pixel 8 Pro, but it is a clear improvement on last year’s offering and competitive compared to what many other devices around this price point can offer.
For a sense of what the camera on the Samsung Galaxy A55 can do fresh out of the box, check out the image gallery below.
Galaxy A55 camera samples
Check out these camera samples taken on the Galaxy A55. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.
Even if the Galaxy A55 gets plenty of mileage out of going that one step further than you’d expect a device of its price would go, it’s hard not to wish it went that little bit further.
Aside from wireless charging (or a headphone jack), the Galaxy A55 comes kitted out with all the bells and whistles that you’d usually have to shell out for a flagship to get your hands on. The list here includes IP67 water resistance, eSIM, 5G connectivity, 25W fast charging, a 5,000mAh battery and an in-display fingerprint sensor.
The device even comes with a select handful of the Galaxy AI software features found in this year's Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Ultra. This list of AI-adjacent image features isn't a long one, boiling down to the quick and easy removal of unwanted people, reflections and noise.
You'll still have to shell out if you want more involved or advanced features like AI-powered transcription, translation or instant slow-mo. Those features have their issues, but it's still a shame as they'd be a nice value-add for the budget-conscious buyers that the Galaxy A55 is aimed at.
While the humble hardware inside the Galaxy A55 might be partly to blame for those auspicious absences, the Exynos 1480 inside is hardly a sloucher.
Even if the Galaxy A55 isn't the fastest handset I've ever used, it was still more or less fast enough for my needs most of the time. There’s a defined snappiness to a flagship processor that you won’t find here, but I rarely found myself wanting or waiting. My stable of social media apps loaded fast and games like Dune Imperium and Diablo Immortal ran with few issues and plenty of frames-per-second.
In contrast, the battery life of the Galaxy A55 was one front where the device surprised me. During my time with it, the budget-friendly device would usually manage to preserve through two full days of use on a single charge with between six and seven hours of screen time.
Burned down from 100% to zero using video streamed over WiFi, the Samsung Galaxy A55 lasted 20 hours and 35 minutes. Subjected to the same test, the Galaxy S24 Plus beat that by around five hours. It’s still a decent result but interesting to note given that longer battery life is usually one of the perks of avoiding premium devices. All this is to say that while the Galaxy A55 isn’t a bad performer per se, the difference between it and a flagship device like the Galaxy S24 Plus isn’t what it once was.
Samsung Galaxy A55 - Final Thoughts
There’s always room for improvement but little to fault about Samsung’s latest and greatest budget-friendly phone. The Galaxy A55 isn’t quite as wallet-friendly as the Galaxy A35 but it gets that much closer to delivering the promises it makes about being a flagship at half the price.
I don’t know if there’s enough here to justify an upgrade if you’re already abroad on the A-Series hype train but if you love everything about the Galaxy S24 except the price then this is less than just a substitute and more of a genuine alternative. The Galaxy A55 is a timely reminder that Samsung’s budget phones have become just as formidable as its flagships rather than just a shadow of them.
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Fergus Halliday
Digital Content Editor
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