Yesterday Samsung revealed its new additions to the A-series of smartphones – the A70 and A80.
These two handsets occupy the upper-end of the mid-range and they have some really incredible features such as an under-display fingerprint scanner, a flipping camera (exclusively in the A80) and massive batteries.
The A70 is expected to retail for R7 999 while the A80 will fetch R12 999. This is great but what if you only had R7 000 to spend on a smartphone?
If that happens to be your situation then look no further than the Samsung Galaxy A50. At R6 999 it’s not the cheapest mobile phone you could get but if you’re looking for premium features, the A50 is packed with them.
For starters, the handset features the same under-display fingerprint as seen in it’s more expensive counterparts.
But that’s not where the similarities end.
A50 | A70 | A80 | |
CPU | Octa-core (Cortex-A73 and Cortex-A53) @ 2.2GHz | Octa-core (Kryo 460 Gold and Kryo 460 Silver) @ 2.3GHz | Octa-core (Kryo 460 Gold and Kryo 460 Silver) |
Memory | 4/6GB | 6/8GB | 8GB |
Storage | 64/128GB | 128GB | 128GB |
Front camera | 25MP, F2.0, HDR | 32MP, F2.0, HDR | See rear camera |
Rear camera | 25MP, F1.7, PDAF and 8MP F2.2, 12mm and 5MP, F2.2, depth sensor | 32MP, F1.7, PDAF and 8MP F2.2 12mm and 5MP F2.2, depth sensor | 48MP, F2.0, PDAF and 8MP, F2.2, 12mm and TOF 3D camera |
Battery | 4 000mAh | 4 500mAh | 3 700mAh |
Price | R6 999 | R7 999 | R12 999 |
As you can see in the table above, for R6 999 you sure are getting a lot of smartphone. The front camera has a slightly lower spec compared to the A70 and A80 as is the bigger sensor at the rear of the handset.
The question buyers will have to ask themselves is whether slightly better selfies are worth an additional R1 000.
The displays are all FHD+ which is great for watching videos and, more importantly, preventing the battery from draining at a drastic rate. While we love our Samsung Galaxy S10+, that WQHD+ display is a battery hog.
Another interesting thing to note is that the entire A50, A70 and A80 will all support Android 9.0 and Samsung’s own One UI.
In terms of build quality, the entire A-series range feels incredibly solid, despite the mid-range nature of the smartphones. Honestly, when Samsung tells us it’s aimed for a sweet spot in terms of pricing for this A-series range we have to admit that it’s nailed that.
Picking a favourite between the A50, A70 and A80 is tough but on paper the A50 has knocked our socks off.
We can’t wait to get our hands on the A50 when it launches later this month in South Africa.