Crime against technology: Samsung Galaxy A16 is the best-selling Android phone no one should buy

Now, it’s true - people on a budget don’t necessarily want or expect to get a phone that costs $200 but looks like a $1,200 flagship. But looking at the new Galaxy A16, you’d think Samsung has taken it to the extreme.

And I don’t know if there’s a nice way to say it, so I’ll just ask… What’s with the horrible design, Samsung? While having thick display borders or a notch might seem reasonable for a $250 phone, having both almost starts to seem… deliberate.

But it’s not just the aesthetic design - the thick bottom bezel also makes the phone unnecessarily large. In fact the Galaxy A16 is quite a bit larger than the already large iPhone 16 Pro Max, which has a 6.9-inch display vs 6.7-inches on the A16.

And, no I’m not directly comparing the two phones - I’m simply making a point about how big the A16 is.

Samsung markets the new Galaxy A16 as a phone that can last 6 years, but is that true?

The dated design aside, the 4GB of RAM in the base variant, and a subpar Exynos/MediaTek chip on board make it so that I don’t need to give you the entire spec sheet to explain what’s wrong “on the inside” of the Galaxy A16.

Launching at this time of the year, at €250/$200, puts the Galaxy A16 in an impossible position - at least if you know other phones exist (and they are available in your region.

Motorola and Xiaomi's excellent budget phones make the Galaxy A16 impossible to recommend  

I won’t go into too much detail and a full comparison, but there are a number of phones in the €200-300 price range that will run circles around the Galaxy A16 in virtually all areas, offering far better processors, cameras, design and premium features like IP68 water-resistance and fast-charging.

• Galaxy A35 (goes for as low as €240 in Europe, or $260 in the US)

• Motorola Moto G85 (goes for as low as €220 in Europe, $290 in the US)

• Motorola Moto Edge 50 Fusion (goes for as low as €270 in Europe, not sold in the US)

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 / Xiaomi Poco M6 Pro (goes for as low as €170 in Europe, not sold in the US)

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro (not globally-available yet - can be imported to Europe and the US for as low as 250 euros/dollars)

Galaxy A16 will prove long software support doesn’t mean much if the phone doesn’t have the hardware to keep up with the new software

And that leads me to what’s perhaps the most intriguing reason to choose the Galaxy A16 over any other phone in the price range, and that’s Samsung’s fairly shocking promise for 6 years of OS and security updates.

“What’s the problem, Martin? It seems like Samsung is being generous.” Well, don’t be too quick to judge…

Although Samsung’s marketing leans on the whole “6 years of OS updates”, wouldn’t this promise be irrelevant if the phone is laggy when you take it out of the box on day one? And the reason I say this is because this was the case with the Galaxy A15, which showed lag and stutters from the get go.

Call me crazy but making “6 years of OS updates” the main marketing point for a phone that might or might not be able to handle 3 OS updates before becoming unusable, seems… like a trap. Especially when 50-100% more powerful phones are available in the price segment.

Is Samsung taking advantage of its position in the market to sell dated budget phones in developing countries?

In the end, Samsung knows that budget phones like the Galaxy A14 were and are the company’s best-sellers, so deciding to change nothing about the ancient design and laggy performance is quite disappointing.

To add salt to the wound, Samsung promises 6 years of OS updates for the Galaxy A16, which seems like putting a bandaid on a broken leg.

And as someone who tests and uses flagship phones, I might not be the target market for the Galaxy A16, but this doesn’t mean I can’t see how cheap Samsung is playing it here.

The truth of the matter is that Samsung’s brand following and the fact that Galaxy phones are the most widely-available budget phones around the globe will probably propel the Galaxy A15 and A16 to sell well. But while the company could get away with it 2-3 years ago, this cheap trick is starting to feel… too cheap.

The above-mentioned alternatives to the Galaxy A16 make it look like a budget phone from 2018, which might be where it belongs. So… How long before people realize they’re getting ripped off?