Samsung's most affordable 5G smartphone discreetly goes official at last
With three ultra-high-end smartphones, a premium pair of noise-cancelling earbuds, and two wireless chargers seemingly set for an official announcement tomorrow, January 14, you shouldn't be surprised to see Samsung's latest mid-range handset unveiled today.
Of course, the company could have taken the wraps off the undoubtedly affordable Galaxy A32 5G after doing the same for the S21 family and the Galaxy Buds Pro, but this thing has been an open book for a while now, with its decidedly unconventional camera design and notched screen leaked in factory CAD-based renders all the way back in November 2020.
How low could it go? Well, we don't know
Curiously enough, Samsung has yet to confirm the specs and features of the oft-rumored Galaxy A52 5G and A72 5G, whereas the A42 5G broke cover a full four months ago. Perhaps even more bizarrely, the hot new Galaxy A32 5G hasn't received a proper announcement by the time of publication, with an official infographic merely setting the phone's key specifications in stone while leaving things like a recommended price point or commercial release date up in the air.
We're also not sure if we should expect the 5G-enabled 6.5-incher to ever see daylight in markets like the US given that the 4G LTE-only A11 and A21, as well as the A51 5G and A71 5G, are officially available stateside but the aforementioned A42 5G is not and neither is the Galaxy A31.
With an HD+ Infinity-V display in tow sporting a fairly modest resolution of around 1600 x 720 pixels, as well as a side-mounted fingerprint scanner instead of a trendy screen-embedded biometric recognition solution, this bad boy will undoubtedly be Samsung's cheapest 5G smartphone to date.
Although it's hard to predict exactly how low the Galaxy A32 5G will be able to go in terms of retail pricing, we're pretty certain the goal is to undercut the likes of the $399 Motorola One 5G Ace and possibly match the $299 OnePlus Nord N10 5G.
Lots of cameras, lots of juice, and a decent amount of speed
To pull a sub-$400 or even a sub-$300 price tag off, Samsung was expected to opt for a MediaTek Dimensity 720 SoC rather than a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765, 750, or 690, and while the company is not ready to confirm the processor's make and model yet, its two 2.0 GHz and six 2.0 GHz CPU cores suggest the rumors were indeed accurate.
That mid-end chipset is primarily used in Asian and European markets by companies like Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo, mind you, pairing with 4, 6, and 8GB RAM options on the Galaxy A32 5G to presumably deliver a satisfying level of raw power for most prospective buyers.
The large 5,000mAh battery supporting 15W charging speeds is undeniably another key selling point, although the handset is not exactly razor-thin or lightweight, at 9.1mm and 205 grams respectively. The rear-facing camera system also looks... unusual (to say the least), including a respectable 48MP main snapper, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, 5MP macro shooter, and 2MP depth sensor.
Equipped with both a generous 128 gigs of internal storage space and a microSD card slot (we can't believe we actually have to mention the latter as a standout feature now), the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is set to be released... soon (we think) in four paint jobs, uninspiredly branded Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Blue, and Awesome Violet. The only awesome thing about this phone is likely hopefully that unknown MSRP.
Things that are NOT allowed: