The Galaxy S21 series features the best possible Android phones you can buy from Samsung this year, with the S21 Ultra being the most powerful of the three flagships. Samsung did not repeat last year’s pricing mistake, and the S21’s entry price is much better at $799. But it’s unlikely that the S21 will match iPhone 12 sales this year.
In fact, the Samsung phone that most people will buy this year might not even be one of its expensive flagships.
Omdia’s smartphone sales rankings for last year showed that the iPhone 11, iPhone SE, and iPhone 12 were the best-selling handsets of 2020. Coming in fourth was Samsung’s mid-range Galaxy A51 with an estimated 23.2 million sales. The following comparison also shows that the Galaxy A50 was Samsung’s second best-selling phone of 2019.
The fact that Samsung just hosted a virtual Unpacked launch event for the Galaxy A52, A52 5G, and Galaxy A72 further proves just how vital the Galaxy A series has become for the company. These shouldn’t be the kind of devices worthy of a press event when a press release would do, but sales matter.
The three handsets will offer buyers a few high-end features for more affordable price tags, including several upgrades over their predecessors. The Galaxy A52 costs €349 ($415), the A52 5G is slightly pricier at €429 ($510), and the Galaxy A72 is the most expensive of the three at €449 ($534). Samsung did not share US pricing during the event, indicating that the phone won’t initially be available in North America — only in European markets.
All the handsets feature a similar Infinity-O display, in-display fingerprint sensor, quad-lens camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), IP67 rating, and 90Hz refresh rate screen. The phones feature expandable storage via microSD cards, a feature not available on the S21 series. The handsets also come with a charger in the box. Each phone runs Android 11 out of the box and will get three years of Android updates and four years of security updates.
Other specs include an unspecified octa-core processor, 4GB, 6GB, or 8GB of RAM (depending on model and market), 128GB or 256GB of storage, dual-SIM support, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C (Type 2.0), NFC, headphone jack, 32-megapixel selfie camera, and a 64-megapixel primary rear sensor.
The A52 features a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with 800 nits of brightness, and the 5G version supports 120Hz refresh rates. The other three rear cameras are a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, 5-megapixel macro camera, and 5-megapixel depth sensor. The 4,500 mAh battery supposedly delivers two days of use on a single charge and supports 25W charging speeds.
The A72 model features a bigger 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display and loses the depth sensor in favor of an 8-megapixel telephoto lens that supports 3x zoom. The phone features a slightly larger 5,000 mAh battery. It’s unclear whether a 5G version of the A72 will launch this year.
The phones will be available to order in select European markets on Wednesday, with other regions to follow. The full Unpacked event and other clips showing the new Samsung Galaxy A-series phones are below:
