Samsung Galaxy A55 review
Introduction and specs
The success of the Galaxy A54 has set the bar high for the just-released Galaxy A55. After the Samsung Galaxy S and Z foldable series, the Galaxy A5x series is likely the most popular in the company’s portfolio for good reason.
This year’s model makes gains in key areas. The new A55 boasts a bigger display, a more powerful chipset, more RAM in the base configuration and a tougher and more premium build.
Samsung Galaxy A55 specs at a glance:
- Body: 161.1×77.4×8.2mm, 213g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus+), glass back (Gorilla Glass), aluminum frame; IP67 dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 min).
- Display: 6.60″ Super AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1000 nits (HBM), 1080x2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 390ppi; Always-on display.
- Chipset: Exynos 1480 (4 nm): Octa-core (4×2.75 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Xclipse 530.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot).
- OS/Software: Android 14, One UI 6.1.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 123˚, 1/3.06″, 1.12µm; Macro: 5 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/2.74″, 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; 25W wired.
- Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Hybrid Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.3; NFC.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers; virtual proximity sensing during calls.
Most other aspects of what made the Galaxy A54 successful remain untouched – the microSD card support, good primary camera garnished with a decent ultrawide shooter, dependable battery life and IP67-rated build. Moreover, this time, it uses an aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection.
But will this be enough to persuade potential buyers? After all, the sub-€500 competition in Europe is fierce, and the same goes for the Indian INR 40,000-ish bracket. What made the A54 good in 2023 doesn’t necessarily mean it will be enough in 2024. The competition is catching up, and we’ve seen some pretty solid midrangers come out in the first quarter of this year, so stick around to see if the A55 is worth your hard-earned money.
Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy A55
The Galaxy A55 comes in a modest retail box with only some user manuals, a SIM tool and a USB-C to USB-C cable for charging and data transfer. There’s no charger included.
Design, build quality, handling
At first glance, the Galaxy A55 looks almost identical to the A54, but some subtle changes have made it feel like a different phone in hand, and we mean that mostly positively.
The front glass is now Gorilla Glass Victus+. That’s a welcome upgrade from last year’s model, which had a plastic frame and dated Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The handset is still IP67-certified against water and dust. The back uses a more regular Gorilla Glass, and Samsung hasn’t revealed which type.
The back is painted in either Iceblue, Lilac, Navy (the one shown in our photos) or Lemon. For some reason, the Navy color looks black in the renders.
With the flat aluminum side frame and the slightly larger camera lenses on the back, the device feels a lot like the Galaxy S24. If it wasn’t for the size, we could have easily mistaken it in a blind test. The slightly elevated area around the power key and the volume rocker gives it away.
Samsung Galaxy A55
On the other hand, some may find the device a bit awkward to hold due to the sharp edges where the frame meets the front and back panels. But no matter the side frame, button placement and fingerprint reader position are well thought out. Everything is within reach.
Samsung Galaxy A55
Unfortunately, that’s all the good we could say about the fingerprint reader. It has been a while since we last used such an unreliable scanner. We even tried creating two different entries with the same fingertip, and it was still difficult to read correctly.
Slightly larger 120Hz OLED
This year’s Galaxy A55 basically borrows the A54’s display and adds 0.2″ on top. The A55 is now built around a 6.6-inch OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and regular old 1080 x 2340 pixels resolution. The panel also supports HDR10+ and has the necessary Widevine L1 certification for high-quality, HDR-enabled streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Despite its modern features, the display doesn’t have the modern looks for 2024. The 2024 trend is toward trimming bezels, and Samsung might have missed the memo. Some competitors, including even cheaper Redmi Note 13 phones, have visibly thinner bezels. Surely, it isn’t a deal-breaker, and some people wouldn’t mind the bezels, but it’s something worth noting.
Back to the actual substance – the Galaxy A55’s display performance hasn’t changed coming from the A54. We got up to 1,010 nits of maximum brightness in auto mode, while manual control can only get you to 446 nits.
Max display brightness test
White test pattern, 75% fill (nits)
- Manual mode
- Auto mode
Xiaomi 13T
Galaxy A35
Galaxy A55
Galaxy S23 FE
Nothing Phone (2a)
Galaxy A54
Anything above 1,000 nits is pretty solid for this price bracket and will provide good enough sunlight legibility. However, it would be unfair not to note that some cheaper phones beat Samsung at its own game and offer more than 1,400 nits of brightness.
Refresh rate
Refresh rate control is pretty standard. You have two options – Adaptive and Standard. The latter puts a cap at 60Hz, while Adaptive will try to keep the refresh rate at 120Hz in most scenarios. However, when showing static images or playing video, the display will dial down to 60Hz.
Battery life
Our new Active Use Score is an estimate of how long the battery will last if you use the device with a mix of all four test activities. You can adjust the calculation based on your usage pattern using the sliders below. You can read about our current battery life testing procedure here. For a comprehensive list of all tested devices so far, head this way.
The Galaxy A55 uses the same 5,000 mAh battery as its predecessors, but it’s running a new Exynos 1480 chipset, which promises improved efficiency. However, we have to take into account the display, which is now 0.2″ larger and could contribute to increased power consumption.
Yet, we see a significant improvement in battery life over the Galaxy A54. There are notable improvements in all tests except gaming.
The new Galaxy A55 achieves an Active Use Score of 13:27h, which is very good. Web browsing and call time see improvements, but our video streaming test is by far the biggest upgrade compared to last year’s model.
Charging speed
The charging speed has stayed the same as the Galaxy A55 still relies on the 25-watt Power Delivery protocol, which isn’t very competitive in its price bracket. It takes about 1 hour and 3 minutes to complete a full charging cycle, while a 30-minute charge would only bring the battery to 55%.
As you can see from the chart below, plenty of other similarly priced phones outpace the Galaxy A55 by a good margin and come with the appropriate charger in the box, too.
You’d have to buy a 25W Samsung charger separately or a third-party 25W PD 3.0, PPS-capable brick to get the most out of the charging.
Charging speed
- in 15 min
- in 30 min
- Time to full charge (from 0%)
Xiaomi 13T
Nothing Phone (2a)
Galaxy S23 FE
Galaxy A54
Galaxy A55
Galaxy A35
Speakers
Like its predecessors, the Galaxy A55 features a hybrid stereo speakers setup, meaning it has a main, downward-facing speaker and one that also acts as an earpiece. Naturally, there’s a significant discrepancy in loudness between the two speakers, but Samsung managed to narrow the gap. The bottom-firing speaker is still louder, but not by much.
We don’t know whether the A55 uses the same speakers as the A54, but they are tuned differently now and slightly louder. A score of -25.6 LUFS earns the Galaxy A55 a “Very Good” rating in terms of loudness.
Quality-wise, the speakers leave a bit more to be desired from the high-frequency sounds at maximum or near-maximum volume, but the bass is prominent and the vocals sound way cleaner than before. In fact, the A54 sounds muffled compared to the A55, so it will most likely be a great option for watching movies or listening to podcasts without headphones.
SamsungGalaxy A55-25.7 LUFSVERY GOODLOUDNESS SCORE
SamsungGalaxy A54-26.6 LUFSGOODLOUDNESS SCORE❌︎
Xiaomi13T-25.0 LUFSVERY GOODLOUDNESS SCORE❌︎
SamsungGalaxy S23 FE-23.7 LUFSVERY GOODLOUDNESS SCORE❌︎
NothingPhone (2a)-26.3 LUFSGOODLOUDNESS SCORE❌︎
Is the Galaxy A55 the most comfortable design we’ve tried? Far from it. But is it one of the best in terms of overall feel and materials? It’s right up there with the best.