The Samsung Galaxy A55 dilutes the S24 down to mid-range territory

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Samsung’s super-successful pair of mid-range smartphones are back for another generation. The Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 bring design and features down from the flagship S24 line-up, while keeping prices well within the realm of affordability.

The duo have a lot in common, including a 6.6in, 1080p AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. They also make room inside for the same 5000mAh capacity battery, and support 25W wired charging. They even look identical, with the ‘Key Island’ styling influenced by the Samsung Galaxy S24 series.

They start to differ on materials, with the Galaxy A55 getting a metal frame but the A35 making do with polycarbonate.

Inside, the A55 takes the performance lead with an Exynos 1480 chipset; it can be had with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, and 128GB or 256GB of on-board storage. The Galaxy A35 sticks with the older Exynos 1380, and either 6 or 8GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage.

Expect Android 14 on both, with Samsung’s familiar OneUI interface on top. They’re also the first A-series phones to get Knox Vault, Samsung’s hardware safeguarding and security suite for keeping your data protected. Samsung is aiming for four years of OS updates and five years of security patches, which is a stellar showing for more affordable phones.

The Galaxy A55 has the superior set of rear snappers. There’s a 50MP f/1.8 main camera with optical image stabilisation and a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide; sadly the third lens is a 5MP, f/2.4 macro rather than an S24-matching telephoto zoom. A 32MP selfie cam sits up front. The Galaxy A35 drops down to an 8MP ultrawide, but keeps the same 50MP main snapper and 5MP macro cam. It also gets a 13MP selfie camera.

Both phones are set to go on sale from March 20, direct from Samsung and all the usual retailers. Expect to pay £439/€480 for the Galaxy A55 (8GB+128GB), or £339/€379 for the Galaxy A35 (8GB+128GB). There’s no confirmed US pricing as yet.

Related: Samsung Galaxy S24 vs S24 Plus vs S24 Ultra – how the three flagships compare

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A tech addict from about the age of three (seriously, he's got the VHS tapes to prove it), Tom's been writing about gadgets, games and everything in between for the past decade, with a slight diversion into the world of automotive in between. As Deputy Editor, Tom keeps the website ticking along, jam-packed with the hottest gadget news and reviews. When he's not on the road attending launch events, you can usually find him scouring the web for the latest news, to feed Stuff readers' insatiable appetite for tech.