Read our comprehensive review of the Samsung Galaxy A55 smartphone, and find out why it won our Editor’s Choice Award!

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : Price + Availability

The Samsung Galaxy A55 comes with 8 GB of RAM, and either 128 GB or 256 GB of storage, with the option to add a microSD card in the hybrid SIM tray. It is covered by a 2-year warranty, with the following launch prices:

• 8 GB + 128 GB : £439 / A$699 / S$618
• 8 GB + 256 GB : RM1,999 / £489 / S$698

Surprisingly, Samsung decided not to bring the Galaxy A55 to the United States, and suggested that customers consider the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 FE instead. However, it is possible to purchase Latin American unlocked devices in the US (see below).

There are four colour options, which are not available in all countries – Awesome Iceblue, Awesome Lilac, Awesome Lemon, and Awesome Navy.

Here are online purchase options (we may get commission from your purchase) :

• MY : 4 colours | 4 colours | 4 colours | 4 colours
• SG : 4 colours | 4 colours | 4 colours | 4 colours
• US : Awesome Iceblue | Awesome Lilac
• UK : Iceblue | Lemon | Lilac | Navy
• AU : Awesome Lilac | Awesome Navy

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : Specifications

Here are the Samsung Galaxy A55’s key specifications:

Specifications	Samsung Galaxy A55
Display	6.6-inch Super AMOLED – 1080 x 2340 pixels (390 ppi) – 60 Hz / 120 Hz refresh rate
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ (front) Corning Gorilla Glass 5 (back)
Water Resistance	IP67
OS	One UI 6.1 (Android 14)
Platform	Samsung Exynos 1480
CPU	4 x Arm Cortex-A78 cores (2.75 GHz) 4 x Arm Cortex-A55 cores (2.0 GHz)
GPU	Samsung Xclipse 530
Memory	8 GB
Storage Options	128 GB / 256 GB
External Storage	Hybrid microSD slot (up to 1 TB)
Front Camera	32 MP camera, f/2.2, 80˚ FOV
Main Cameras	50 MP wide angle camera, f/1.8 12 MP ultra-wide camera, f/2.2 5 MP macro camera, f/2.4
Connectivity	Up to 5G Sub6 FDD/TDD Dual SIM (hybrid) capability Wi-Fi : Wi-Fi 6 (dual-band) Bluetooth : BT 5.3 USB : USB 2.0 Type C
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes, Under Display
Other Sensors	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic,  Hall, Light, Proximity
GPS	GPS, Beidou, Galileo, Glonass, QZSS
NFC	Yes
Battery	5,000 mAh Li-Po battery
Charging	25 watt wired charging
Dimensions	77.4 mm wide 618.1 mm tall 8.2 mm thick
Weight	213 grams

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : What’s Inside The Box?

The Samsung Galaxy A55 smartphone comes in a thin white cardboard box, which tells you that it definitely does not come with a USB charger inside. It is protected by two security stickers. Please make sure they are intact when you receive the box. Do not accept it, if any of the security stickers have been cut or tampered with.

After cutting the security stickers and taking off the top of the box, you will find the Galaxy A55 smartphone wrapped in plastic. But don’t chuck away the box cover yet. Hidden underneath is a cardboard packet containing its documents and accessories.

Recommended : Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Review : Entry-Level IP68 Tablet!

Once you remove everything, you should find these items inside the box:

• Samsung Galaxy A55 smartphone
• One set of documents : Quick Start Guide in two languages, warranty card, Regional Lock Guide
• Samsung EP-DN980 Type C to Type C USB cable
• SIM tray pin

The package is pretty sparse. There is no USB charger, and no, it doesn’t come with a basic TPU case either.

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy A55 Key Features

 

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Samsung Galaxy A55 : Key Features

Now, let us go through its key features, and show you why the Samsung Galaxy A55 is worthy of our Editor’s Choice Award!

Same Design, Slightly Larger Display

Samsung retained the same design as last year’s Galaxy A54. It is slightly larger, thanks to its slightly larger 6.6-inch Super AMOLED display, which now supports a maximum brightness of 1000 nits.

Otherwise, the display has the same Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels, with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz for smoother graphics.

Better Protection

The first thing you will notice when you pick it up is the heft. It’s quite a thick and solid-feeling phone, with a thick metal frame wrapping all around the sides.

The display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+, which is tougher and more damage-resistant. The back is likely protected by Gorilla Glass 5 like in the Galaxy A54, although Samsung never explicitly revealed what glass it’s using.

Samsung also retained the IP67 dust- and water-resistance, from last year’s Galaxy A54.

Recommended : Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review : Tech ARP Editor’s Choice!

Samsung Exynos 1480 5G Mobile Platform

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is built around the new 4nm Samsung Exynos 1480 mobile platform, which is fabricated on Samsung’s own 4 nm EUV process technology.

It comes with a Samsung Xclipse 530 GPU, an improved 6K MAC NPU, as well as eight CPU cores arranged in two performance clusters:

• four Arm Cortex-A78 high-performance cores, and
• four Arm Cortex-A55 low-power cores.

The Samsung Exynos 1480 has an integrated 5G modem that supports Sub-6GHz and mmWave standards, as well as LTE Cat.18 uploads and downloads for current 4G networks.

It also supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, as well as the four main GPS networks – GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo.

32 MP Front Camera

Hidden in its display is a punch hole camera, with a 32 MP sensor and an f/2.2 aperture. As far as I can tell, it’s the same camera as Galaxy A54, with an 80˚ field of view.

This front camera takes 12 MP photos by default, for better low-light performance. But you can switch it to 32 MP if you need the higher resolution. I recommend you stick with 12 MP though.

This front camera can record 4K (UHD) videos with video stabilisation, albeit at just 30 fps. If you want smoother videos though, you can record 1080p (FHD) videos with video stabilisation at 60 fps.

Triple Camera System

At the back, the Samsung Galaxy A55 sports a triple camera system, that consists of:

• a 50 MP main camera, with f/1.8 aperture,
• a 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera, with f/2.2 aperture, and
• a 5 MP macro camera, with f/2.4 aperture

By default, the main camera takes 12 MP photos – combining four pixels into one larger pixel for better low-light performance. You can switch it to the full 50 MP, but unless you need the higher resolution, you are better off sticking with the default 12 MP mode.

Like the front camera, the rear cameras record 4K (UHD) videos with video stabilisation at just 30 fps. I recommend you stick with 1080p (FHD) video recording with video stabilisation enabled, at 60 fps.

Large 5,000 mAh Battery

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is powered by a large 5,000 mAh battery, which supports up to 25 watt fast charging.

It does not come with an in-box USB charger, but it comes with a USB cable that supports up to 45 watt fast charging.

Hybrid SIM + microSD Tray

The Samsung Galaxy A55 comes with a hybrid tray that supports two nano SIM cards, or one nano SIM card and a microSD card (of up to 1 TB in capacity).

It also supports an eSIM, so it is possible to use two phone numbers using a nano SIM and an eSIM, as well as a microSD card.

Samsung Knox Vault

You may not know this, but the Samsung Galaxy A55 comes with Samsung Knox Vault, which helps to protect your sensitive information like your PIN, password, and security patterns.

You can also store sensitive data and files in the encrypted Samsung Knox Vault storage, which is completely isolated and separate from the main operating system.

Samsung Guarantee

Finally, Samsung guarantees up to 4 generations of OS upgrades, and 5 years of security updates, as well as 2 years of warranty for the Galaxy A55!

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy A55 Battery + Charging

 

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Samsung Galaxy A55 : Battery Life Comparison!

The Samsung Galaxy A55 comes with a 5,000 mAh battery, which is the same size as last year’s Galaxy A54, as well as higher-end devices like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy S22 Ultra.

To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.

Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.

It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.

We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with 60 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates :

Not bad at all! The Samsung Galaxy A55 has a battery life of 11.5 hours with Adaptive refresh rate enabled, and just over 13 hours with the Standard refresh rate. That’s about an hour shorter than the Galaxy A54.

But let’s also compare its battery life at 60 Hz and 120 Hz, against the Galaxy A73, Galaxy A54, and S24 Ultra smartphones.

Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)

The Samsung Galaxy A55 lasted just over 13 hours with the refresh rate set to 60 Hz – a 5.5% shorter battery life than the Galaxy A54.

Work 3.0 (60 Hz)	S24 Ultra	Galaxy A73	Galaxy A54	Galaxy A55
Battery Capacity	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh
Battery Life	16 hrs 25 mins	13 hrs 4 mins	13 hrs 57 mins	13 hrs 13 mins
Utilisation per min.	4.06 mAh	5.10 mAh	4.78 mAh	5.04 mAh

Adaptive Refresh Rate (120 Hz)

The Samsung Galaxy A55 lasted just over 11.5 hours when the refresh rate was set to 120 Hz – a drop of just over 1.5 hours (14.6%). That was also just 4% shorter than last year’s Galaxy A54.

Based on what we see here, I definitely recommend turning on the Adaptive Refresh Rate on the Galaxy A55, unless you absolutely need the extra 1.5 hours of battery life.

Work 3.0 (120 Hz)	S24 Ultra	Galaxy A54	Galaxy A55	Galaxy A73
Battery Capacity	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh
Battery Life	13 hrs 49 mins	12 hrs 25 mins	11 hrs 32 mins	10 hrs 42 mins
Utilisation per min.	4.83 mAh	5.52 mAh	5.78 mAh	6.23 mAh

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : Battery Recharging Speed!

The Samsung Galaxy A55 supports up to 25 watts of wired fast charging, but unfortunately, does not come with the charger in-the-box.

So we relied on the standard 15 watt Samsung fast charger than shipped with their previous smartphones – something we believe most users will end up doing, and added the 25 watt Samsung ultra-fast charger.

Recharging Speed	S24 Ultra	Galaxy A73	Galaxy A55	S24 Ultra	Galaxy A54	Galaxy A55
Battery Capacity	3,300 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh
Charger Output	25 watts	15 watts	25 watts	15 watts	15 watts	15 watts
Battery Life	68 min	85 min	88.5 min	106.5 min	120.7 min	138 min
Charging Speed (per minute)	58.8 mAh	47.0 mAh	45.2 mAh	37.6 mAh	33.1 mAh	29.0 mAh

The Samsung Galaxy A55 fully recharges from 20% to 100% in 2 hours and 18 minutes with the standard 15 watt Samsung charger. Oddly enough, this is significantly (14.33%) slower than the Galaxy A54.

That’s a pretty poor battery life : recharging ratio of just 5:1 – 28.5% less than the Galaxy A54. As a rule of thumb, you need to charge it for 12 minutes for each hour of battery life.

But if you upgrade to the 25 watt Samsung super-fast charger, you can cut it down to under 1.5 hours – an improvement of 56%. That also improves its battery life : recharging ratio to a much better 7.8:1.

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy A55 Performance

 

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Samsung Galaxy A55 : Performance Summary

When I tested last year’s Galaxy A54, I pointed out that while the Exynos 1380 has a fast CPU, it has a weak GPU That changed with the new Exynos 1480 – it retains the same fast CPU, but has a much more powerful Xclipse 530 GPU.

In addition to snappy performance in web browsing and work applications, the Exynos 1480 now offers much improved gaming performance, making it a great all-rounder mid-range mobile platform.

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : Work Performance

We first tested the Galaxy A55 using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.

Work 3.0	S23 Ultra	Galaxy A55	Galaxy A54	S22 Ultra	Galaxy A73
Mobile Platform	SD 8 Gen 2	Exynos 1480	Exynos 1380	SD 8 Gen 1	SD 778G
Performance Score	16408	13583	13523	12860	12522
Web Browsing	15680	11453	10659	10442	11736
Video Editing	7879	7393	7363	7444	7082
Writing	22257	17915	17485	15471	14796
Photo Editing	35533	25962	28805	30177	26340
Data Manipulation	12171	11742	11443	9691	9502

Look at that – the Samsung Exynos 1480 was virtually identical in performance as last year’s Exynos 1380, that powered the Galaxy A54. Perhaps that’s not surprising since they both use the same A78 and A55 cores.

The Exynos 1480 has its four A78 high-performance cores running at 2.75 GHz, instead of 2.4 GHz, but it appears that work applications don’t need all that much performance so the 14.5% higher clock speed did not matter.

Even so, the Samsung Exynos 1480 remains a fast mid-range mobile SoC, coming within 17.5% of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC, which powers the Galaxy S23 Ultra flagship smartphone!

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : Gaming Performance

For gaming, we tested the Galaxy A55 using 3DMark, with these results :

3DMark	S23 Ultra	S22 Ultra	Galaxy A55	Galaxy A54	Galaxy A73
Device	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 8 Gen 1	Exynos 1480	Exynos 1380	SD 778G
Sling Shot	16344	11094	9058	6195	6620
Sling Shot Extreme	13904	7291	6908	4943	5358
Wild Life	14554	9106	3996	2860	2487
Wild Life Extreme	3814	2220	954	799	689

This is where the Samsung Galaxy A55’s Exynos 1480 improved the most – it’s much better at gaming than the Exynos 1380, outperforming it by 19% to 46%. Very impressive!

Just in case you are wondering – no, the Xclipse 530 GPU used in the Exynos 1480 does not support ray-tracing.

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : Overall Performance

We then tested the Galaxy A55 using AnTuTu, yielding these results :

AnTuTu	S23 Ultra	S22 Ultra	Galaxy A55	Galaxy A73	Galaxy A54
Device	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 8 Gen 1	Exynos 1480	SD 778G	Exynos 1380
AnTuTu Score	1212174	889167	720595	523209	522411
CPU	261886	203090	234309	159238	153230
GPU	538823	402617	177275	159364	149596
Memory	236163	146002	148103	88705	86578
UX	175302	137458	160908	115902	133007

Look at that! AnTuTu shows that the Samsung Exynos 1480 is 38% faster than both the Galaxy A73, and the Galaxy A54!

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy A55 Camera Performance

 

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Samsung Galaxy A55 : Camera Performance

The Samsung Galaxy A55’s 50 MP camera takes 12.5 MP photos by default, with a resolution of 4080 x 3060 pixels. Each JPEG photo using the High Efficiency Image File (HEIF) format, each photo is about 2.5 MB to 3.5 MB in size.

Without HEIF, the file sizes are much larger, so please remember to turn on the HEIF file format to save space.

1. Open the Camera app
2. Tap on Settings
3. Turn on High efficiency pictures.

As this photo sample shows, the 50 MP main camera of the Samsung Galaxy A55 offers a nice bokeh, thanks to its wide f/1.8 aperture.

However, that wide aperture presents a problem too – a narrow depth of field, as these sample photos of star anise and black pepper show.

If multiple objects are present at different distances from the camera, only some of them will remain in focus, while the others will be out-of-focus.

That makes for nice portraits, but if you do not tap on the area or subject you want to be in focus, the camera may auto-focus on the wrong area or subject, and you will end up with an out-of-focus shot.

As this photo of rock melons shows, only a small area around the stem is in focus, and that’s only because I intentionally tapped on the centre.

Otherwise, the camera would naturally focus on the nearest part of the rock melon, and the photo would look out-of-focus.

Its colour reproduction tends to be on the vivid side, which may be pleasing to most users, but some users may prefer a more natural tone.

You need to be careful with close-up shots though. This isn’t a macro camera, and so it has trouble focusing if the subject is too close.

The problem is – the Samsung camera app does not warn you if the 50 MP camera cannot focus properly on the subject. It may look like it is focused properly in the camera app, but when you open it up later, you will see that it’s completely out-of-focus.

I definitely recommend you tapping on the subject to “force” the camera app to visibly try to focus. If it fails, you know that you are much too close. It’s also a good habit to tap to focus anyway, as this 50 MP camera has a narrow depth-of-field.

There is no need to worry about the “loss” in resolution by using the default 12.5 MP resolution, instead of the full 50 MP resolution. In most cases, you probably won’t even realise that the camera defaults to just 12.5 MP!

Even at 12.5 MP, there is more than enough detail in the photos that the Galaxy A55’s 50MP camera delivers, even if you want to zoom in.

But that does not mean that its 50 MP sensor is pure marketing. You can use it to take 50 MP shots, but you will have to live with significantly larger file sizes.

The full 50 MP resolution isn’t needed for 90% of the photos that most people take, but it is useful for long-distance shots. The Samsung Galaxy A55 does not have a telephoto camera, so taking photos in 50 MP effectively gives you a 4X zoom capability.

For example, if you need to take a faraway shot of a bell tower, you can switch to 50 MP before taking the photo. Then you can zoom into the 50 MP photo you took and crop out a much closer looking shot of that bell tower without using software or digital zoom.

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : Camera Performance Summary

Samsung used the same 50 MP camera as last year’s Galaxy A54, using the larger and better Sony IMX766 image sensor, with 25% larger pixels.

This 50 MP main camera continue to perform well in our tests, generally delivering good photos with vivid colours, with a good level of detail, even at 12.5 MP.

The biggest problem I have with it is its minimum focus distance. The camera seems to work best with subjects that are at least 50 cm away, or so. If I get too close to the subject, the shot ends up out-of-focus, especially if I tried to let the camera auto-focus by itself.

This is not readily apparent in the camera app, so you need to tap to focus. That triggers the camera to seek a better focus. That’s when you can see whether it can really focus properly. Even then, I sometimes end up with out-of-focus shots, because I was simply too close to the subject.

For most people, this won’t a problem if you are taking the usual photos – people standing at a distance, landscapes and buildings at a distance, etc. Just keep this in mind if you are taking close shots of products or food, etc.

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy A55 Summary + Award

 

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Samsung Galaxy A55 : Summary + Award

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is proof that you don’t need to pay top dollar to get a great smartphone. For less than half the cost of a flagship smartphone, it offers most of the features that you need, in a well-protected device.

It comes with a large, excellent Super AMOLED display which supports 120 Hz refresh rate, and is protected in the front by Gorilla Victus+, and in the rear by Gorilla Glass 5. It is also IP67-rated against the ingress of dust and water.

Built around the 4 nm Samsung Exynos 1480 mobile platform, the Galaxy A55 offers excellent performance in work apps, performing as fast as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and last year’s Galaxy A54.

Where it really shines is in gaming – it offers far better gaming performance than the Galaxy A54’s Exynos 1380, outperforming it by 19% to 46%! That was the Galaxy A54‘s chief weakness, and the Galaxy A55 fixed that.

However, I should point out that the Galaxy A55 has a significantly shorter battery life than its predecessor, the Galaxy A54 – about an hour shorter. That said – it will last 11.5 hours with Dynamic Refresh rate enabled, or 13 hours with the standard 60 Hz refresh rate.

When it comes to photography, it comes with the same cameras as the Galaxy A54 – a high-resolution 32 MP front camera, and the 50 MP Sony IMX766 camera at the back, with an ultra-wide-angle camera, and a macro camera.

The 50 MP main camera is still as good as it was with the Galaxy A54 excellent, albeit with improved performance under indoor lighting. It still has trouble focusing at closer distances, which is probably why Samsung added the macro camera, which would normally be a waste of time for most users.

While I miss the telephoto camera which is a fixture in flagship smartphones, the 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera is arguably a better trade-off – most people would prefer to use it for landscape and group shots, rather than take long-distance shots with the telephoto camera.

The Galaxy A55 takes pretty good videos too, but there are some limitations (for market segmentation reasons?) :

• it can support 30/60 fps @ 1080p, but only 30 fps for 4K video recording,
• it is limited to 30 fps, regardless of resolution, when using its ultra-wide angle camera.

If you really love taking videos at 4K especially at 60 fps or higher, then these limitations will be a deal breaker. Video recording is where flagship devices like the Galaxy S24 Ultra shine.

The good news is the Galaxy A55 now supports video image stabilisation at 60 fps! It was previously limited to 30 fps video in the Galaxy A54. So if you are happy enough with 1080p video recording, the Galaxy A55 is now a great choice.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy A55 offers an excellent combination of features and capabilities at a far lower cost. On top of that, you get two years of warranty, three years of Android updates, and four years of security updates.

For these reasons, we gladly award the Samsung Galaxy A55 our Editor’s Choice Award! Great work, Samsung!

 

Samsung Galaxy A55 : Price + Availability

The Samsung Galaxy A55 comes with 8 GB of RAM, and either 128 GB or 256 GB of storage, with the option to add a microSD card in the hybrid SIM tray. It is covered by a 2-year warranty, with the following launch prices:

• 8 GB + 128 GB : £439 / A$699 / S$618
• 8 GB + 256 GB : RM1,999 / £489 / S$698

Surprisingly, Samsung decided not to bring the Galaxy A55 to the United States, and suggested that customers consider the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 FE instead. However, it is possible to purchase Latin American unlocked devices in the US (see below).

There are four colour options, which are not available in all countries – Awesome Iceblue, Awesome Lilac, Awesome Lemon, and Awesome Navy.

Here are online purchase options (we may get commission from your purchase) :

• MY : 4 colours | 4 colours | 4 colours | 4 colours
• SG : 4 colours | 4 colours | 4 colours | 4 colours
• US : Awesome Iceblue | Awesome Lilac
• UK : Iceblue | Lemon | Lilac | Navy
• AU : Awesome Lilac | Awesome Navy

 

 

Recommended Reading

• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Charging Speed @ 15W, 25W, 45W!
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review : Tech ARP Editor’s Choice!
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Battery Life + Charging Review!
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (SD8 Gen 3) Performance Review!
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra : All 4 Colours Compared!

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