With Samsung's announcement of the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35, a major shakeup in budget smartphones is imminent In some areas, the hardware even surpasses the Galaxy S24

Pricing and specs will be discussed later, but our first impression is that these two models could be one of the best budget phones of the year There is already an impressive competitor, the OnePlus 12R, and we expect to see another model, the Google Pixel 8a, in a few months But given how much we liked the Galaxy A54 last year, we have high hopes for these new Galaxy A devices when we get them for testing

Check back with us soon for a review of these phones, but for now, let's check out what these phones are packing under the hood

Samsung will release the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 on Wednesday, March 20 in the UK and Monday, March 25 in Australia The two models will be priced at £439/699 AUD and £339/549 AUD respectively for 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, or £489 and £389 if 256GB is desired instead (UK only)

These prices are indeed £10 less than last year's equivalent Galaxy A54 and A34 prices, a rare sight in today's smartphone market, which potential buyers will no doubt appreciate

In some regions, the high-spec Galaxy A55 model with 12 GB RAM, more than some Galaxy S24 models, and the less expensive Galaxy A35 with 6 GB RAM are also available Prices for these are still unknown

Sticking to UK pricing for the default model, it matches the Google Pixel 7a (starting at £449) and is considerably cheaper than the £649 OnePlus 12R, at least in the UK, where availability is limited The newly announced Nothing Phone 2a is considerably cheaper at £319, though

Check back later for further comparisons of US prices and rival models

There are many similarities between this year's Galaxy A phone and last year's Galaxy A54 One major change in appearance, however, is the raised side rail where the power and volume buttons are located, and the key island This side rail is also made of metal for the first time on the Galaxy A55 case

A hidden change is the material of the display and back panel; both the A55 and A35 are covered in Gorilla Glass Victus Plus, a fairly high-end material for a phone of this price

Both models also have the same color options, Awesome Ice Blue, Awesome Lemon, Awesome Lilac, and Awesome Navy

The Galaxy A55 has the same 66-inch OLED display as the Galaxy A35, a slight increase in size from the 64-inch Galaxy A54, and both models are significantly larger than the 61-inch Galaxy S24 and 67-inch slightly less than the Galaxy S24 Plus Both models feature a punch-hole camera cutout, a notable upgrade for the A30 series, which has been stuck with the old-fashioned water-drop notch Both screens support refresh rates of up to 120 Hz and offer FHD resolution, but the Galaxy A55, like the Galaxy S24 series, offers adaptive refresh rates for higher efficiency

This is where the Galaxy A55 differs most significantly from the less expensive A35 Both models have a 50MP main camera and a 5MP macro camera, but they differ from there: the Galaxy A55 boasts a 12MP ultrawide camera and a 32MP front selfie camera, while the Galaxy A35 instead has an 8MP ultrawide/13MP selfie combo equipped with an 8MP ultra-wide/13MP selfie camera

Samsung also announced that the Galaxy A55 improves low-light photography, including portraits thanks to the Night Portrait mode, and supports 12-bit HDR video

It was leaked before launch that the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 will use the mid-range Exynos 1480 and Exynos 1380 chipsets, respectively, but it is not known what chipset they will have We can't be sure what that means for benchmark results or real-life performance, but chances are that, like previous Galaxy A series phones, they will deliver decent power, but using a flagship-grade chipset, the Pixel 7 not as good as phones like the A

Samsung has announced RAM and storage capacities for these phones: the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 both come with 8GB RAM/128GB storage and 8GB RAM/256GB storage, with the Galaxy A55 having a 12GB/256GB option, and the Galaxy A35 has a 6GB/128GB option

The two models also share similarities when it comes to batteries Both models have 5,000mAh cells and support 25W charging

The A55 and A35 ship with Android 14 and One UI 61, and both receive 4 years of full Android updates and 5 years of security updates; not as good as the Galaxy S24 series' 7 years of full updates, but still enough to enjoy new features enough time

As well as all the benefits that the latest software offers, Samsung has introduced Knox Vault to these two models; Knox Vault is a secure software/hardware environment, isolated from the rest of the phone's chip, that provides security enhancement and protection of all important data likely to be stored on the device, such as passwords and PINs, is retained This was a feature only available on Samsung's flagship phones, so it's good to see it moving to more affordable phones in Samsung's lineup

Samsung is also promoting the autoblocker system that debuted in last fall's One UI update for the new Galaxy A series phones This is an optional system that prevents side-loading of apps, unauthorized access via USB, and can scan the phone for malware, a useful addition for most users, but outside of the Galaxy Store and Google Play Store It is an easily removable barrier for power users who want the additional freedom to install and use apps from