The upcoming Galaxy A27 finally to get rid of this obsolete feature

While the A26 came with a decent 120Hz display and an OK-performing chipset at an affordable price, we found its frame to feel very plasticky and battery life wasn't great. Let's hope that Samsung will turn things around soon.

Time for something new

Back to the point, though: it seems that the Galaxy A27 will surely ditch the waterdrop notch on its panel. Instead, the selfie camera might be housed in a much more refined punch-hole cutout.

We first saw this in several leaked renders, but now, there are fresh pictures of the phone with a case on. And once again, we see no selfie cam cutout on the screen. Nice touch, it's now (allegedly) one step closer to that flagship style.

The Galaxy A27 will never come close to a flagship in terms of benchmark results, but it could at least mimic one… in a way. From a distance far away. Maybe in the dark.

The Key Island treatment

Once again, we're getting the Key Island design treatment with the upcoming A27. Basically, this frame design slightly raises the area of the side buttons (volume and power).

Some prefer it super flat, but I guess the Key Island is important for some users who want to "recognize" the area of the buttons quicker.

What else is there?

A 6.7-inch screen, a vertical triple-camera setup on the back and an LED flash to its side.

The phone could be 7.9mm thick and it could ship in four color options (black, blue, green and pink) with One UI 8.5 out of the box.

It's a pity, but the A27 will most likely ship with 25W charging speeds. I realize this is a budget-friendly phone, but 40W would be so much better. For example, the similarly-priced Poco X6 Pro supports 67W charging speeds.

Is it that bad?

It's not the end of the world, but what (additionally) bugs me is the moniker. It's 2026, the Galaxy S26 lineup is still fresh, while the A-series has gone ahead with monikers like the Galaxy A37, Galaxy A57 and now this – the Galaxy A27.

Thankfully, this doesn't affect performance – and the Galaxy A27 seems like a safe upgrade over its predecessor. Nothing extraordinary, but – at least per current rumors – nothing to worry about.

The most important thing, in my opinion, is for Samsung to address the battery life. The 5,000 mAh cell on board could be taken advantage of with a great (and efficient) chipset, but the price would go up for sure. Instead, Samsung needs to come up with some funky software optimizations to keep the lights on longer.