Samsung Galaxy A55 5G vs Galaxy A35 5G: Which one is the better affordable phone?

Now that Samsung has completed its flagship rollout for the Galaxy S24 series, it's time to pay attention to the mid-range lineup, which just got refreshed with the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G. Those successors to the previous mid-range lineup are now official, and unlike the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34 from last year, the differences with the new devices are pretty few in-between. 

And when you think of it, it's challenging to make out any truly major differences. The same size and display, a mostly similar hardware on the inside, and now a unified design language with a punch-hole on both, and the new Key Island make these two phones extremely similar. 

The Galaxy A55 5G sadly won't be sold in the US. Instead, the Galaxy A35 5G will be hitting the shelves in the US. By reorganizing its product portfolio in this manner, Samsung is positioning the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 FE as more affordable alternatives to the flagship Galaxy S24, while simultaneously presenting them as more capable devices than the Galaxy A35.

With such minor alterations between the two devices, establishing which one is worthy of your attention might be a difficult task. Allow us to walk you through the differences and try to clean up the mid-range confusion that Samsung delivered our way.

Both the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G utilize Samsung's newfangled Key Island design language, or more correctly, 'design feature'. 

What exactly is this Key Island, you might ask, and we shall answer. Apparently, it's a bulk on the right-hand side of the device that houses both the power button and the volume rocker. The Key Island doesn't seem to do any other purpose that look different and interesting, but it looks like it would grace the whole A-series range.

Aside from this change, little else has seemingly changed. Just like the Galaxy A55 5G, the Galaxy A35 5G scores a punch-hole instead of a V-shaped notch, which has been a long-time coming and finally matches the Galaxy A55 5G in terms of frontal design. 

The Galaxy A55 5G utilizes metal and Gorilla Glass Victus+ in its build, which is a great thing to have on a mid-ranger.

From a size perspective, both are pretty comparable, with the Galaxy A55 5G being slightly narrower and lighter. The Galaxy A35 5G is some 4 grams heavier, but you will hardly notice.

Both phones come with IP67 water and dust resistance, which is a great thing to have on a mid-ranger. Sure thing, it's a step-down from IP68, which allows you to submerge your device deeper, but that's basically a non-issue. 

As far as ports and buttons go, expect the standard selection of a power button and volume rocker on the Key Island as well as a USB Type-C port at the bottom. While you will be able to plug in the USB cable that will undoubtedly be found inside the box, don't expect a charger inside. That was the case with the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34, and Samsung rarely backtracks on its decisions.

Similar to last year, the Galaxy A35 5G will once again feature a slightly larger display than the Galaxy A55 5G. As per the rumors, the difference could be just 0.1 inches in favor of the Galaxy A35 5G, which will come with a 6.6-inch screen in comparison with the 6.5-inch Galaxy A55 5G, but that's a noteworthy difference nonetheless.

Aside from the slight size contrast, the rest of the display specs will likely sync up. Both phones will come with Super AMOLED screens that will be able to go as high up as 120Hz in terms of refresh rate, delivering a very smooth experience. 

Display Measurements:

As per our tests, which were conducted in a controlled environment with professional tools, the two phones have pretty similar displays as far as benchmark properties are considered. That's normal, considering how close specs-wise these two phones are.  

Both the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G rely on Samsung's Exynos line of mid-range chips. Thus, the two phones are equipped by the Exynos 1480 and the Exynos 1380, respectively. We probably shouldn't expect too much out of those, as they are humble mid-range chips after all, so any comparisons with Qualcomm's Snapdragon mid-rangers would be irrelevant. 

We've had some so-so experience with the mid-range Exynos chips on the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34 last year. The Galaxy A54 came with the same Exynos 1380, and that one left a lot to be desired in terms of performance. We can't imagine the situation with the new phones would be any different. 

Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy A55 5G beats the Galaxy A35 thanks to its faster Exynos chip. As per our benchmark tests, the Galaxy A55 consistently outpaces the Galaxy A35 in both the GeekBench 6 and 3DMark tests, falling in line with our expectations about the two devices. 

In terms of storage and memory, both devices are available in three versions. You can have the Galaxy A55 5G with 8GB of RAM and either 128 or 256GB of storage, while a 12GB version with 256GB is also available for grabs. That's actually a better memory setup than the flagship Galaxy S24, which is interesting. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A35 5G comes along with 128GB of native storage and either 6 or 8GB of RAM, while a 256GB version with 8GB RAM is also up for grabs.  

Finally, yes, there's a microSD slot available on both phones. The staple feature of a Samsung mid-ranger phone is here to stay!

Both the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G come with triple cameras, but you will certainly use just two of those almost 99% of the time. Why is that? As is tradition, Samsung will be once again equipping the two mid-rangers with useless macro cameras, whose utility is usually emulated by the ultra-wide camera on many other phones. 

Specs-wise, the main difference could be in the megapixel count of the two phones. The Galaxy A55 5G comes with a 50MP main and a 12MP ultra-wide, whereas the Galaxy A35 5G will likely boast a 50MP wide-angle and an 8MP ultra-wide. Both phones boast the same-ish 5MP macro camera. 

At the front, the Galaxy A55 5G is significantly better-equipped thanks to a 32MP selfie snapper. The Galaxy A35 5G, on the other hand, has a 13MP front-facing camera. Quality-wise, the Galaxy A55 5G would likely have a slightly upper hand, but that remains to be seen. 

Quality-wise, we can't spot any major differences between the Galaxy A55 and the Galaxy A35. 

Zoom isn't great on either device, so it's advisable to only zoom in dire situations. You'll be left disappointed otherwise!

Selfies are great on both devices as far as details and colors are concerned. What more could you possibly need?

Audio quality-wise, neither the Galaxy A54 nor the Galaxy A34 were without their weaknesses, so both the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G have quite a lot in terms of potential improvements that they could fix. This applies to both the so-so audio quality coming out of the speakers, and the slightly mushy haptic feedback. 

The Galaxy A55 5G produces slightly better audio quality than the Galaxy A35, which delivers muffed sound at higher volume levels, but nothing too deal-breaking. Haptics are not mushy on either Galaxy, but they are not great and precise either, so don't expect anything flagship-grade.

Both phones have 5,000mAh batteries, which is the standard battery capacity you can expect from large Android devices these days. Surely, we hope that the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G strike an excellent balance between capacity and battery life, and hopefully, the Exynos chips can deliver on the efficiency front, which would be very impactful on endurance.

According to our benchmark tests, which were conducted with the devices' displays set at 200 nits, both phones perform similarly. The Galaxy A55 takes the cake in our web browsing test, which aims to replicate a regular browsing experience, but in the other two tests the battery life results are very comparable. 

In terms of charging, Samsung has baked in 25W charging support on both devices. That's actually matching the vanilla Galaxy S24, which is great news. Fully charging either of the two devices would likely take an hour and a half or more, or less.

There is no charger in the box of either the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G. There's no wireless charging on either device, however. 

In terms of charging speeds, both devices perform similarly to one another. You get a full charge in around 90 minutes.

The hardware specs of the two phones are now official, and we've summarized the essential specs in the table right below. For the full comparison, refer to our dedicated Galaxy A55 5G vs Galaxy A35 5G specs comparison page. 

Both the Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G are already shaping up to be minor generational upgrades over their predecessors. Nothing too drastic in terms of new features, but as long as the price doesn't change, the two could end up on the best-selling charts once again. Given that the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34 were among the best-selling Samsung phones globally, there's a pretty high chance that the Galaxy A55 5G and the Galaxy A35 5G will have the same faith. 

Pricing-wise, the Galaxy A55 5G starts at around EUR480 in Europe, which is a slightly higher price than the Galaxy A54 carried. The Galaxy A35 5G will cost roughly EUR380 in Europe, and if it comes to the US, it would likely carry a $399 price tag (or higher). As.a refresher, only expect the latter to be available in the US.