Galaxy A57 vs iPhone 17e: Samsung nailed the design, but Apple still rules this one crucial area
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The big screen of the Galaxy A57 is its big advantage against the iPhone 17e | Image by PhoneArena
Apple charges over $1,000 for a big-screen iPhone. Samsung doesn't think you should have to pay that much.
The new Galaxy A57 arrives with a large display and slim bezels at a fraction of the price — directly challenging the iPhone 17e, which Apple deliberately kept small to protect its Pro lineup. This is the mid-range battle that budget buyers have been waiting for: the best Android has to offer at this price, versus Apple's most affordable iPhone.
So which one actually wins?
Samsung Galaxy A57 vs iPhone 17e: differences explained:
| Galaxy A57 | iPhone 17e |
|---|---|
| Much bigger 6.7-inch screen | A very small 6.1-inch display |
| 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling | Only 60Hz refresh rate, choppy when scrolling |
| Much brighter display 1773 nits (measured by PhoneArena) | Much dimmer, harder to use outdoors 801 nits (measured by PhoneArean) |
| Thinner body at 6.9 mm | Regular thickness of 7.8 mm |
| Slightly heavier (179 g), but surprisingly light for its size | 169 g weight |
| Despite bigger battery, we measured worse battery life of 6 hours 11 minutes | Better battery life at 6 hours 46 minutes |
| Much faster wired charging at 45 watts | Slower 20W wired charging |
| But it does NOT support wireless charging | Has 15W MagSafe wireless charging |
| More cameras, but the main one that you should care about is not as good | Only one rear camera, but excellent quality |
| $550 starting price for 128GB model | $600 starting price for 256GB model |
Table of Contents:
Design and Display Quality
Samsung has got the look
I won't judge you if you mistake the Galaxy A57 for one of the new super slim "Air" phones. Okay, it's not quite that thin, but at 6.9mm, it feels so much slimmer compared to an iPhone 17e.
The thin and light design of the Galaxy coupled with its thin borders around the screen make for a true flagship feel in a mid-range phone. Impressive.
The iPhone 17e feels ordinary in comparison. And oh so small with that 6.1-inch screen size that honestly feels cramped in 2026.
One slight advantage of the iPhone, however, is the programmable Action button, while the Galaxy sticks with only the usual power and volume keys.
The display quality is the biggest differentiator between these two if you ask me. The 6.7-inch screen on the Galaxy feels massive compared to the 6.1-inch one on the iPhone.
These days, we rely more on our phones and a bigger screen is important.
The other thing is how smooth it runs. The Samsung supports 120HZ refresh rate, while the iPhone 17e is still, annoyingly, limited at 60Hz, so just using the phone feels a bit choppy in comparison.
In our lab tests, the Galaxy A57 scores one other big win — its max screen brightness is more than double that of the iPhone 17e. That means it's much easier to use the Galaxy outdoors without squinting your eyes.
Display Measurements:
In our lab tests, the Galaxy A57 scores one other big win — its max screen brightness is more than double that of the iPhone 17e. That means it's much easier to use the Galaxy outdoors without squinting your eyes.
Performance and Software
The iPhone leads
Samsung bets on a mid-range Exynos 1680 chipset for the Galaxy A57, while the iPhone 17e runs on none other than Apple's A19 chipset. Both phones have 8GB of RAM on board.
This is a night and day difference, and the iPhone wins this round easily, but while the processor matters and I occasionally do see a slight stutter while using the Galaxy, there is a bigger question. And that question is about refresh rate. I would argue that even with its much slower chip, the Galaxy feels faster because it has a 120Hz screen. And I bet most people would agree with me.
CPU Performance Benchmarks:
Geekbench 6: A high single-core score is what makes your phone feel snappy during everyday tasks like opening apps, typing and browsing. The multi-core score matters most when doing heavier work like video editing or gaming.
The iPhone is far ahead in CPU performance, there is no contest.
AI Quantized: This test measures how efficiently your phone’s 'brain' handles AI tasks, ensuring that features like live translation and smart photo editing feel instant and fluid without draining your battery.
Despite the lack of proper Apple Intelligence on iPhones, the 17e still has the lead in on-device AI processing power.
GPU Performance
Steel Nomad Light Stress Test: Measures your phone’s "gaming stamina" by comparing its peak speed (High) against its throttled speed after it heats up (Low), revealing whether your performance will stay smooth or start lagging during a long session.
Gamers will also be better off with the iPhone, especially if you play demanding titles like Genshing Impact or Where Winds Meet.
Just look at the "low" score on 3D Mark Steel Nomad Light above. After 20 minutes of gaming, the iPhone has nearly twice the score of the Galaxy. Impressive.
Storage speed
The Galaxy A57 comes with either 128GB or 256GB built-in storage, while the iPhone starts at 256GB (there is no microSD card support on either one).
Storage tests measure how quickly your phone can move data. Random read and write show how fast your phone can find and move thousands of tiny, scattered files. This is the most important metric for an average user because it’s what happens when you open an app, check your notifications, or search through your photo gallery. Sequential read and write measure the speed of moving one giant, continuous file. You’ll notice this when you are saving a 4K video you just recorded or downloading a massive game update.
We still haven't run the full storage tests on the iPhone 17e, so expect a future update to this article.
Camera
Can one be better than three?
Image by PhoneArena
I hate it when mid-range phones come with multiple cameras because you just know that these cameras would typically be compromised, with smaller sensors and of poor quality.
And that is kind of the case with the Galaxy A57.
Yes, it has three cameras on its back, but only the main camera is the one that you should care about, as the ultra-wide has significantly worse quality. The macro camera is so niche that many people won't ever use it.
Listen, I'm not excusing Apple's decision to include just one camera, but I think that a good main camera is a better choice than three mediocre ones.
But let's see if that's indeed the case.
Main Camera
The Galaxy image looks a bit soft and lacking detail and contrast, while the iPhone 17e seems to do a better job in this picture.
In low light, there is a big difference in the white balance on these two phones. I prefer the more realistic colors of the Galaxy over the warmish tonality out of the iPhone.
And in this last image, there is just more definition and detail in the iPhone snap.
Portrait Mode
Both phones support portrait mode at 1X and 2X, and these images definitely have me leaning toward the iPhone. There is a lot more detail, while the Galaxy A57 image looks soft and a bit washed out. Both phones do a good job separating me from the background, though.
Zoom Quality
The iPhone also has the upper hand with zoom quality. These photos were taken at 5X magnification.
The softer detail on the Galaxy and its tendency to occcasionally blow out the highlights make it a slightly less capable selfie camera than the iPhone 17e in my view.
Video Quality
The A57 shoots video in 4K, though only at 30 frames per second, so no 60fps option here.
One thing it does better than most phones at this price, though, is letting you switch between the main and ultra-wide cameras while you're recording. That might sound basic, but a lot of mid-range phones don't allow it.
Video quality from the main camera is decent, but at night the footage comes out with a warm, reddish tint that doesn't look true to life. The ultra-wide camera is fine in daylight, but once the lights go down, the footage gets so dark it's basically unusable.
The microphone was my biggest frustration. It's so sensitive that it picks up every little sound (your fingers shifting, the phone brushing against something) and it muffles the audio badly when that happens.
Battery Life and Charging
The smaller phone with bigger endurance wins it
Image by PhoneArena
The Galaxy A57 features a 5,000mAh battery, while the iPhone 17e comes with a 4,005mAh battery, but you know that these numbers only start telling the battery story.
The real difference-maker is the efficiency of the platform, and we know that iOS is way more efficient than Android, so let's see how it goes in our in-house tests.
PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:
PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:
On our lightest web browsing benchmark, the iPhone 17e serves the Galaxy A57 an upset — it beats it by nearly 2 hours. Then, we have our second test with YouTube video streaming over a Wi-Fi connection, and the two finish with almost identical scores.
Overall, the iPhone 17e, surprisingly, emerges as the phone with longer battery life as we estimate it can get an average of 6 hours and 46 minutes of screen time compared to 6 hours and 11 minutes on the Galaxy A57.
However, charging is Galaxy A57's domain.
It supports 45W wired charging compared to just 20W on the iPhone, and it's understandably much quicker to charge.
There is no wireless charging on the Galaxy, though, while the iPhone 17e supports MagSafe at a quite decent 15W speeds. Great if you use a magnetic charger in your car or at work.
Audio Quality and Haptics
While the Galaxy A57 is a big improvement in loudspeaker quality compared to its predecessor, it's still no match for the incredibly rich (for a phone) quality from the iPhone 17e.
The iPhone 17e sounds bigger, cleaner, with a more defined bass, while the Galaxy A57 just doesn't have as much punch.
There is no headphone jack on either of these phones, in case you are wondering.
And as for haptics, the Galaxy A57 is just average, while the iPhone has the Taptic Engine which makes for a tighter, more controlled vibration feedback.
Specs Comparison
And here is how these two compare in pure specs:
|
|
| Samsung Galaxy A57 5G | Apple iPhone 17e |
| Dimensions | |
|---|---|
| 161.5 x 76.8 x 6.9 (~9.7 mm with camera bump) | 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8 mm (~9.71 mm with camera bump) |
| Weight | |
| 179.0 g | 169.0 g |
| Size | |
|---|---|
| 6.7-inch | 6.1-inch |
| Type | |
| Super AMOLED Plus, 120Hz | OLED, 60Hz |
| System chip | |
|---|---|
| Exynos 1680 (4 nm) | Apple A19 (3 nm) |
| Memory | |
| 8GB (LPDDR5X)/128GB (UFS 3.1) 8GB/256GB |
8GB (LPDDR5)/256GB 8GB/512GB |
| OS | |
| Android (16), up to 7 OS updates | iOS (26.x) |
| Type | |
|---|---|
| 5000 mAh | 4005 mAh |
| Charge speed | |
| Wired: 45.0W | Wired: 20.0W Wireless: 15.0W |
| Main camera | |
|---|---|
| 50 MP (OIS, PDAF) Aperture size: F1.8 Sensor size: 1/1.56" Pixel size: 1.0 μm |
48 MP (Sapphire crystal lens cover, OIS, Autofocus) Aperture size: F1.6 Focal length: 26 mm Sensor size: 1/2.55" Pixel size: 0.7 μm |
| Second camera | |
| 13 MP (Ultra-wide) Aperture size: F2.2 Sensor size: 1/3.2" Pixel size: 1.12 μm |
|
| Third camera | |
| 5 MP (Macro) Aperture size: F2.4 |
|
| Front | |
| 12 MP | 12 MP (Time-of-Flight (ToF), Autofocus, HDR, Slow-motion videos, Autofocus) |
See the full
Samsung Galaxy A57 5G vs Apple iPhone 17e specs comparison
or compare them to other phones using our
Phone Comparison tool
Which one should you buy?
Image by PhoneArena
First, I would say that both are excellent mid-range phones, but each has unique advantages.
The bigger screen of the Galaxy might alone be a reason to buy as the iPhone just feels too cramped. At the same time, the Galaxy is thin and lightweight, so it doesn't really feel like a big phone. It's my favorite mid-range phone when it comes to design.
I would also get the Galaxy for the smoother daily performance with that 120Hz refresh rate, the brighter screen outdoors and the faster charging.
Go for the iPhone if you prefer the Apple ecosystem, if you want the performance power to know that your phone will stay zippy for years to come and if you want the better camera for both photos and videos. And if you want wireless charging.
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