Samsung is bringing its lowest-cost 5G phones to the US
Until now, we’ve known almost everything about Samsung’s newest Galaxy A-series phones (which were announced recently at the company’s Unpacked event) except for a couple of key details: which models would be sold in the US and for how much. That’s the announcement Samsung made today, with three low-cost 5G phones leading the way.
The Galaxy A52 5G, A42 5G, and A32 5G will all go on sale in the US later this week, with the sub-$300 A32 clocking in as Samsung’s lowest-cost 5G model to date. They’ll each ship loaded with Android 11 and with charging bricks included in the box. Also arriving Stateside soon: the entry-level Galaxy A12 and A02s, each costing under $200.
Samsung Galaxy A-series US pricing
| Model | Price | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Price | Availability |
| Galaxy A52 5G | $499 | April 9th |
| Galaxy A42 5G | $399 | April 8th |
| Galaxy A32 5G | $279 | April 9th |
| Galaxy A12 | $179 | April 9th |
| Galaxy A02s | $109 | April 29th |
The A52 5G is the highest specced A-series model US customers will see this year; the A72, which was unveiled at the same Unpacked event, is missing from today’s list. The A52 5G follows up on last year’s solid A51 model and includes a 6.5-inch OLED with 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 750G processor, IP67 water resistance rating, and a 4,500mAh battery.
Its camera hardware is also a step up from the other models in this bunch, including a 64-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization. The A52 5G supports sub-6GHz 5G only (no mmWave), and like the other two 5G models, it supports C-band frequencies at a hardware level. It will be sold with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $499 starting on April 9th.
The A42 5G is the only model of the bunch to support mmWave 5G in addition to sub-6GHz. It also features a 6.6-inch OLED with standard 60Hz refresh rate, and like the A52 5G, it will use a Snapdragon 750G chipset. The A42 5G features a 48-megapixel main camera and doesn’t include an IP rating. It will include 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and is going on sale for $399 starting on April 8th.
Samsung’s Galaxy A32 5G skips out on quite a few features in order to hit its low price point. It includes an LCD rather than OLED — a 6.6-inch panel with 90Hz refresh rate — and uses a MediaTek 720 processor rather than a Snapdragon chipset. It will include 4GB of RAM and a skimpy 64GB of storage, thankfully expandable by microSD. It will sell for $279 starting on April 9th.
Rounding out the set are the LTE-only, budget-oriented A12 and A02s, each featuring a 6.5-inch LCD with standard refresh rate and a 5,000mAh battery. The A12 gets a 16-megapixel main camera and a 5-megapixel ultrawide and will offer 3GB of RAM. The A02s includes a 13-megapixel main camera without the ultrawide and offers just 2GB of RAM.
Both phones will ship with Android 10 and (thankfully) offer storage expansion via microSD; with just 32GB of built-in storage each, some extra space will be a necessity. The Galaxy A12 will sell for $179 starting on April 9th; the Galaxy A02s will cost $109.99 and arrive on April 29th.
All of these A-series devices will be sold unlocked by Samsung, though the company could only confirm that the A52 5G would be available this way on April 9th; all others would be coming at some point later this spring.
Until now, we’ve known almost everything about Samsung’s newest Galaxy A-series phones (which were announced recently at the company’s Unpacked event) except for a couple of key details: which models would be sold in the US and for how much. That’s the announcement Samsung made today, with three low-cost 5G…
