Samsung’s Galaxy A-Series phones are the phones you want to go for when you don’t have a whole lot of money to spend. This is because A-Series Samsung phones are not as expensive as the more popular S-Series.
Even less expensive than the A-Series are the J-Series Samsung phones. But that’s a topic for another day.
Today, we’re going to take a look at the best Samsung Galaxy A-Series phones you can get.
I’ve taken a look at over 25 A-Series phones and out of them, 8 stood out as the phones that you can use as your daily driver. Here they are.
Overall Best: Samsung Galaxy A71
The Samsung Galaxy A71 is the best A-Series phone. Compared to other A-Series phones, it comes with really good features like a fast Snapdragon Chipset, 5 cameras in total, a long lasting battery, an AMOLED screen with its fingerprint scanner under it and enough room to hold all your multimedia files.
To see the current price on Amazon, click here.
Now the Galaxy A71 was released in 2019, but it was in December, so it can still be classified as a 2020 phone.
It’s also got a 5G version that was released in early 2020 that we’ll be looking at later on in this article.
I really don’t see why the A71 cannot be seen as a 2020 phone, because it comes with Android 10 and will definitely get software updates soon, since Android 11 has been released.
It also has the specs most 2020 phones come with.
Here are a few things we’ll be looking at for all devices in today’s list, starting with the Samsung Galaxy A71.
Display
You get a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen on the A71. Super AMOLED screens offer deep blacks, while giving you a sharp display as well as vibrant colors.
If you’ve been a Samsung user for a long time, you should know how good AMOLED screens are. If you haven’t been, well, get ready to be blown away by a really good screen.
Being a large display, its resolution at 1080 x 2400 pixels ensures you don’t get any blurry images as you use the flat screen.
A more exciting feature about the A71’s screen is that it’s where the phone’s fingerprint scanner is.
Fingerprint scanners in the back of phones are now getting old, so the A71 is definitely a phone worth being mentioned as the one of the best (if not the best) Samsung Galaxy A-Series phones.
While having all these features on the screen, you also get Gorilla Glass 3, which means the phone’s screen is going to be safe from scratches, dust and short drops.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy A71’s screen is both good and ideal for any form of use and entertainment a phone’s screen can offer today.
Performance
All A-Series Samsung phones aren’t currently being built for heavy duty.
Of course you can carry out all forms of tasks with the devices but you might get a few lags here and there depending on the device you go for.
With the A71, lags are at minimal, this is because of its Snapdragon chipset that comes with a 2.2 GHz Octa-core CPU and either 6GB or 8GB RAM.
You can do your gaming with the A71, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a gaming device. If you want to take a look at my list of some of the best gaming Samsung phones, click here.
With its 2.2GHz CPU, the A71 is a phone you can game with but not the ideal phone for heavy gaming.
However, if you’re only interested in carrying out other kinds of activities with the device (e.g. using social media, YouTube, browsing etc.), the Samsung Galaxy A71 is a phone you will be on all day.
Your apps aren’t going to get terminated in the background and you’re not going to get slowed down.
Talking about apps, the phone comes with Android 10, this means it is going to be compatible with a lot of apps on the Play Store for you to download.
You won’t have to worry about downloading a lot of apps or files with this device, because it’s got 128GB for all your files to stay.
If you manage to fill it up, you can always expand your space with an SD card, the best part is you won’t have to take out your one of your SIM cards if you plan to use two.
Some phones don’t allow two SIM cards as well as an SD card, but the Galaxy A71 is not one of them.
Battery
Possibly one of the best features of the A71 is the battery. It’s a 4,500mAh battery. A battery this big will last under heavy usage for at least a day. Light users may be looking at a 3-day use.
You won’t even have to worry about charging it because the A71 supports fast charging. It’s one of those plug and use after charging for a couple of minutes phone.
Extra Features
The Samsung Galaxy A71 also offers features like a headphone jack, USB Type-C, 4G LTE, GPS, etc.
Get the Samsung Galaxy A71 on Amazon.
Best Alternative: Samsung Galaxy A51
I was torn between choosing the A51 or the A71 5G as an alternative option for the best A-Series Samsung phone, but well, the Samsung Galaxy A51 has to be it.
This is because the A71 5G is the same as the A71 but with 5G, plus the A51 is cheaper than the A71 5G while offering some mouthwatering features, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be our second best.
Click here to see current Amazon price.
Even though the A71 5G has a bigger battery compared to the A51, that 5G feature is not looking good for the A71 5G. We’ll talk more about that soon. But for now, let’s take a look at the Samsung Galaxy A51.
Display
Unlike the A71, the A51 comes with a 6.5-inch screen. It’s a little smaller but not enough to be a deal breaker.
The phone also comes with an AMOLED screen so expect all those deep blacks and vibrant colors we talked about earlier. It is also a sharp display.
Resolution is the same as the A71 at 1080 x 2400 pixels, so no blurry display on the A51.
Since you also get the fingerprint scanner under the display as well, you aren’t going to be missing out on a lot if you decide to go for this device if having a good screen is up your alley.
And yes, it does come protected with Gorilla Glass 3, so it’s going to be safe from scratches and short drops.
Performance
Well, when it comes to performance, you’ll also be impressed by this device. Even though it comes with an Exynos chipset, it’s still ideal for all your day to day activities.
The A51 has a 2.3GHz CPU, now while you may think it’s better than the A71, you should remember that the A71 comes with a Snapdragon chipset.
Snapdragon chips have always been better in terms of performance compared to Exynos chips, this is why most people look away from Samsung phones that don’t come with them.
I would not recommend the A51 for heavy gamers because of lags that you may experience while playing some games, but if you only play light games, well, the A51 is a good phone to go for.
It also comes with Android 10 and has 2 storage options. 64GB and 128GB.
Both can be expanded by using an SD card and you don’t have to take out your SIM card to expand.
You get a lot of RAM options here, 4GB, 6GB and 8GB. Even though 4GB is my minimum recommended amount if you don’t want to experience lags, you will have apps getting terminated if you don’t used them for a while.
So, if you’re going to be using a lot of apps at the same time, go for the 6GB or 8GB RAM model.
Battery
Where the A71 is much better is in battery, this is because the A51 comes with a 4,000mAh battery compared to the A71’s 4,500mAh.
I wouldn’t really consider this a deal breaker, yes 500mAh more is great but you also get fast charging with the A51, so you’ll still be winning if the A51 is more affordable for you.
Extra Features
The A51 has extra features like a headphone jack, NFC, GPS, USB Type-C, 4G LTE, etc.
Get the Samsung Galaxy A51 on Amazon.
Best Budget/Best Battery: Samsung Galaxy A31
Although the Samsung A-Series phones are already cheap, the cheapest A-Series phones in today’s list also have the best battery. Killing two birds with a stone.
The Samsung Galaxy A31 is the best budget A-Series Samsung phone with great battery life. With a 5000mAh battery, you don’t only get long hours of use, but also a fast charging phone when the battery gets flat because of its 15W fast charging capability.
The A31 also offers features like 6GB RAM, an AMOLED screen and a fingerprint scanner under its display.
See current price on Amazon here.
Display
Amazingly, you get a Super AMOLED screen on the A31. This is not usual for most cheap Samsung phones, but it is for the A31.
It is a 6.4-inch screen and it’s got a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. For a budget device, that’s quite premium.
Although you don’t get a Gorilla Glass that can give you more protection, it’s advisable to just get a screen protector and a case for the phone.
You’ll want to if you want to keep the fingerprint scanner under the display safe. Yes, you read that right, the fingerprint scanner is under the display.
I can’t say I am not impressed by screen of the A31, all I can say is cheap phones are becoming good now.
Performance
This may not be the best part of this device. This is because the A31 comes with a Helio chipset.
Earlier, I talked about how Exynos chipsets are not as good as Snapdragon chipsets. Comparing a Helio chipset to a Snapdragon one is something I don’t even want to try.
Because Exynos ones are better than Helio ones.
I don’t want to get too technical so I’ll just say a few things about the A31 in terms of performance.
Yes, you can use this device for your day to day activities, yes it’s going to work but don’t always expect it to be fast.
So, if you’re carrying out a lot of tasks with this phone, expect it to lag from time to time.
To help you minimize lags, you should go for the 6GB RAM model, since the phone also has a 4GB RAM model.
It also has two storage options, 64GB and 128GB. 64GB storage space is enough for most people who want to have some songs, videos and apps installed on their phones.
If you plan to have a lot of files on your phone, then the 128GB storage option will be better.
You can expand storage without taking out any of your SIM cards on the Galaxy A31.
Overall, I’ll say the Galaxy A31 is not a phone you want to push too much, it’s going to slow down if you have way too many things happening at once.
Occasional social media apps, browsing and streaming videos online won’t hurt the phone, though.
Battery
As already mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy A31 comes with a 5,000mAh battery. This is a battery ideal for heavy usage.
It also supports fast charging.
Extra Features
You get Android 10, a headphone jack, NFC, GPS, 4G, USB Type-C, etc.
Get the Samsung Galaxy A31 on Amazon.
Best Budget/Best Battery Alternative: Samsung Galaxy A21s
A cheaper Galaxy A-Series phone with a good battery compared to the A31 is the Samsung Galaxy A21s.
It is better than the A31 when it comes to performance, thanks to its Exynos chipset. However, it doesn’t have a better screen, plus the fingerprint scanner is behind the phone, not under the display.
Display
Not an impressive display here, it is a PLS TFT screen (which is like an IPS display), you won’t get all those deep blacks an AMOLED screen can give you.
Resolution is also low at 720 x 1600 pixels. The screen is going to appear blurry when compared to devices with higher resolutions.
This is not the ideal A-Series phone you should go for if you’re all about a phone’s screen. However, if you’re into a cheap phone that can perform well, keep reading.
Performance
With its 2.0GHz CPU the A21s is a really good cheap A-Series phone. Since it comes with an Exynos chipset compared to the A31, it will perform much better while being cheaper.
Now of course you’re not going to be able to play the heaviest games available, but you will be able to play most of the games the A31 can’t.
If you’re only interested in using social media and browsing the internet, you’ll also be fine with the A21s.
It comes with Android 10 and is compatible with a lot of resources you can get on the Play Store.
To use a lot of apps at the same time, you should go for the 6GB RAM model instead of the 3GB or 4GB option.
Lowest amount of RAM I would recommend is 4GB.
Although storage options aren’t that impressive being 32GB and 64GB, you have the choice of using an SD card with its dedicated slot.
So no worries, you won’t have to take out one of your SIM cards to expand storage.
Battery
You also get the same 5,000mAh battery on the A21s. It supports fast charging as well. You can be on your phone for days if you’re a light user. Heavy users may have to charge every night.
Extra Features
USB Type-C, a headphone jack, GPS, 4G, etc.
Get the Samsung Galaxy A21s on Amazon.
Best Upgrade: Samsung Galaxy A71 5G and Samsung Galaxy A51 5G
We talked about the A71 as the best A-Series Samsung phone, well, Samsung thought the phone was so good that it deserved a 5G version.
I’m not going to say too much about the A71 5G because you really are getting an A71 with 5G included.
But I will say this though, 5G phones require a lot of battery. You really shouldn’t be using the 5G feature unless you plan to charge your device from time to time.
When you’re not using its 5G feature, you can switch to 4G. You should only get this device if you want to experience what 5G is.
So for fast downloads, streams, online games, sure the A71 5G is a very good choice.
Get the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G on Amazon.
Just like the A51 as well, you have the A51 5G. I believe you know by now that the A51 5G also has all the features of the A51 with 5G included.
So get the A51 5G if you want to experience fast internet speeds.
Get the Samsung Galaxy A51 5G on Amazon.
Best Midrange: Samsung Galaxy A70
Possibly a phone that could try going toe to toe with the Samsung Galaxy A71 is the A70, it’s got the same screen as the A71 and battery too.
However, its 2.0 CPU is no match for the A71, and compared to the A71, you only get 4 cameras instead of 5.
See the current price of the A70 on Amazon.
Display
By now you should have noticed that the A-Series phones have a flat screen, if you’re interested in more Samsung phones with a flat screen, you can click here.
The A70 is no different from most of the phones in the list, with its 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen, you’re going to get the deep blacks and crisp displays AMOLED screens are known for.
Resolution is 1080 x 2400 so expect a sharp display.
It is also protected with Gorilla Glass 3, giving you a phone with a screen that can withstand scratches. Even though it can also withstand short drops, I do not recommend putting your phone through that.
You get the fingerprint scanner under the display here as well.
Overall, this screen is as good as it gets on an A-Series phone.
Performance
The A70 may not have a high-end chipset, but it is a good enough one. Its Snapdragon chipset has a 2.0GHz Octa-core CPU and either 6GB or 8GB RAM.
Either model will do fine.
I’ll only suggest going for the 8GB model if you plan to use the phone for more than 2 or 3 years.
At the time of this post, I can recommend the device for your day to day tasks but because of its CPU, it’s going to slow down after 2 or 3 years.
That’s enough time to save up for a newer Samsung phone with better features in the future.
The A70 comes with Android 9 but can be upgraded to Android 10.
You get just one storage option, but if 128GB is not enough for all your files, then know that you can expand with an SD card.
You don’t have to take out your SIM card to expand storage space using an SD card on the Galaxy A70.
Overall, I’ll say this device will be good enough to handle your daily activities as long as they are not too heavy.
And I do not recommend this for long term use unless you don’t really care about lags.
Battery
The A70 comes with a 4,500mAh battery. It’s technically the same battery on the A71 since it also supports fast charging at 25W.
For heavy users, this phone can last up to a day for you, light users will go days with the device.
Extra Features
You get a headphone jack, USB Type-C, 4G LTE, GPS, etc.
Get the Samsung Galaxy A70 on Amazon.
Best Midrange Alternative: Samsung Galaxy A50s
Alternatively, you can go for the A50s if the A70 isn’t the phone for you.
The A50s comes with a few promising features like an AMOLED screen and a 4,000mAh battery. The screen has the fingerprint scanner under it and is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
We’ll be talking more about the A50s now. You can click here to see current Amazon price.
Display
The A50s comes with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen, it’s got the fingerprint scanner under the display and comes protected with Gorilla Glass 3 to keep the screen safe from scratches and cracking from short drops.
You’re not going to be getting a blurry display here, not just because it’s an AMOLED screen that gives all those deep blacks, but because of its resolution.
Coming at 1080 x 2340 pixels, the A50s’ screen resolution will leave you impressed by how sharp and detailed images are going to look when you’re playing games or just watching movies on the phone.
Especially if you’ll be coming from a phone that has a lower resolution.
Performance
You get an Exynos chipset on the A50s, it’s got a 2.3GHz CPU and either 4GB or 6GB RAM. Now with Exynos chipsets, you don’t get the same kind of performance you’ll get on a Snapdragon chipset.
But don’t let that trouble you, you probably won’t notice a huge difference between the A50s and the A70.
The A50s is good enough as your daily driver. Ideally, it is a phone that can handle your social media apps, light or moderate gaming, video streaming, etc.
If you want to multitask on the device, then go for the 6GB RAM model, else you will experience your apps getting terminated when they are running in the background.
No one wants that.
You can save a lot of files on the A50s, especially if you go for the 128GB model. Its 64GB model is also going to be good enough but that depends on the kind of user you are.
Save too many files and you will end up getting an SD card. Good thing the phone actually supports having SD cards unlike the A80.
Also, you don’t have to take out a SIM card to use an SD card on the A50s.
You should know that the A50s comes with Android 9 but you can upgrade it to Android 10. This makes the device compatible with more apps on the Play Store and gives you all the features Android 10 comes with.
Battery
The A50s comes with a 4,000mAh battery. It’s an ideal battery for both heavy and light users.
Heavy users may have to charge the phone each day while light users can use the device without charging for a while unless they want to.
The battery also supports fast charging.
Extra Features
The A50s comes with a headphone jack, USB Type-C, 4G LTE, GPS, etc.
Get the Samsung Galaxy A50s on Amazon.
Conclusion
You just got a list of the best A-Series Samsung phones available. The A-Series are Samsung’s phones without premium features like waterproof, wireless charging and high-end chipsets.
However, you won’t feel like you’re missing out on a lot while using an A-Series Samsung phone. Besides, we talked about the 5G A-Series phones here, 5G is currently available on most premium phones like the S20 and Note 20.
This article is going to get updated as more and better A-Series phones get released.
