Earlier this week, Samsung unveiled its latest mid-range Android smartphones, the Galaxy A55 and A35.
Both models have been praised by experts for their “design philosophy” similarities and flagship-like features seen on Samsung’s Galaxy S24.
However, despite confirming the availability of the smartphones in some markets, Samsung made no mention of a US release.
Recently, the Korean giant announced that the Galaxy A55 will not be coming to the North American market. This marks the first time in a while that one of Samsung’s most popular products from the Galaxy A-series will skip the US market. But why?
According to writer Ben Schoon from 9to5Google, while Samsung didn’t explicitly provide a reason, in a statement to Android Police, they did highlight a fairly clear reason.
Last year, the South Korean manufacturer viewed the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 FE as options catered to the US customer base looking for an Android device with good specs and prices starting at $799 and $599 (through carriers).
But the Galaxy A54, priced significantly lower at $449, directly competed with these two models. All of this led to the current decision.
Samsung also confirmed the release of the Galaxy A35 in the following statement:
“We can confirm that the Galaxy A35 5G will be coming to the US market and we look forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks.
While we won’t be bringing the Galaxy A55 5G at this time, users can still take advantage of the value-packed innovation across our Galaxy lineup with the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 FE.”
According to Ben Schoon, the absence of the Galaxy A55 will create a gap in Samsung’s product lineup. However, the pricing for the Galaxy A35 in the US is still unknown.
The Galaxy A25 was priced at $299, and it appears the Galaxy A35 could fall between $349 and $449.
However, there are other strong players in the sub-$500 price range. For example, the upcoming Google Pixel 7a and the OnePlus 12R.
The Galaxy A35 and A55 come with the same 6.6-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,080 x 2,340 pixels and a 120 Hz refresh rate.
They also feature a 5,000 mAh battery with 25W fast charging and Samsung’s new Key Island design language. However, the frame of the Galaxy A35 is made of plastic, while the Galaxy A55 uses metal.
Both models have glass on the front and back. The Galaxy A55 can use Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both sides, while the Galaxy A35 uses Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the front and there is no information about the glass on the back yet.
Gorilla Glass Victus+ is said to have double the scratch resistance of Gorilla Glass 5 on the Galaxy A54 and A34.
The Galaxy A55 is equipped with the Exynos 1480 chip with the AMD RDNA2-based Xclipse 530 GPU. Users have the option of 8 GB or 12 GB of RAM and 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage.
The Galaxy A35 comes with the older Exynos 1380 chip from the Galaxy A54, along with options for 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage.
The Galaxy A55 features a 32 MP f/2.2 selfie camera, a 50 MP f/1.8 main camera with OIS, a fixed-focus 12 MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, and a 5 MP f/2.4 macro camera.
The Galaxy A35 has a 13 MP f/2.2 front camera, while the rear camera setup includes a 50 MP f/1.8 main camera, a fixed-focus 8 MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, and a 5 MP f/2.4 macro camera.
Samsung promises 4 years of OS updates and 5 years of security updates for the Galaxy A series.
The Galaxy A55 is rumored to be priced at 480 EUR for the 8/128 GB version, 530 EUR for the 8/256 GB version, and there is no price yet for the 12/256 GB version. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A35 starts at 380 EUR for the 6/128 GB version and goes up to 450 EUR for the 8/256 GB version.
