Samsung is going full throttle with their mid range smartphones lately by bringing some of the flagship hardware into the lower tier segment. The latest of the A series has been upgraded with such hardware. In this case, it’s the A52 and A72. Of course I won’t leave out the Galaxy A32 as well but that is more towards the entry level market.
I received the new Samsung Galaxy A72 just over a week ago and I have given it a short test. In this preview, I will be commenting on my initial findings and talk about what’s new with the A series.
Comparing the Galaxy A72 with last year’s Galaxy A71, the display is exactly the same size but this time the A72 has an under display fingerprint sensor. The responsiveness of the sensor is as good as the flagship series such as the S21. But I find that the fingerprint sensor is located slightly towards to lower end of the display compared to the S21.
The biggest improvement to me is the overall design and material used. The A71 has a shiny surface which made it a fingerprint magnet but the A72 has a matte finish. The camera bump is about the same but this time the A72 has a more smooth contoured design. I like this very much. It made the whole phone design look premium. The flat back surface made it very pleasant to hold in one hand, at least that’s what I feel.
Speaking on material, the Galaxy A72 comes in matte plastic finish at the back with an aluminum frame and gorilla glass front. The previous A71 come in all plastic design, which looks good but has that “cheap” look. Nevertheless, the A71 is a superb mid-range phone while the new A72 has improved in areas where the A71 lacks.
Now the Galaxy A72 now comes with the newer Snapdragon 720G SoC while the A71 comes with Snapdragon 730, without the G. Both SoC are almost identical in terms of the chipset speed and both are using 8nm process. As for GPU, both are using Adreno 618. It is said that the SD720G is an improvement from the SD730. For this, I need to do a full performance test.
The biggest upgrade we can see on the A72 is the camera module. It now has a better camera sensor and comes with a telephoto setup. I would say that the new Galaxy A72 has a more flagship level camera this time around. But I have yet to give it a full test.
I also would like to note that the new A72 is also IP67 certified water and dust resistant. That is one of the big improvements from its predecessor. Now your worries of water spills are over.
Colour options are better as well. It comes in more pleasant colours that looks good on the matte surface. I simply look better, feels better and hopefully performs better too.
So, is the overall processing power and performance the same as the A71? That we will find out in my upcoming full review.
Quick specifications of the new Samsung Galaxy A72
- SoC: Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G (8 nm), Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver)
- GPU: Adreno 618
- OS: Android 11, One UI 3.1
- Memory: 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM
- Display:
Super AMOLED, 90Hz, 800 nits
6.7 inches, 107.8 cm2 (~84.4% screen-to-body ratio)
1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~394 ppi density) - Battery:
Li-Ion 5000 mAh, non-removable
Fast charging 25W - Camera:
64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.7X”, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS
8 MP, f/2.4, (telephoto), 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
12 MP, f/2.2, 123˚ (ultrawide), 1.12µm
5 MP, f/2.4, (macro) - Selfie Camera:
32 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.8µm - Colours: Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Violet, Awesome Blue
