Posted on by

Crime against technology: The Samsung Galaxy A16 is the best-selling Android phone that no one should buy

Crime against technology: The Samsung Galaxy A16 is the best-selling Android phone that no one should buy

Good phones are getting cheaper and cheap phones are getting better, but is that really true?

Regardless, there is still great appeal for low-cost devices around the world, particularly in developing countries. For this very reason, the best-selling Android phone of 2023 was actually the $200 Galaxy A14.

By combining the 4G and 5G versions of the same phone, this phone actually became the third best-selling phone of last year.

Of course, this is the successor to the Galaxy A15 (which could well turn out to be a bestseller). Android phone 2024) a very important device.

However, that’s not the case if you look at the spec sheet of the just-launched Galaxy A16. Or if you just take a quick look.

Galaxy A16: Samsung has decided that the world’s best-selling Android phone should look worse than a phone from 2015

Now it’s true – people on a budget don’t necessarily want or expect a phone that costs $200 but looks like a $1,200 flagship. But looking at the new Galaxy A16, you might think that Samsung has taken it to the extreme. And I don’t know if there’s a nice way to put this, so I’ll just ask… What’s with the terrible design, Samsung? While thick display bezels or a notch might seem appropriate for a $250 phone, it almost seems like both are intended.

I almost think that the Galaxy A16 would have looked better and more premium if it had two equally sized top and button edges – at least that would make it look more “old-fashioned” than just old.

But it’s not just the aesthetic design – the thick bottom frame also makes the phone unnecessarily large. In fact, the Galaxy A16 is quite a bit larger than the already large iPhone 16 Pro Max, which has a 6.9-inch display versus 6.7 inches on the A16.

And no, I’m not comparing the two phones directly – I just want to point out how big the A16 is.

Samsung offers 6 years of OS updates for the Galaxy A16, but does it matter if the phone already looks 6 years old? In fact, the A16 will look 20 years old in 2030, and the same cannot be said for the Moto Edge 50 Fusion or the Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro.

Samsung is marketing the new Galaxy A16 as a phone that can last six years, but is that true?

The Galaxy A16 starts at €250 in Europe (expected to be $200 in the US) and gives you 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Compared to the 8/256GB and even 12/512GB combinations offered by similarly priced Motorola and Xiaomi phones (from 2023 and 2024), this seems… criminal.

Aside from the dated design, the 4GB of RAM in the base variant, and a subpar Exynos/MediaTek chip on board, I don’t need to give you the entire spec sheet to explain what’s wrong “on the inside” of the Galaxy A16.

Launching at this time of year for €250/$200 puts the Galaxy A16 in an impossible position – at least if you know there are other phones out there (and they’re available in your region).

Due to the excellent budget phones from Motorola and Xiaomi, the Galaxy A16 is not recommended

I won’t go into too much detail or do a full comparison, but there are a number of phones in the $200-$300 price range that are every bit as good as the Galaxy A16 in virtually every area and have far better processors, cameras and design offer and premium features such as IP68 water resistance and fast charging.

  • Galaxy A35 (available from €240 in Europe or $260 in the US)
  • Motorola Moto G85 (available in Europe for just €220, in the US for $290)
  • Motorola Moto Edge 50 Fusion (available in Europe for just €270, not available in the US)
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 / Xiaomi Poco M6 Pro (available in Europe for just €170, not available in the US)
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro (not yet available worldwide – can be imported to Europe and the USA for only 250 euros/dollars)

With the Galaxy A16, it turns out that long software support doesn’t mean much if the phone doesn’t have the hardware to keep up with the new software

And that leads me to perhaps the most intriguing reason to choose the Galaxy A16 over any other phone in this price range: Samsung’s rather shocking promise of 6 years of operating system and security updates.

That’s right – the Galaxy A16 receives just one fewer OS update than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which (brace yourself) has a 250-1,000% faster processor depending on the benchmarks you look at (CPU, GPU, NPU). Yes, that’s “a thousand” percent – ​​it’s not a typo.

“What’s the problem, Martin? It seems like Samsung is being generous.” Well, don’t be too quick to judge…

Even though Samsung’s marketing relies on “6 years of OS updates,” wouldn’t that promise be irrelevant if the phone is sluggish when unboxed on day one? And the reason I say this is because this was the case with the Galaxy A15, which showed lags and stutters right from the start.

Call me crazy, but making “6 years of OS updates” the main marketing argument for a phone that can potentially handle three OS updates before it becomes unusable seems… a trap. Especially when there are 50-100% more powerful phones in the price segment.

Is Samsung exploiting its market position to sell outdated budget phones in developing countries?

Ultimately, Samsung knows that budget phones like the Galaxy A14 were and are the company’s best sellers, so the decision not to change the old design and sluggish performance is quite disappointing.

To rub salt in the wound, Samsung is promising 6 years of OS updates for the Galaxy A16, which acts like a band-aid on a broken leg.

And as someone who tests and uses flagship phones, I may not be the target audience for the Galaxy A16, but that doesn’t mean I can’t see how cheap Samsung is playing it here.

The truth is that Samsung’s brand loyalty is strong and Galaxy phones are the most widely used Budget phones Around the globe, the Galaxy A15 and A16 are likely to sell well. But while the company could get away with it two to three years ago, this cheap trick is starting to feel… too cheap.

The above alternatives to the Galaxy A16 make it look like a budget phone from 2018, which is perhaps where it belongs. So… How long does it take for people to realize they’re being scammed?