Samsung releases a lot more phones each year than someone can easily keep track of, majorly because they target essentially every smartphone price tier that there is. If you want a budget device, it’s not hard to find a handful of Samsung options that likely fit your criteria.
Today, Samsung has just silently made a new budget device, the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G, official. It’s a budget device, so the spec sheet is exactly as one might expect, but its software support is the real headlining feature. Samsung’s new smartphone has six years of OS updates, despite a very affordable price tag.
Samsung Brings Six Years Of OS And Security Updates To A Very Affordable Device; Might Be In A Class Of Its Own
When it comes to the effort that major smartphone manufacturers put into their devices, the flagships quite naturally get a lot more love, since they cost more money to make and consumers spend more money to get them—hence, they expect something of a more premium experience. However, if you buy a budget device for 5 or 6 times less, you don’t always expect that much love and attention to every part of the smartphone experience.
Budget devices get software updates, but usually two or three years worth. Even budget buyers can understand that they’ll never get the same support window as those paying more than $1,000 for a device.
However, Samsung has just flipped everything that I thought I could expect on its head. The company has just released the Galaxy A16 5G, without much fanfare, but the phone comes with a pretty exciting value proposition to put it above all other budget options. Six years of major OS updates and six years of security updates. Personally, I’ve never heard of any device as cheap as this (~$200) coming with anything comparable.
This Should Set A Baseline For All Of Samsung’s Subsequent Smartphones
Think about it. If Samsung’s A16 can somehow get six years of major updates—which means updates all the way into 2030—it’s valid to expect similar for the A26, A36, and A56 that’ll be revealed in the coming months. It could also mean good tidings for other budget phones Samsung offers, and the best-case scenario is that it influences other manufacturers.
The Specifications Are Rather Befitting For A Device Of This Price
At the moment, the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G seems to be on sale in Europe but not in North America. There, you’ll be able to get it for as low as €229 in the Netherlands, and judging by the launch price of the A15 in the US, it will likely maintain its $199 price tag. If that pans out, you get enough for that price.
The display is a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. That’s 0.2 inches bigger than its predecessor. The device also gets half a centimeter thinner. Samsung switches over to the Exynos 1330 in Europe and some other regions will get a Dimensity 6300, paired with a 4/128GB storage configuration. The camera setup remains the same: 50MP + 5MP (ultrawide) + 2MP (macro). On the front is a 13MP unit.
The battery stays at 5,000 mAh and so does the 25W wired charging—yep, the upcoming S25 will match a $200 phone’s charging. The headphone jack vanishes, which will certainly be annoying for those of us who have come to expect that from the budget phones. At least the SD card slot remains.
