Samsung Galaxy A27 review

The competition

It's frankly hard to make heads or tails of Samsung's current pricing. A quick search on Amazon Germany shows that certain colors of the Galaxy A27 will cost you around €300, or in other words, the same price as the vastly superior Galaxy A37. You can even find the also superior Galaxy A36 cheaper or similarly priced as the new Galaxy A27.

Things are definitely not rosier in the US. Samsung advertised that the Galaxy A27 would soon launch in the USA at $350, while running a promo for the A37 at $330 at the same time. That was quickly corrected with the A37 getting back its old price - $450, which coincidentally is exactly how much the Galaxy A57 costs at the moment. So, clearly, both the A27 and A37 are pushed to price brackets they can't occupy comfortably, as Samsung is trying (and failing!) to space them apart in different price tiers due to the late launch of the A27.

And the Galaxy A37 is easily the better phone than the A27. You get the full IP68 ingress protection, a brighter display, stereo speakers, a better camera system and faster 45W charging.

Even the outgoing Galaxy A36 can make a strong case for itself when compared to the Galaxy A27, despite the fact that the two share the same screen and offer an identical performance and battery life. Beyond that, however, the A36 will offer you IP67, faster 45W charging, stereo speakers, under-display FP reader, Wi-Fi 6, a larger sensor on the main cam, higher res ultrawide and macro cams, and 4K selfie video. The only concession is the missing microSD slot.

Samsung Galaxy A37 • Samsung Galaxy A36 • Xiaomi Poco X8 Pro • Motorola Edge 70 Fusion

At current pricing, you can easily afford a Poco X8 Pro instead of the Galaxy A27. The Poco has vastly superior hardware all around. An IP69K ingress protection rating, a much brighter and Dolby Vision-certified display, a stereo speaker setup with Dolby Atmos, a larger 6,500 mAh battery with super-fast 100W charging and a MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset that is in a whole other league performance-wise.

Over in camp Motorola, you can easily fit an Edge 70 Fusion into your budget. Probably even the 8GB/256GB one (unfortunately with no expandable storage, but still). Again, you are looking at excellent ingress protection - IP68/IP69 and MIL-STD-810H compliance. Also, a better and certainly brighter AMOLED display with HDR10+ support. The camera setup is also arguably superior, and you get stereo speakers and faster charging. Depending on the region, it either comes with a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 or a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset, which is surprisingly not a huge difference anyway. What some regions do get is a 7,000 mAh battery instead of a 5,200 mAh one, which is a pretty big bump.

And it wouldn't be fair if we didn't mention that you can get most of the same experience as the Edge 70 Fusion with the Edge 60 Fusion for noticeably less money.

Our verdict

The Galaxy A27 is a perfectly competent mid-range smartphone. It delivers the dependable software experience we've come to expect from Samsung, backed by an excellent six-year software update promise. The phone feels well-built, offers expandable storage, delivers decent battery life, and its main camera and selfie camera are perfectly capable for everyday use. The switch to a Snapdragon chipset is also welcome, even if the performance uplift over its predecessor isn't particularly dramatic. We did, however, enjoy the improved battery life on the new model.

Unfortunately, that's where the positives start running into the realities of Samsung's current lineup. The A27 introduces a few questionable downgrades compared to the Galaxy A26, including lower IP protection, a weaker ultrawide camera and older Bluetooth connectivity. More importantly, it fails to improve the overall experience meaningfully. The display still leaves more to be desired, charging is slow, the single loudspeaker is merely adequate, and overall performance is only average for the asking price.

None of these compromises would necessarily be deal-breakers if the Galaxy A27 occupied the right price bracket. The problem is that it doesn't. In many markets, the Galaxy A36 and A37 cost roughly the same or marginally more while bringing meaningful upgrades across the board.

The Galaxy A27 is, ultimately, a decent phone that ends up being overshadowed by Samsung's own products. If you happen to find it heavily discounted, it can certainly be worth considering. At its current street price, however, we'd recommend getting a Galaxy A3x model instead.

Pros

• More modern aesthetics with a punch hole camera.
• Excellent software support with six major Android updates.
• Solid build with Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both front and back.
• Expandable storage and optional eSIM support (market dependent).
• Good battery endurance.
• Good selfie camera.
• microSD slot.

Cons

• Max display brightness leaves more to be desired.
• Single loudspeaker.
• Slow 25W charging.
• Downgraded ultrawide camera and lower IP rating than the predecessor.
• High launch pricing makes other, higher-tier Galaxy phones a better buy.