Galaxy M40 vs Galaxy A50 specs: An interesting internal conflict

Sitting at the top of the Galaxy M lineup, it’s not surprising that the Galaxy M40 comes close to the Galaxy A50 on the hardware front. It’s actually a rather interesting conflict between the two phones. It’s rare to see Samsung offering smartphones in different lineups in a similar price range, but that’s what it’s doing with the Galaxy M40 and Galaxy A50.

No headphone jack on the Galaxy M40 may be its Achilles heel

However, the Galaxy A50 does have an upper hand, especially as it has a lower price for the base model. It comes with a Super AMOLED display, a bigger battery, and, most importantly, a headphone jack. The Galaxy M40 is Samsung’s first budget phone that’s missing the headphone jack. Samsung India told us that not having a headphone jack allowed them to make the device just 7.9 mm thick, the slimmest in the segment, but consumers won’t see it like that. Not to mention the A50 has a 7.7 mm profile and a 0.1-inch larger screen along with a headphone jack.

The M40 also has an LCD display instead of a Super AMOLED panel and a battery smaller than that of the A50, which is a shame considering one of the best features of the Galaxy M20 and M30 was their 5,000 mAh battery. It gets points for the Snapdragon 675 under the hood, along with a higher-resolution primary rear camera, but that’s pretty much it. And, well, the physical fingerprint sensor is also an advantage. Optical in-display fingerprint sensors, like the one in the Galaxy A50, are quite inaccurate and slow, making them a very poor alternative to physical sensors.

We’ll have a proper verdict on whether the Galaxy M40 can hold its own against the Galaxy A50 in our full review, but for now, we’ve put together a table to show you how the spec sheets of the two phones compare. You can also check how the M40 compares to its predecessors (the M10, M20, and M30) and see our initial impressions of the device.

Galaxy M40 vs Galaxy A50 specs comparison

Specs	Galaxy A50	Galaxy M40
Display	6.4-inch Infinity-U Super AMOLED, Full HD+ 1080×2340 pixels, 19:9	6.3-inch Infinity-O LCD, Full HD+ 1080×2340 pixels, 19:9
Processor	Exynos 9610, octa-core (4×2.3GHz Cortex-A73, 4×1.6GHz Cortex-A53), Mali-G72 MP3 GPU	Snapdragon 675, octa-core (2×2.0GHz Kyro 460 Gold, 6×1.7GHz Kyro 260 Silver), Adreno 612 GPU
RAM	4/6GB	6GB
Rear Camera	Camera 1: 25MP, F1.7 Camera 2: 8MP ultra-wide (123 degrees), F2.2 Camera 3: 5MP depth, F2.2	Camera 1: 32MP, F1.7 Camera 2: 8MP ultra-wide (123 degrees), F2.2 Camera 3: 5MP depth, F2.2
Front Camera	25MP, F2.0	16MP, F2.0
Storage	64GB, microSD slot (up to 512GB)	128GB, microSD slot (up to 512GB)
Software	Android 9 Pie, Samsung One UI 1.1	Android 9 Pie, Samsung One UI 1.1
Battery	4,000 mAh, fast wired charging (15 watts)	3,500 mAh, fast wired charging (15W)
Connectivity	4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack, dual SIM	4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB Type-C, Hybrid dual SIM slot
Dimensions	158.5×74.7×7.7 mm, 186g	–
Other features	Dolby Atmos (wired audio), facial recognition, in-display optical fingerprint sensor	Dolby Atmos (wired audio), facial recognition, fingerprint sensor (rear)