Samsung Galaxy A27 review

The Galaxy A27 is one of the most interesting phones from Samsung in 2026. Not because it has amazing hardware or groundbreaking features, but because it may be the first Galaxy smartphone that is the victim of the “AI tax,” the rising cost of electronic devices driven by the huge demand for AI infrastructure.

The Galaxy A27 isn't just costlier than the Galaxy A26 at launch in many markets. It is also a downgrade in some areas. Samsung has replaced water resistance with splash resistance, and there's a 5MP ultrawide camera in place of the A26's 8MP unit.

It's possible those downgrades were necessary to avoid an even higher price tag. But for customers, the reasoning doesn't matter. They want the best bang for their buck, and this review will tell you whether the Galaxy A27 delivers.

The Galaxy A27's design is pretty typical of what we see on mid-range Samsung phones these days. Like its more expensive cousins, the Galaxy A37 and Galaxy A57, the A27 is equipped with Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the front and back.

As a result, it feels great in the hand. A metal frame would have made it feel more premium, but since even the Galaxy A37 has a plastic frame, it's not surprising that the A27 goes the plastic route as well.

Samsung has addressed two complaints fans have had about previous models in the lineup. This is the first Galaxy A2x phone with an Infinity-O (punch-hole) display, which makes it look more modern.

Samsung has also shaved the bottom bezel down from 3.5mm to 2.1mm. It's still thicker than the other bezels, but it doesn't look nearly as distracting as it did on older A2x models.

At 7.8mm, the Galaxy A27 is actually 0.1mm thicker than the A26, but I wouldn't call that a deal-breaker. It's still a slim phone overall.

Around the back, the camera island has a dual-tone design, with a black frame connecting the island to the rest of the phone and another frame on top that matches the phone's color. Whether this looks good is entirely in the eye of the beholder. I found it pleasing, but at least one person I showed the phone to found it off-putting.

There's one thing no one will appreciate, however, and that's the lack of water resistance. The A26 had an IP67 rating, which made it water-resistant at depths of up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. The A27 has an IP64 rating, so while it's protected from dust, it can only handle splashes. You'll have to be careful if you tend to spend a lot of time around large bodies of water.

The Galaxy A27's 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display offers a pleasant viewing experience. It's punchy, as expected from an AMOLED panel, and it gets sufficiently bright outdoors. It also has a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother scrolling and animations.

That's about it, though. While the A27 supports Full HD video playback in streaming apps, the display isn't HDR-capable, even though the phone can technically decode HDR video. In short, it's a fine display, but it won't blow your socks off.

Audio quality from the phone's single speaker isn't worth praising, either. There's next to no bass, and voices in videos or music can sometimes grate on your nerves at maximum volume. USB-C or Bluetooth earphones are a must if you're planning to pick up this phone.

The Galaxy A27's camera setup is both a downgrade and an upgrade. The downgrade is at the back of the phone: there's a 5MP ultrawide sensor instead of the 8MP unit found on the A26. The ultrawide is accompanied by a 50MP main camera and a 2MP macro camera.

The main camera is fine for taking pictures outdoors during the day, with fairly good detail, contrast, and dynamic range. Indoors, detail quickly disappears and pictures look a little soft. There's also some shutter lag that can result in blurry shots when the lighting isn't strong.

The ultrawide camera does what an ultrawide camera is supposed to do: capture more of the scene. But with just 5 megapixels to work with, ultrawide shots are merely passable during the day. They are extremely lackluster indoors, with noise creeping in even when there's plenty of artificial lighting.

For some reason, the phone doesn't automatically enable Night mode when the ultrawide camera is used in low-light conditions. Manually switching to the dedicated Night mode is necessary, though it doesn't really improve the results in a meaningful way.

The 2MP macro camera is best treated as a cosmetic part of the rear camera setup. The resolution is too low to make it worth the effort of taking macro shots. I'd recommend simply capturing photos with the main camera and cropping them to achieve the macro look.

The front of the phone is where the one camera upgrade resides: a 12MP shooter instead of the A26's 13MP one. The megapixel count is lower, but the sensor and optics are better, so you get solid selfies in most lighting conditions. The front camera punches above its weight, and it will make the narcissist in you quite happy.

The Galaxy A27 can shoot video at up to 4K at 30fps using the main rear camera. Video quality is decent during the day but takes a noticeable hit indoors and in low-light conditions. In short, it's nothing impressive, but you won't hate it.

The ultrawide and selfie cameras can record video at up to Full HD at 30fps. The selfie camera delivers good video quality when the lighting is right, but the ultrawide camera's video output is every bit as mediocre as its still images.

The Galaxy A27 is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset. Compared to the Exynos 1280 chip inside the Galaxy A25, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 offers 47%, 38%, and 13% faster CPU, GPU, and NPU performance, respectively.

Compared to the Exynos 1380 inside the A26, the gains are much more modest, with Samsung mentioning 7% and 8% better CPU and GPU performance in its media briefing.

Since very few people will be upgrading to the A27 from an A26, comparing it to the A25 is more apt. And the real-world experience isn't very impressive.

UI animations are prone to random stutters, and I can't help but feel that the 120Hz refresh rate is a little too much for the GPU to handle. Samsung's software is among the best in the industry when it comes to features and functionality, but it's clear that optimization is an area where the Korean giant still has some catching up to do.

Oddly enough, the phone handles gaming much better than it does general use. To be more precise, gaming performance is more consistent. You won't really see frame rates above 30fps in demanding titles like Call of Duty, but at least those 30 frames are delivered at a consistent pace.

The A27 also stays pretty cool under sustained load. The temperature does climb to a point where it's noticeable, but not enough to make you think the phone is struggling to dissipate the heat.

Like the Galaxy A57 and A37, the Galaxy A27 comes preloaded with One UI 8.5 (Android 16). The software experience is essentially the same on all three, including some AI functionality that doesn't match what's available on Samsung's flagship devices.

Instead, the A27 offers what Samsung calls Advanced Intelligence, a collection of features that may sound like AI but aren't all that sophisticated in practice.

For example, Galaxy AI's more advanced photo editing isn't available here. You can still remove objects from images, but there's no option to move them around.

Voice transcription is one of the newer additions to Advanced Intelligence, but even that is limited in scope. Unlike on Samsung's flagships, transcription doesn't work everywhere. You only get it for voice recordings and call recordings.

Other Advanced Intelligence features include Best Face, which lets you pick the best frame from motion photos; AI Select for capturing parts of the screen and getting context-aware suggestions; Read Aloud for webpages in Samsung Internet (now called Samsung Browser); the ability to create custom camera filters based on existing images; and Auto Trim, which automatically extracts key moments from recorded videos.

The phone also comes preloaded with Gemini as the default digital assistant, mapped to a long press of the power button. Bixby is available as well. Long pressing the home button brings up Circle to Search, which lets you search what's on your screen by highlighting or circling the item of interest. Both features work well.

The rest of the software experience is largely the same as on other Samsung smartphones, with the exception of high-end features like DeX (despite an early sign suggesting otherwise). Samsung's update policy is a highlight. The A27 is promised six years of both major Android OS upgrades and security updates, which is excellent support for a phone in this price range.

The Galaxy A27's battery life is fantastic. This is something Samsung has basically perfected on its mid-range phones, and the A27 is no exception.

You simply won't be able to drain it in 24 hours unless you play a demanding game like Call of Duty for hours on end. With mixed use, it often lasted nearly two days for me on a single charge.

Granted, most of my days are spent on a Wi-Fi connection at home, but even if you introduce hours of cellular data use, the A27's battery life remains extremely dependable.

The A27 supports 25W charging, and it is slightly slower in practice compared to other Samsung phones. A full charge takes up to an hour and a half. Thirty minutes of charging gets it to around 40-45%.

The Galaxy A27 is a perfectly competent mid-range phone, but it doesn't feel like the obvious choice in Samsung's lineup. Battery life is excellent, software support is among the best in the segment, and the new selfie camera is a welcome improvement.

However, the downgrade to an IP64 rating, the weaker ultrawide camera, and the inconsistent day-to-day performance make it difficult to recommend over its siblings.

If you simply want the latest Galaxy A2x phone and don't mind paying for it, the A27 won't disappoint. But if you can stretch your budget just a little, the Galaxy A37 is the better buy. And if water resistance matters more than having the newest model, the Galaxy A26 remains a surprisingly compelling alternative.