Galaxy M01s vs Galaxy M02s: Six months can make a big difference

It's been roughly six months since the Galaxy M01s was released and now a sequel called the Galaxy M02s is on its way. It was introduced yesterday and it is essentially Samsung's first smartphone to have been unveiled in 2021.

But how much has changed over the past six months? Does the Galaxy M02s bring enough upgrades to the table over the Galaxy M01s to justify its release? In short, yes it does, but let's have a closer look at the two phones side-by-side and shed more light on the matter.

Bigger display and battery, more memory and a modernized look

The Galaxy M01s and M02s look quite similar from the front, as both phones have an Infinity-V display with relatively thick bezels, especially the lower one. Nevertheless, the Galaxy M02s has a larger 6.5-inch display (versus 6.2-inch), even though it retains the HD+ resolution.

More drastic changes have happened on the opposite side of the phone. The Galaxy M02s has a different finish boasting a prismatic pattern, and the rear panel carries a fairly large rectangular camera cutout while lacking a fingerprint sensor. In fact, Samsung has been oddly quiet about this particular feature but given the design of the Galaxy M02s, it must have an in-display fingerprint sensor or none at all. We're guessing its the latter, otherwise Samsung would've made a bigger deal about it, but time will tell. Assuming it lacks this technology altogether, that's one point in favor of the Galaxy M01s.

The camera configuration itself is also quite different from last year. The Galaxy M02s has a 13MP primary shooter and a 2MP depth sensor similar to the Galaxy M01s, however, it also boasts a third, 2MP macro shooter. On the other hand, the selfie camera has been downgraded from a resolution of 8MP to 5MP.

Further upgrades are to be found under the hood. Samsung has switched gears with the Galaxy M02s and equipped it with the Snapdragon 450 chipset from Qualcomm as opposed to a MediaTek solution. The AP is coupled with 4GB of RAM instead of 3GB, and storage was also doubled from 32GB to 64GB. The components rely on a larger 5,000mAh battery, this time boasting 15W charging capabilities.

All things considered, the Galaxy M02s has introduced enough changes six months after the launch of the Galaxy M01s to be a worthy entry in Samsung's 2021 smartphone lineup. That's especially true given the $140 price tag. Then again, it also seems to have made a couple of compromises.

You can refer to our comparison widget below for a more in-depth look at these two budget phones side by side. Don't forget to tap/click the Full Comparison button.

Samsung
Galaxy M01s

Select model SM-M017F Buy Full specs

Samsung
Galaxy M02s

Select model SM-M027F Buy Full specs