While much of the spotlight is hogged by Samsung's flagship Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Z foldables, there are other Galaxy lineups that ship in absolute monster numbers across the globe. The Galaxy A series of premium mid-range devices is the prime example. They've consistently remained one of the best-selling series from the company.
The Galaxy A5x models are in particular among the most highly sought-after devices from Samsung, and with good reason. For years, the Galaxy A5x mid-range phones have been the perfect mix of style and substance. You'd get a good design with solid construction and great specs. We've seen Samsung consistently push the envelop on mid-range camera tech with this device.
However, as you may have noticed, Samsung's focus has shifted over the past couple of years. It's no longer as forthcoming with major spec upgrades every year. The company is choosing to optimize and extract more value out of less. We've spoken about how this strategy is likely frustrating Samsung's most loyal fans, but that's a separate discussion.
The Galaxy A5x models are the bread and butter in the mid-range segment. People love these phones, particularly in emerging markets where a lot of customers are cost conscious, and may even be buying their very first phone. However, even as Samsung remains fairly insulated from Chinese manufacturers in North America, it faces intense competition from them across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and other markets.
There are countless manufacturers that compete very aggressively in this segment of the market. The Chinese formula has been quite simple. Provide over-the-top specs that jump out on paper in a very competitively priced package. It wins over cost conscious customers as for them, the comparison is often as simple as how many megapixels and how much RAM they can get for the amount of money they're spending. Whether that has any actual bearing on their user experience isn't usually a consideration.
For example, you can find Chinese phones in the sub-$400 range that boast 16GB of RAM, whereas even the Galaxy S24 Ultra might not have that much RAM. For the non-techie average joe, this is what jumps out, and when they're comparing that device with the Galaxy A55, they'll be more enticed by the Chinese option. Samsung could harp on endlessly about the new Exynos 1480 chipset with the AMD GPU, but it wouldn't seem as enticing.
It's gimmicks like these that have enabled Chinese manufacturers to claw back customers from Samsung's mid-range lineup. That's why the Galaxy A55 needs a shot in the arm, a proverbial cherry on top, something that jumps off the page and entices the target audience. That shot in the arm can be a metal frame.
While unconfirmed, recent rumors have suggested that both the Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A55 will feature metal frames. It would be a significant upgrade for these mid-range devices. If they ditch the plastic frame for metal, this would elevate their appeal and provide a bona fide premium look and feel. You can try and make plastic look as closer to metal as possible, but nothing replaces the physical feel of metal in your hands.
So in an environment where simplistic comparisons are being done, these are the things that jump out. Someone who is considering a Galaxy A35 or Galaxy A55 against a competing Chinese device will likely be swayed by that metal frame. Once they see how it feels in the hand, they'll likely not want to go with the other option.
This will also help them justify the decision to go with Galaxy, as a metal frame would make them feel that they're getting more bang for their buck. It also elevates their phone to a look and feel that's similar to more premium phones that may not be in their budget at that point in time.
That's precisely why you see so many Chinese phones with rear camera housings that mimic the iPhone. It's an option for customers who don't want to spend a lot of money on an iPhone, so they go for the next best thing instead.
The Galaxy S and Galaxy Z are Samsung's aspirational devices. They're expensive and not immediately attainable for a lot of customers. By trickling down as much of that premium DNA as possible, Samsung can ensure that these customers have an ideal to look up to in the Galaxy family.
It obviously wants the Galaxy A55 customer to one day upgrade to a Galaxy S or Galaxy Z flagship. All it needs to do is make sure that no Chinese OEM steals them away in the interim. Fitting these 2024 mid-rangers with metal frames will be a step in the right direction.
