Latest Galaxy A70 news
Introduction
Samsung’s new Galaxy A lineup covers everything from budget devices to premium midrangers. The recently-announced Galaxy A10, A20, and A30 are the budget offerings under the new lineup, whereas the A50, A70, and A80 are the midrange and upper-midrange options. Samsung had already announced the Galaxy A50 in February and it has now made the Galaxy A70 and A80 official as well.
The Galaxy A70 is an interesting device, and is another example of Samsung’s revamped midrange strategy to pack innovative features into its midrange smartphones before they make their debut on flagship models. On a broader level, it is essentially a larger and beefier variant of the Galaxy A50 with some new features. Though the A70 borrows many features from the A50, it also brings enough improvements to have an identity of its own and appeal to certain market segments.
Design
In terms of design, the Galaxy A70 is basically a larger version of the A50. It is built out of glossy plastic that gives it a glass-like finish, which Samsung refers to as 3D Glasstic in its marketing materials. The front of the device is occupied by a large edge-to-edge Infinity display with an in-display fingerprint reader and a small waterdrop notch. The chin appears to be smaller than what is found on the Galaxy A50 and is probably the only noticeable improvement in design.
The button and port placement also remains unchanged with a volume rocker and power button on the right, SIM slot on the left, secondary microphone at the top, and a headphone jack, USB Type-C port, primary mic, and a speaker grille on the bottom side. On the back, the A70 has a vertically arranged triple-camera system and LED flash at the top-left corner and Samsung branding in the middle. The rear side sports gradient colors, giving it a more playful look.
The device measures 164.3 x 76.7 x 7.9 mm and should weigh more than the A50 due to its larger footprint. Other than that, as evident from the above details, the A70’s design language, button placement, port selection, and construction materials are all identical to the A50.
Specifications
The Galaxy A70 comes with a massive 6.7-inch full-HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-U display, Snapdragon 675 octa-core chipset, 6 GB/8 GB of RAM, 128 GB internal storage, microSD slot, triple cameras on the back, single front camera, in-display fingerprint reader, NFC-based Samsung Pay, USB Type-C port, 4,500mAh battery with 25W fast charging, and more. Like the other recent Galaxy A models, it runs Samsung’s One UI based on Android 9 Pie, but it’s the latest One UI 1.1 version with additional features like Digital Wellbeing, Bixby Voice support without a physical button, etc.
The most interesting aspect in the Galaxy A70 spec-sheet is the support for 25-Watt fast charging. The Galaxy S10 5G is the only other Samsung smartphone to have this feature, but since the A70 may hit the market before the S10 5G goes on sale, it may very well be the first Galaxy smartphone in the market to offer this feature.
You can go to our Galaxy A70 page for the complete list of specifications.
Display
The Galaxy A70 comes with a massive 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Infinity display with 20:9 aspect ratio. But barring the jump in size, it is similar to the one found on the Galaxy A50 in almost every way. The full-HD+ (1080 x 2400 pixels) resolution of the display gives it a pixel density of ~393 PPI. The display sports Infinity-U design, which is Samsung’s way of branding screens with a U-shaped waterdrop notch.
The Galaxy A70 packs an in-display fingerprint reader, making it the second Galaxy A model, after the A50, to do so. While Samsung has not revealed any details, it may be the same optical reader included in the A50.
Camera
Just like the Galaxy A50, the A70 also has a single selfie camera and triple cameras on the back. However, the A70 bumps the resolution of the primary rear camera and selfie shooter to 32 megapixels, giving it an edge over the A50. Accordingly, the A70’s tripe-camera setup consists of a 32 MP f/1.7 with PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus), 8 MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens with 123° FOV, and a 5 MP f/2.2 depth sensor. There is also an LED to assist in low-light conditions.
The 32-megapixel selfie camera on the Galaxy A70 is the highest ever Samsung put in any of its smartphones. However, an increase in megapixels doesn’t automatically translate into better images, so we have to wait and see how the cameras fare in real life.
Software
The Galaxy A70 runs Samsung’s latest One UI 1.1 out of the box. This is a minor upgrade from the One UI 1.0 on other recent Galaxy A devices and brings features such as Digital Wellbeing, complete Bixby Voice support without a physical button, and more. This version is currently limited to the Galaxy S10 lineup and the A70 may be the first A-series device to ship with it. Since the One UI is based on Android 9 Pie, all the latest Android version features will also come as part of the package.
The Galaxy A70 supports Samsung Pay sans MST capabilities. It appears the company is still restricting the MST tech to its flagship devices.
Availability
The Galaxy A70 comes in Black, Blue, Coral, and White color options, just like the A50. It comes in a single 6GB/128GB storage configuration and is priced at INR 28,990 (~$418) in India. It is also available for purchase in Vietnam, Malaysia, China, and other regions.
