While it's still yet to be officially announced, Samsung has lifted the curtain on the Galaxy A16 5G, confirming it'll be the company's first budget smartphone guaranteed to get six generations of Android updates alongside six years of security patches. So if you snag a Galaxy A16 5G, that means you can expect it to run the latest Android OS until 2030 — a level of software support virtually unheard of at this price point. Not only is it a best cheap phones contender, but it also has a good chance at dethroning the Moto G 5G (2024) as the top pick in our best cheap phones under $300 guide.
Samsung seems to have jumped the gun a bit with a listing for the Galaxy A16 5G on its Dutch website (via AndroidPlanet), which reveals several notable upgrades over its predecessor, the $200 Galaxy A15 5G. This time around, Samsung's bumping the screen size up from 6.5 inches to a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display, slimming down the design to a width of 7.9mm (from 8.4mm on the A15 5G), and unfortunately following the trend of ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack. The latter did earn the A16 5G an improved IP54 rating for basic dust and water resistance, another first for a budget Samsung phone.
Under the hood, the A16 5G packs the same 4GB of RAM and 5,000 mAh battery that charges at 25W as its predecessor. However, it does sport a new octa-core processor that's believed to be the Exynos 1330 chip (Samsung doesn't mention processor names in its official specs list). It comes out of the box with 128GB of storage, which you can bump up to 1.5 TB with a microSD card.
In terms of the camera setup, you can expect more of the same. Like the A15 5G, the A16 5G packs a set of 50MP main, 5MP ultrawide, and 2MP macro lenses on the back along with a 13MP selfie camera on the front. You'll have your choice of color options between Blue Black, Light Gray, Gold, and Light Green, though availability could vary by market.
And as we mentioned before, for the first time in Samsung's budget smartphone series, the A16 5G is promised six years of Android OS and security upgrades. Given that Samsung's flagship Galaxy phones like the Galaxy S24 are eligible for seven years of updates — just one year more — it definitely gives the A16 5G a leg up.
How much it'll cost is a bit more up in the air. Samsung's Dutch website doesn't list a price, but its French website has it listed as €249, the same as the A15 5G. We expect the A16 5G's price to remain in the same ballpark as its predecessor, so our guess would be somewhere between $200 and $250. Shipments are expected to start soon, so stay tuned.
Samsung also just recently announced the Galaxy S24 FE, which appears to have a slight advantage in offering Galaxy AI features and support for Samsung DeX. Otherwise, you're getting a substantial amount of savings with the A16 5G.
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