We’re all awaiting the Galaxy S23 reveal at Unpacked in a couple of weeks, however the S23 will not be Samsung’s first cellphone launch of 2023. That honor belongs to the budget-oriented Galaxy A14 5G, which works on sale as we speak for a mere $200. It affords a couple of significant upgrades over final yr’s A13, and it will get a whopping 4 years of replace help, which is uncommon even for telephones that price a number of instances extra.
The cellphone has considerably bigger bezels than costlier telephones, and there is a tear drop-style notch for the front-facing digicam as a substitute of the much less intrusive gap punch. For the reason that display is LCD, you will even have a side-mounted fingerprint sensor as a substitute of 1 within the show. On the flip facet, this cellphone nonetheless affords a microSD card slot and headphone jack, each of that are more and more uncommon even on price range telephones.
Price range telephones have suffered from provide chain shortages through the pandemic, regressing to lower-cost ARM chips and lower-resolution screens. Whereas the Galaxy A14 does not have a Snapdragon chip, it does have a really succesful MediaTek Dimensity 700. It additionally sports activities a 6.6-inch 1080 x 2408 LCD touchscreen as a substitute of the 720p panel on final yr’s A13 and most different equally priced price range telephones. It additionally has a 90Hz refresh for smoother animations.
Samsung guarantees multi-day battery life from the 5000mAh battery, however the 15W most charging pace is a little bit gradual by 2023 requirements. You will not have to attend for an Android replace proper out of the field, although. Whereas many price range telephones are nonetheless delivery with Android 12, the A14 comes with Android 13 and the newest One UI interface. Plus, Samsung guarantees 4 years of safety patches and two main Android OS updates (Android 14 and 15). That is about all you’ll be able to count on from a price range cellphone, which you will most likely need to exchange inside of 4 years.
One of many locations you must compromise with price range telephones just like the A14 is the digicam. This cellphone has three lenses on the again, however do not count on the identical outcomes as a three-lens Galaxy S cellphone. The first 50MP digicam is nothing to sneeze at, however the 2MP macro and 2MP depth cameras will do little to enhance your cellular images expertise.
Samsung affords the cellphone unlocked, in addition to branded for all three main carriers. The carriers themselves can have the cellphone of their shops, however Samsung has prompt trade-in affords. If in case you have an iPhone or Galaxy from a couple of years in the past, it’s going to most likely shave $100 off the worth tag.