Weekly poll: are the Samsung Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71 worthy of an A+?

This is a preview of the Galaxy S11 design or rather a mid-range interpretation of it. The new Galaxy A series targets a wider audience than the upcoming flagships and its real competition is the aggressively-priced premium mid-rangers coming out of China.

You can view the Samsung Galaxy A51 and A71 as “vanilla” and “plus” models. Both feature Super AMOLED displays with 1080p+ resolution (20:9 aspect ratio) and a centered punch hole housing a 32MP selfie camera.

Around the back, there’s a new dedicated macro camera with a 5MP sensor – macro cams have been gaining popularity recently and allow for some new types of creative shots. Besides that there is a 12MP ultra wide camera along with a 5MP depth sensor.

The Galaxy A51 is coming out in Vietnam in a couple of weeks and will cost around $350/€310.

The Samsung Galaxy A71 will be better for gaming, but it has an edge in the camera and battery departments as well. It starts with the larger screen – 6.7” vs. 6.5”, though the actual difference in surface area is only about 6%.

The main camera features a large 64MP sensor (1/1.7”) and a relatively bright f/1.8 aperture. For comparison, the A51 has a 48MP sensor (1/2”) and an f/2.0 aperture. There’s no OIS, but Samsung’s Super Steady feature can stabilize video. Though if you’re the type to shoot video, you should keep in mind that the A51 tops out at 1080p while the A71 offers 2160p/30fps.

The Galaxy A71 also has a more powerful chipset, Snapdragon 730, the Adreno GPU is noticeably faster than what’s in the Exynos 9611 chip of the A51. Both phones have a dedicated microSD slot to expand the on-board storage.

The final bit of difference is the battery – the Galaxy A51 has a 4,000mAh cell that charges at 15W, the Galaxy A71 upgrades to 4,500mAh and 25W. The A71 also has an 8nm chipset (vs. 10nm), so it may have an even bigger battery life advantage than capacity suggests.

Chances are that the Samsung Galaxy A51 and A71 will not compete directly against each other. Depending on your budget, how much you game and whether you shoot video on your phone will make the decision between these two easy.

The names of the true rivals start with Xiaomi, Realme, Honor and vivo. Some have advantages like a 90/120Hz screen, but for the most part they are made using the same recipe. So, what do you think – has Samsung made two compelling phones or did it miss the mark.