Talk about a 180 from last year……

Samsung’s Galaxy range started getting complicated since the 2020, with the flagship phones becoming an exercise in give and take, while the other series like the M and A series started to flourish. Last year was the biggest example of that, as while the S21 Ultra won almost everyone over (and was probably the best flagship of last year), the regular S21 and S21+ rubbed a lot of us the wrong way. This even extended into the S21 FE, and we actually found Samsung’s A52 and A72 devices to be a fair alternative especially if you were upgrading from an older flagship such as the Galaxy S10 or before. This year however, things seemingly have taken a change, with most of us agreeing that the Galaxy S22 phones are pretty solid, only for Samsung to bring up some controversial A-series phones last week and make us wonder what in the world is going on.

The Galaxy A53 and A33

Now as we watched Samsung’s Galaxy A Event yesterday, we were mostly pleased. Samsung was punching even higher above the weight class with these phones, adding flagship features among the A53 and A33. These include the RAM (6GB and 8GB respectively), screens (120hz and 90hz at the same resolution the S21 series offered), water resistance and the same or comparable main cameras to the base S22. Sounds great right? It did, until we noticed something very peculiar mid presentation : these phones have no headphone jacks! Yes, Samsung decided both their sub-$500 offerings should eschew what is still the most common form of users to consume music in their phone. Why? Well because Samsung wants to make more money of their mid range and low end offerings, meaning the A series phones are also now another vehicle to push wireless headphone sales. In fact, Samsung is offering  its Galaxy Buds as a pre-order bonus, just like it did with the S20 series and Z Fold 2. It’s a pretty evil move to pull on non flagship customers, who will now have to budget at least another $50-100 dollars to buy “quality” wireless buds for their new phones, or even more if they want the best one Samsung has to offer. Add in the fact that these phones don’t even come with chargers anymore, and we start to raise the other eyebrow. It seems along with giving them the flagship event treatment, Samsung actually wants to treat these phones as flagship, including tying flagship level costs to them. It makes sense from a business perspective of course, but we all know how that translates to more costs for customers. As such it leaves us feeling a little bittersweet about these phones, and ironically enough, looking at the Galaxy S22 phones with more admiration again.

Now how about those S22s

The Galaxy S22 and S22+ can be described by a slightly confusing but very true statement: reliably boring. They’re fast, pretty, and boast some refinements over last year’s phones that at least make the S21s worth skipping all together so you buy these ones. And yet they don’t really conjure much excitement. All of that went to the S22 Ultra, which is a Galaxy Note in all but name, but these phones were left feeling like the “nice guy” of the smartphone offerings this year. They’re great in almost every respect possible, but they just don’t draw in attention the way they should, hence …boring. However that outlook of boring fades a little when you start looking at their younger siblings in the A series, especially the A55. Now let’s be clear, the A55 basically costs half the price of an S22, ranging from USD $400 to around $450 while the regular S22 is $800, so this isn’t a price comparison. However, last year we said the A52 was a better buy than the regular S21 due to being half the price while also:

• Having a plastic body like the S21

• Having a very similar screen

• Having the same main camera module

• Having a headphone jack

• Having water resistance

• Coming with features like the charger in the box

This year, a lot of that has changed. The A53 is a better phone but so is the S22, so much so that their gap is a little more justified, and Samsung’s flagship offering actually seems to be worth drooling over again. On top of obviously being faster and now better build due to the glass and metal body, the S22’s cameras are objectively better this year, along with its screen.

This leaves the A53 only toting a Micro SD slot, which to be fair is still worth considering, but at that point you’re considering buying a worse phone for the sake of one feature. Again, it’s not exactly a fair comparison, after all $300-400 in difference is no joke. But while last year’s A52 and A72 could be considered flagship killers, this year Samsung definitely wants you focusing on the flagships in the S22s , and dealing with flagship-like costs when you eventually get to the A series as well. And that’s without even thinking about the S22+, which right now seems like the best buy for anyone in the flagship space as far as a middle ground between price and performance, outside of last year’s Pixel 6 of course.

And perhaps this was Samsung’s plan in the end: make you appreciate their flagships more while making you think twice about the phones priced lower than them. Or maybe we’re just extremely angry about the new A series phones. We’re not quite sure about that part yet. We will say this however: it’s okay if you get an A52 or A72  from last year. But if you want to go for the S series, try bite the bullet and get an S22 or S22+. You won’t regret either of those moves. Now please excuse us as we go find whoever made the headphone jack move at Samsung and burn their house down.

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