Intro
Which one of these would be the better affordable phone to get in 2024? While we don’t know everything about the Galaxy A55 just yet, the basics can be compared!
Galaxy A55 vs Pixel 7a differences explained:
| Galaxy A55 | Pixel 7a |
|---|---|
| A humble Exynos 1480 chipset | Tensor G2 on board, a flagship-grade chipset |
| A larger phone with a 6.5-inch display | A much more compact device with a 6.1-inch screen |
| Large 5,000mAh battery | Smaller 4,385mAh battery on board, with wireless charging |
| IP67 water resistance | IP67 water and dust resistance as well |
| Triple camera setup with a macro camera | Dual camera setup |
| $450 starting price | A slightly higher $499 starting price |
Table of Contents:
Design and Display Quality
Candybars are never going out of style
Both the Galaxy A55 and the Pixel 7a don’t stray away from the classic and well-established candybar paradigm. Standard devices, with standard design and traditional exterior. Both the Galaxy A55 and the Pixel 7a are glass-aluminum sandwiches, but each has a unique design element.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy A55 comes with the so-called Key Island, which is a bump on the right side of the frame. It houses the power button and the volume rocker. An intriguing design element, for sure.
Both phones are IP67-rated and will endure submersion into water up to 1 meter for 30 minutes, which should give you a peace of mind.
Now, both phones have it pretty differently when it comes to displays. The Galaxy A55 will be the much larger device, reportedly coming with a 6.5-inch FHD+ OLED display, possibly brighter than last year’s Galaxy A54 by a fair margin. It will most certainly support 120Hz refresh rate and HDR, too.
Meanwhile, with the Pixel 7a, we get a 6.1-inch OLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, so we are getting a smaller display that’s not as smooth. It might be much dimmer, too, as the maximum brightness isn’t great. Surely, the display could be one of the weaker aspects of the Pixel 7a.
Performance and Software
Exynos vs Tensor
Meanwhile, Samsung will most likely put the Exynos 1480 inside the Galaxy A55, which might not be a terribly powerful powerplant either.
Both devices will come with 128GB of native storage in the base version, which is a standard mid-range amount these days. The Pixel 7a comes with 8GB of RAM, and there’s a very fair chance that the Galaxy A55 will also come with that much for future-proof reasons.
Camera
Who needs a macro?
The Galaxy A55 is reportedly coming with a macro camera once again. This sensor is joining the much more useful wide and ultra-wide cameras that you’re certainly using way more frequently. Not many rumors on the topic, but we suppose the Galaxy A55 will be just a generational upgrade over the Galaxy A54 and introduce few improvements here and there. As a refresher, the Galaxy A54 came with a 50MP main and a 32MP ultra-wide camera, joined by a 32MP front camera. No lack of megapixels here.
Audio Quality and Haptics
We expect that the Galaxy A55 will deliver an audio experience that’s above average. Of course, you can’t expect it to be at the levels of the Galaxy S24 series, but not too shabby at all. Meanwhile, we were satisfied with the audio quality coming out of the Pixel 7A. We said that it created “a very decent soundstage that doesn’t shine with deep base or super-clear highs, but delivers a strong and punchy sound with bright mids”. We were also quick to point out that the Galaxy A54 sounds more lively, so our expectations are already set relatively high.
Haptics are an area in which the Pixel 7a didn’t excel, and we don’t really expect anything mind-blowing from the Galaxy A55 either.
Battery Life and Charging
Long-lasting champs?
Meanwhile, the Pixel 7a fared well in comparison with the Galaxy A55‘s predecessor, beating it in our video streaming test, but losing by a margin in the web browsing test. It was also defeated in the 3D gaming test, where the Galaxy A54 performed much better. There’s a smaller 4,385mAh battery on board, so there’s that.
Charging-wise, the Pixel 7a supports slow 18W wired and 7.5W wireless charging, so nothing too impressive. In fact, it takes the phone two full hours to fully charge from 0 to 100, which is not great at all. The Galaxy A55 should charge much faster with its suspected 25W charging speed support.
Summary and Final Verdict
Granted, the same has been true of previous Galaxy A5x phones as well, so the Galaxy A55 could potentially be another excellent recommendation. Of course, if Samsung plays its cards right!
