Samsung Galaxy A16 5G Samsung's Galaxy A16 5G doesn't revolutionize what it means to be a budget phone with new materials, an upgraded camera, or AI-powered features, but it delivers tons of value, backed by a flagship-grade update commitment that will see it supported for up to six years. It might not leap off the page, but this cheap Android phone is more than worth the money as a first phone or a long-term option for an older loved one.
It’s tough to make a truly exciting budget Android phone. After all, there are only so many ways to balance camera sensors, materials, and clever wrinkles while sticking to a strict price point. And, when that price point is a mere $200, finding that balance is even harder. So, instead of giving its Galaxy A16 5G one standout hardware feature, Samsung has done something else for its entry-level smartphone: It’s given it a flagship-grade update commitment, and I think that’s much more valuable. Here’s why.
The Galaxy A16 5G’s design is comfortable but forgettable
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
I don’t usually pick up a cheap Samsung phone like this expecting to be impressed by its build quality. Sure, it’s nice when something like the Galaxy A35 5G shows up with a high-grade panel of Gorilla Glass on the front, but it’s not usually what makes or breaks a budget phone for me. Instead, I’m typically more impressed with the way a phone looks and feels in my hand, which is good news for the Galaxy A16 5G. This is a cheap phone that does a pretty good impression of something quite a bit more expensive.
The parallels between the Galaxy A16 5G and its flagship cousins are apparent from the minute you take it out of its slimmed-down, no-nonsense box. It copies everything from the flattened frame to the individually housed cameras, only deviating to put the volume rocker and side-mounted fingerprint sensor in the raised Key Island that Samsung introduced to its budget lineup last year. Overall, it’s a pretty good look, and the single glossy Blueblack finish available in the US usually catches the sunlight just right.
The Galaxy A16 5G looks a lot like Samsung's flagship phones, but most of its glass and metal have been swapped for plastic.
Unfortunately, just because the Galaxy A16 5G looks the part doesn’t mean it earns a starring role. My biggest problem with many of Samsung’s recent designs is that they haven’t offered much in terms of personality. While Motorola has been differentiating its Moto Gs with different materials and Google has been switching up its camera bar to keep its Pixel A series identifiable, Samsung has been forcing its designs closer and closer together. There’s almost no way to tell one apart until you hold it and realize how many smudges the glossy plastic finishes pick up — nearly the only thing setting the Galaxy A series apart from the frosted glass flagships.
That said, I do like Samsung’s return to Key Island. When there’s almost nothing else to feel for around the smooth plastic frame, the slightly scalloped edges at the top and bottom of that little segment make it much easier to find and press the barely indented fingerprint reader. The raised section also gives me a spot to rest my finger while holding the Galaxy A16 5G, which is good since the rest of the phone is very smooth and slippery. I’ll also give Samsung props for rounding the edges of its plastic frame ever so slightly, making the phone a bit more comfortable to hold than the very sharp Galaxy S25 series.
One of the brighter spots of Samsung copying its own design is that even its budget models benefit from pretty excellent displays. I won’t say that the Galaxy A16 5G can go toe-to-toe with its flagship cousins — it can’t — but it does outshine several other cheap phones. I’ve been decently impressed with the 800 nits of peak brightness, even if I’ve barely pushed the phone to that limit beneath the clouds that haven’t left the Mid-Atlantic region in a month. Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED panel still reaches deep blacks and offers punchy colors while I rewatch Super Bowl LIX highlights for the tenth time today, and its 90Hz refresh rate is plenty smooth even if it isn’t as impressive as the 120Hz rates you can get from most Moto G devices and other similarly priced handsets like the Nothing CMF Phone 1.
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