The latest Samsung Galaxy A30 and A50 are coming to Malaysia very soon and they are probably the most affordable water-resistant smartphones that you can buy. Both devices have passed SIRIM’s certification and the listing provides a glimpse of what to expect in terms of wireless connectivity. Unfortunately, it appears that it is missing one of our favourite features and nope, it has nothing to do with WiFi.
According to its SIRIM listing, the Galaxy A30 (SM-A305F/DS) and A50 (SM-A505F/DS) will support a variety of 4G LTE bands which include 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2300MHz and 2600MHz. Both devices can also support 802.11ac 5GHz WiFi which allows faster wireless transmission especially if you have faster fibre connectivity at home.
However, if you look closer, it appears that the Galaxy A30 and A50 will not come with NFC support for our local market. This also means that both will not support Samsung Pay which requires NFC for contactless payments.
When the Galaxy A30 and A50 were announced during MWC19, Samsung did mention that both devices can support Samsung Pay but its availability varies depending on market. When we checked Samsung India’s product page, NFC is also missing for that region.
At the moment, Samsung Pay is mostly supported on the flagship models in Malaysia but they do include a couple of mid-range devices like the Galaxy A8 Star, Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A9 for 2018.
To recap, both Galaxy A30 and A50 come with a large 6.4″ Full HD+ display and are powered by a large 4,000mAh battery that support fast charging via USB-C. The Galaxy A30 is priced at RM799, while the Galaxy A50 is going for RM1,199.
UPDATE: We’ve reached out to Samsung Malaysia and they informed us that the Galaxy A30 and A50 for our market does not come with IP68 dust/water resistance.
Thanks @KevinNgTK for the tip!
