Samsung Galaxy A51 & A71: Infinity-O and macro photography for the masses

Samsung has officially revealed the Galaxy A51 and A71 and these are the first two Galaxy A models for 2020. The devices were launched in Vietnam which has been a successful market for the Galaxy A series with over 5 million units sold this year.

Samsung Galaxy A51

The first model is the Galaxy A51 and this is the successor to the Galaxy A50s which was launched in Malaysia not too long ago. The screen is slightly bigger now at 6.5″ and it gets a punch-hole display that offers a more immersive viewing experience. It is still a Super AMOLED panel and it pushes a Full HD+ resolution in a taller 20:9 aspect ratio. Like its predecessors, the device still comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor.

According to Sammobile, the Galaxy A51 runs on an Exynos 9611, which is the same processor that’s powering the current Galaxy A50s. The device can be configured with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage which is still expandable via a dedicated microSD card slot.

If we look at the rear, it gets a familiar prism device and the biggest standout feature is its large camera bump that has four cameras arranged in an “L-shaped” array. The A51 comes with a 48MP f/2.0 main camera, a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle shooter and two 5MP cameras that are used for depth and macro. For selfies, the centre punch-hole houses a 32MP f/2.2 front camera which is somewhat similar to the A50s.

The rest of the specs remains unchanged from the original Galaxy A50 that was introduced in early 2019. It still gets a 4,000mAh battery that supports 15W fast charging via USB-C. The device is available in 4 colours – Prism Crush Black, White, Blue and Pink. In Vietnam, it is said to be priced at VND 7,990,000 (about RM1,437) which is quite high for a mid-range smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy A71

If you’re looking for something bigger, there’s the Galaxy A71. Like the original A70, it still retains a 6.7″ Super AMOLED display but this time it pushes a taller Full HD+ resolution and it comes with a centre-aligned punch-hole that contains a 32MP selfie camera.

The device runs on an unspecified octa-core processor which features two 2.2GHz cores and four 1.8GHz cores. This is likely to be a Snapdragon 730 unit. It can also be configured with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage.

In terms of design, it looks like a slightly bigger Galaxy A51. The rear also gets a quad-camera setup which features a higher-resolution 64MP f/1.8 main camera. It also has a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, a 5MP f/2.2 depth camera and a 5MP f/2.4 macro shooter.

The Samsung Galaxy A71 is still coming with a respectable 4,500mAh battery and it also supports 25W Super Fast Charging via USB-C. The colour options are similar to the A51 but it is available with a Silver option instead of White.

Overall, it is quite a minor update to the current Galaxy A series. The only noticeable extra is the macro camera, which isn’t something remarkable. Even the camera bump doesn’t look unique anymore since the Honor View 30 and Vivo V17 are using a similar design.