Galaxy A03s: Samsung Malaysia’s new budget phone gets a fingerprint sensor but slower charging

The Samsung Galaxy A03s has been announced in Malaysia and it’s their new budget smartphone offering priced under RM600. On the surface, this looks like an update to the Galaxy A02s but there are a couple of interesting trade-offs.

Pricing and availability

The Samsung Galaxy A03s in Malaysia is officially priced at RM559 and it comes in a single variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. It is available in 3 colour options – Black, Blue and White. If you’re interested, you can purchase it now on the official Samsung Malaysia online store as well as authorised retailers and eCommerce platforms such as Lazada and Shopee.

Hardware Specs

The Galaxy A03s features a 6.5″ “Infinity-V” LCD display that pushes a HD+ resolution of 1600×720 pixels which is similar to the older A02s. Instead of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, the new device is running on a MediaTek MTK6765 (Helio P35) processor with 4GB of RAM. It comes with 64GB of onboard storage which is expandable with a microSD card.

In the camera department, it retains the same triple-camera setup as its predecessor. This includes a 13MP main camera, a 2MP depth camera and a 2MP macro shooter. For selfies, the device is still fitted with a 5MP front camera that sits on a tiny notch.

A new addition to the Galaxy A03s is a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that doubles as a power button for instant unlocking. In terms of connectivity, it supports 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0.

Powering the device is a generous 5,000mAh battery which should be more than enough to last a full day. Surprisingly, it supports a rather slow 7.75W charging via USB-C which is half of its 15W fast-charging support offered on the Galaxy A02s. Out of the box it runs on Android 11 with One UI skin on top.

You can learn more on the product page.