In case you missed it, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil has finally unveiled more details of the Pakej 5G Rahmah plan that aims to deliver affordable 5G postpaid plans and device bundles to the public. You can read more about that here, but in this article we wanted to take a look at the devices available as part of this plan, specifically the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G and the Honor 90 Lite.
As part of the Pakej 5G Rahmah plan, Malaysians will be able to snag postpaid plans offering at least 60GB of 5G data for RM60 a month from participating telcos. These plans will come with a selection of 5G smartphones bundled along for the ride, which will include at least the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G and the Honor 90 Lite. The government says that they will go for only RM240, with the first 100,000 B40 consumers who sign up for the Pakej 5G Rahmah eligible for a RM120 subsidy on the phones; telcos meanwhile are free to price the phones cheaper if they wish.
Taking a look then at the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G and the Honor 90 Lite, these two devices offer quite a lot when you consider that they’re going for just RM240 or less in the Pakej 5G Rahmah plan. But which one should you go for? Here’s a quick comparison of the two smartphones offered.
Samsung Galaxy A14 5G
Starting with the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, this phone made its way to Malaysia back in March with a usual price tag of RM949. It comes with a reasonably large 6.6-inch, FHD+ LCD display, capable of a 90Hz refresh rate and was a welcome upgrade from the Galaxy A13 5G’s 720p screen.
Under the hood, the Galaxy A14 5G packs a MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor that’s a couple of years old now. That gets mated to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, with Android 13 out of the box skinned with One UI Core 5 over it. Despite being a more entry level 5G device, Samsung has still guaranteed 2 major OS upgrades for the Galaxy A14 5G, as well as up to four years of security updates.
Other features of note includes a triple rear camera setup with a main 50MP, f/1.8 camera flanked by a 2MP, f/2.4 macro lens and a 2MP, f/2.4 depth sensor, while up front is a 13MP, f/2.0 selfie shooter. Keeping the lights on meanwhile is a 5,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging, along with a side mounted fingerprint sensor and support for Bluetooth 5.2, WiFi 5 and 5G.
Honor 90 Lite
As for the Honor 90 Lite, it has an ever so slightly larger 6.7-inch, FHD+ LCD display that’s also pushing a 90Hz refresh rate, with Honor also claiming that it has a JNCD < 1 screen-by-screen colour temperature calibration for better colour reproduction on its display.
It’s powered by a much newer processor too, the MediaTek Dimensity 6020. However, despite the new name it appears to be only ever so slightly faster than the Dimensity 700 in the Galaxy A14 5G, with both these MediaTek processors having nearly identical core counts and configurations. The Honor 90 Lite does however have more memory and storage with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, running Android 13 out of the box skinned with MagicOS 7.1 over it.
In the camera department you’ll find a 100MP, f/1.9 main camera flanked by a 5MP, f/2.2 ultrawide and a 2MP, f/2.4 macro sensor while a 16MP, f/2.45 front camera rounds things off.A 4,500mAh battery with 22.5W fast charging meanwhile keeps the lights on along with a side mounted fingerprint sensor and support for WiFi 5, NFC< Bluetooth 5.3 and 5G.
So which 5G smartphone should you choose?
On paper, the Honor 90 Lite is seemingly the winner here, with a larger display, newer processor albeit with similar performance, more RAM and storage as well as a better camera setup. The Honor 90 Lite is even the more expensive device, with a retail price of RM1,099 compared to the Galaxy A14 5G’s RM949 price tag. There are some things that the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G is better in though, with longer software support and a larger battery, as well as arguably a more user friendly operating system for most people.
However, depending on the telco you go with for the Pakej 5G Rahmah plan, it might not be so clear cut. At the moment, Yes 5G is the only telco to launch their Pakej 5G Rahmah plans so far and their RM58/month Yes Infinite+ Postpaid plan comes with a slew of options including the Honor 90 Lite and the Galaxy A14 5G. Yes 5G however is pricing the Galaxy A14 5G at just RM100, with the Honor 90 Lite costing you RM200 instead.
Both are less than Fahmi’s RM240 recommended price, but at RM100 less if your budget matters the Galaxy A14 5G still isn’t that bad of a choice. Furthermore, if you’re one of the first 100,000 B40 members to sign up, you’ll get that additional RM120 subsidy that makes the Galaxy A14 5G essentially free, though the Honor 90 Lite would then be available for just RM80.
