Samsung's "A" series has always played a specific role: give people who don't want to spend flagship money a phone that still feels modern. The Galaxy A27 is the newest attempt at that, and it lands with a genuinely bigger design change than most yearly updates get — the front camera cutout finally moves from a stretched U-shaped notch to a proper round punch-hole, matching what Samsung's pricier phones have used for years.
That's the headline. But once you get past the screen, the story gets more interesting — and a little more mixed.
01The Screen Finally Looks Current
The A27 carries a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED panel with Full HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+. The bigger deal is the shape of the selfie camera cutout — Samsung has moved to a punch-hole design here for the first time in this sub-line, replacing the notch the A26 used, and trimmed the bezels down around it too.
Why this matters: a punch-hole cutout isn't just cosmetic — it lets Samsung shrink the black bar around the screen, so the phone looks noticeably newer sitting next to last year's model, even with similar core specs.
02Qualcomm Replaces Samsung's Own Chip
This is the biggest internal change. The A26 ran on Samsung's in-house Exynos 1380, while the A27 switches to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, built on a 4nm process. Early benchmark estimates put the performance gain somewhere around 10-20% over the outgoing chip, though that's without any real-world thermal or sustained-load testing yet to confirm it holds up under longer use.
It's paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and storage options run from 128GB up to 256GB depending on which configuration you pick.
03The Cameras: Mostly the Same, One Step Back
Around the back sit three cameras: a 50MP main sensor with optical image stabilization, a 5MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP macro camera. The main and macro sensors are unchanged from last year's model, but the ultra-wide lens has actually been trimmed down from 8MP to 5MP. The front camera also drops slightly on paper, from 13MP to 12MP, though Samsung says the new sensor is a more modern one that should still produce better shots despite the lower number.
Worth flagging: the water and dust resistance rating has also gone down, from IP67 on the A26 to IP64 on the A27. That's a real drop in protection against submersion, even if splash resistance is still covered.
04Battery, Software, and Long-Term Support
The battery stays at 5,000 mAh with 25W wired charging, identical to last year. Where Samsung continues to stand out is software longevity — the A27 ships with a promise of six major Android OS upgrades and six years of security updates, keeping it in step with the company's flagship-tier support policy. It launches running Android 16 with One UI 8.5, along with AI features like Circle to Search, an improved Object Eraser, and multi-language voice transcription.
05Full Spec Sheet
Display6.7" Super AMOLED, FHD+, 120Hz
ChipsetSnapdragon 6 Gen 3 (4nm)
RAM / Storage6GB/128GB, 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB
Rear Cameras50MP (OIS) + 5MP ultra-wide + 2MP macro
Front Camera12MP with Super HDR
Battery5,000 mAh, 25W wired charging
Build162.4 x 78.2 x 7.8mm, 200g, IP64
ColorsBlack, Blue, Light Green, Light Pink
06A27 vs A26: What Changed
| Spec | Galaxy A26 | Galaxy A27 |
|---|
| Chipset | Exynos 1380 | Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 |
| Front camera cutout | Notch | Punch-hole |
| Ultra-wide camera | 8MP | 5MP |
| Selfie camera | 13MP | 12MP (newer sensor) |
| Water resistance | IP67 | IP64 |
| Launch software | Android 15, One UI 7 | Android 16, One UI 8.5 |
07Pricing
Samsung hasn't published official pricing everywhere yet, but the phone is already listed at €349 in Europe and around $350 in the US for the base configuration. That's roughly a €50 jump over what the A26 cost when it launched — a noticeable increase for a phone that trims a couple of specs rather than improving across the board.
08Should You Buy It?
- If you want a modern-looking screen and faster everyday performance, the punch-hole display and Snapdragon chip are genuine upgrades worth having.
- If you take your phone near water or the pool often, the drop from IP67 to IP64 is worth thinking about before you buy.
- If long software support matters most to you, the six-year update promise still makes this one of the better mid-range options around this price.
The Galaxy A27 isn't a clean, no-compromise upgrade over its predecessor — it trades a couple of things away to bring a few others forward. Whether that trade is worth the higher price probably comes down to which of those specs you actually use day to day.
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