Samsung Galaxy A27 5G overview: Classy but confusing

Price When Reviewed

$349

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy A27 5G

The Samsung Galaxy A27 5G continues the South Korean firm’s mission to offer a phone at almost every price point on the market. No matter your budget, Samsung will have a phone for you, and the Galaxy A27 slides in here below the Galaxy A37, for those looking for a big-screen phone that’ll handle the basics without paying through the nose.

At £319/$349.99, the A27 is more expensive than its predecessor, the Galaxy A26, while Samsung has downgraded its water resistance and ultrawide camera. There is a newer chipset running the show though, plus Samsung’s latest One UI interface, a large colourful display, and class-leading software support.

For similar money you can pick up the Motorola Edge 70 Fusion, with more power, better ultrawide camera, bigger battery and faster charging – although the software isn’t as good, and update support is not as long as Samsung. There’s also the spec-packed Honor Magic 8 Lite, while the Nothing Phone (4b) is a touch cheaper than the A27. Or you could drop down to the Galaxy A17.

It’s very much minor incremental upgrades on offer then, and with a bump in price, can the Galaxy A27 still be an attractive choice among some very strong competition? I’ve put it to the test to find out.

Note: Our Galaxy A27 review sample was supplied by AO, but it had no say in how we reviewed the device.

Design & Build

• Subtle design improvements over predecessor
• But water resistance has been downgraded
• At 200g, it’s comfortable to hold one-handed

The Samsung Galaxy A27 looks like a premium smartphone at a glance, and a few subtle design refinements over its predecessor could fool you into thinking this phone is more expensive than it actually is.

Out is the teardrop selfie camera design of the Galaxy A26, and in is a punch-hole front-facing snapper that mirrors its slightly pricier sibling, the Galaxy A37, and Samsung’s flagship S series.

Samsung managed to reduce the screen bezels slightly, allowing it to knock off almost 2mm from the height of the Galaxy A27 over the A26, although it’s a hair wider and thicker than its predecessor. It remains the same weight, however, and at 200g it feels solid, but not overbearing in the hand.

The blue finish looks smart without being shouty, and in fact all three hues lean towards subtle shades rather than dazzling attention grabbers.

The power key on the right of the phone sits below the volume rocker, and both buttons are on a slightly raised plinth (Samsung calls this Key Island), making it super easy to run your finger along the side of the phone and find them.

You get a fingerprint scanner built into the power key – no under-display offering here, this is a budget phone after all – that works well and makes unlocking the A27 simple.

Another nice feature is the recessed cameras on the rear of the phone. The triple, vertically-stacked snappers sit slightly sunken in the camera island, protecting them when placing the phone down on a surface.

The large display and wide body of the phone mean I had to really stretch my thumb to reach the top of the display, and employing two hands made things easier and more secure. Those with smaller hands will find the Galaxy A27 a little cumbersome.

It’s good to see the Galaxy A27 retain the microSD slot, allowing you to expand on the 128GB of internal storage by up to a whopping 2TB – there’s plenty of space potential here which is rare for a phone in 2026.

One disappointment here is the water and dust rating, with Samsung downgrading the level of protection on the Galaxy A27 compared to its predecessor. The result is an IP64 rating, which is still very good for dust, but when it comes to water there’s no protection against submersion. It’ll handle rain splatters and sweat, but don’t go dropping it in the bath.

You can pick the Galaxy A27 up in three colours, blue (the colour I received), black and light pink. The blue finish looks smart without being shouty, and in fact all three hues lean towards subtle shades rather than dazzling attention grabbers.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.7-inch, Super AMOLED display
• FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling
• Single speaker at the base

The Samsung Galaxy A27 packs a sizable 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display. It’s bright and colourful, and boasts a Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2340) and 120Hz refresh rate.

That refresh rate means scrolling social feeds and message chats feels smooth, while the size of the screen allows for comfortable gameplay and video streaming experiences.

the screen delivers what you need

Samsung seems to have improved the viewing angles of the screen over its predecessor, and while colours don’t pop in the same way they do on the firm’s S series flagships, they’re punchy enough to ensure the action on screen looks good in most conditions.

In particularly bright light the screen can struggle a little as its brightness doesn’t match that of flagship devices, so if you’re out in the sun you’ll want to find some shade if you want to properly see what’s on your phone.

From browsing the web, scrolling social, and reading emails, to playing games, watching Netflix and listening to Spotify, the screen delivers what you need. It’s not going to blow you away with brightness, resolution or colour, but for the price it’s what you’d expect.

You get just the single speaker on the Galaxy A27, located on the bottom of the phone. That means no stereo sound, but that’s not a surprise at this price point. The speaker can get reasonably loud, although audio quality quickly deteriorates if you pump the volume too much.

Plus, depending on how you hold the phone, I found at times my hand covering the speaker – especially when gaming or streaming video in landscape. A quick adjustment of grip allows the speaker to be free, but it might not be a particularly natural position for your hand.

Specs & Performance

• Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 (4nm) chipset
• 6GB/8GB of RAM
• 128GB/256GB of storage
• If you can, go for the 8GB/256GB model

The Samsung Galaxy A27 comes with just enough power to keep things running, but don’t expect blistering performance or a super slick interface.

Under the hood you get Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset, which was first announced in 2024, and has since been usurped by a Gen 4 model that arrived in 2025.

In short then, the A27 doesn’t have the latest power inside, and along with the 6GB of RAM in the 128GB of storage model I was sent for review, it shows. Navigating around the phone feels sluggish, while there can be significant wait times when loading and switching apps.

enough to remain competitive in battle

You’ll learn to be patient with the A27, and it’s certainly not the worst performing phone I’ve used. This is, after all, a handset aimed more at the budget end of the market, so performance compromise was always going to be present.

The good news is performance doesn’t hamper modest gameplay. Even though the load times for Clash Royale and Asphalt Legends were longer than on some devices, once I got into the meat of the games I didn’t feel like the A27 was holding me back.

You won’t be playing on the top graphical modes, but it is enough to remain competitive in battle. I’d advise PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile gamers to avoid this model though, as you will notice dropped frame rates even on lower graphical settings.

Scrolling the likes of X, Instagram and TikTok is a generally smooth experience – aided by the 120Hz adaptive refresh rate – although feeds can sometimes take a moment or two to load images and video.

If you’re set on getting the Galaxy A27, I’d recommend hunting down the 256GB model, as it comes with 8GB of RAM so should perform better all round.

The Galaxy A27 also comes with Bluetooth 5.1, WiFi 5, NFC, GPS, 5G and dual-SIM capability (although if you’re using two SIMs, you won’t be able to use a microSD card as they share a slot).

Cameras

• 50Mp main camera
• With 5Mp ultrawide and 2Mp macro snappers
• Plus a 12Mp front camera

The Samsung Galaxy A27 comes with three rear facing cameras, an impressive selection for what is a budget device. Although the number of cameras can be a little misleading, as is often the case.

That’s because you’re getting pretty much the same 50Mp main camera as on the previous two generations of this A series device, as is the 2Mp macro camera.

Meanwhile, the 5Mp ultrawide camera is a downgrade over the 8Mp ultrawide on the A26 and A25. It’s an odd move from Samsung, especially as the price of the phone has increased.

I was able to snap colourful pictures of flowers, and nicely exposed shots of tree-lined streets

When it comes to actually taking photos, the camera app is a little slow to load, and there’s noticeable lag on the shutter button. These delays combined means you might miss the shot you were planning on taking, which happened to me a few times.

It’s also not great at capturing motion, with even the gentle movements of my cat causing the image to blur. But the Samsung Galaxy A27 can take good shots, so long as you have a steady hand, still subject, good light, and just a tad of patience.

In natural light, I was able to snap colourful pictures of flowers, and nicely exposed shots of tree-lined streets. The macro lens did well to capture a close-up of two ants on a flower, with enough detail to make out what’s there, though it stops short of delivering truly macro-levels of quality.

Pictures looked a little more muddy when the weather was overcast, and as dusk settled. This isn’t a phone that’s going to dazzle you with low-light abilities.

You get zoom functionality too, and at 2x image quality remains strong. Go beyond that, to the preset 4x and 10x levels (or anywhere in between with pinch-to-zoom control) and details drop sharply, with pixelation very noticeable.

Zoom the other way, to 0.5x and the downgraded ultrawide camera, and the A27 does welcome in more of the scene in front of you, but colours are more muted and it struggles to expose darker areas of the shot.

You also get a 12Mp front-facing camera, that I found delivered good enough quality whether there was one person, or multiple people in frame. It’s more than good enough for video calls and the odd selfie snap for the feed.

Battery life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• 25W wired charging via USB-C port
• No wireless charging

The Samsung Galaxy A27 comes with a 5000mAh battery, which is the same size as the Galaxy A26 and A25 that came before it. Samsung says it can offer up to 23 hours of video playback on a full charge, and from my tests I’ve found that to be pretty accurate.

With typical daily usage of checking emails, scrolling social, reading news, listening to music, and playing some games, with a screen-on time between four and five hours, I could easily get through the day on a single charge. That would involve me taking the phone off charge at around 7am, and returning it to charge by midnight, with 10%-20% of juice left in the tank.

With lighter use, you can find yourself ending the day with 30%-40% left, allowing you to leave it off charge overnight and giving you a few hours of use the next day – but two days between charges is going to be unlikely.

In our usual PCMark for Android battery test, the A27 lasted a reasonable but nothing special 11 hours and 40 minutes, simulating a wide range of usage.

What was surprising to see was the charging

If you’re someone who enjoys lengthy sessions of intensive games, or you lose yourself in a TikTok doom scrolling scenario, the battery does deplete faster and you’ll be reaching for a charger before the day is done.

What was surprising to see was the charging. The Galaxy A27 still supports the same 25W charging speeds of its predecessor, which isn’t particularly fast these days, but Samsung claims it’s quick enough to replenish up to 45% in 30 minutes.

What I found is that it can do even better. During my flat to full recharge test, using a 100W charging block, the A27 gained 9% in the first five minutes, and 53% in 30 minutes. After 50 minutes I was back up to 82%. Charging speed does tail off after this, as a way of protecting the battery cell, with 100% achieved after 76 minutes.

As this is a budget device, there is no wireless or reverse charging available.

Software & Apps

• Android 16 operating system
• With Samsung’s One UI 8.5 interface
• Six years of OS and security updates (until July 2032)

The Samsung Galaxy A27 comes with the latest version of the Android operating system at launch, version 16. While this is running the show behind the scenes, what you’ll see on screen is Samsung’s own interface, the well established One UI 8.5.

This is the same interface you’ll find on the firm’s flagship S series, providing you a familiar look and feel if you’ve used other Samsung devices previously. The skin is heavier than some (Motorola keeps things very light, for example), but it remains relatively clean.

It’s easy to use, and even if you haven’t used a Samsung phone before, it’s similar enough to pretty much any Android phone to not be baffling for first timers.

What is great to see is class-leading software support

You will find a few bloatware apps forced upon you when you initially set up the phone. In the UK, I had Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and Netflix auto-loaded, along with a few Samsung apps including News and Global Goals. The good news is these can be uninstalled if you don’t want them clogging up your home screen or app drawer.

While the interface is visually similar to its pricier flagship siblings, the Galaxy A27 doesn’t get all the fancy features of those devices. That means no Now Brief and Now Nudge – Samsung’s Galaxy AI powered agent – with Google’s Gemini in charge of AI tasks on the phone.

What is great to see is class-leading software support. Samsung has committed to six years of software and security updates from launch, which means the A27 will be getting new features and patches up until the middle of 2032.

There’s a range of customization to help you personalise the A27 to your tastes, and One UI 8.5 has a solid range of features that mean you don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything major.

Price & Availability

The Samsung Galaxy A27 price is £319/$349.99, and that gets you the model with 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM. That’s a £20/$50 increase over the A26 it replaces, following the industry trend of devices increasing in price in 2026.

If you’re in the UK and want a bit more power and storage, the 8GB/256GB model will set you back £379. This configuration sadly isn’t available in the US though.

You can buy it from Samsung as well as retailers such as Amazon, AO and Currys.

Check out our list of the best budget phones to see our current top 10 recommendations for cheap handsets.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A27?

The Samsung Galaxy A27 is a well-made, stylish phone that’s affordable and offers up a big, colourful screen that’s great for gaming and video streaming. The trouble is, it finds itself at a competitive price point, and there are a few shortcomings for you to consider before parting with any hard-earned cash.

If you’re after snappy performance, quick load times, and a zippy interface, the A27 won’t be for you, while photography is at its best when you’re outdoors, in good light, and your subject is still. Outside of these parameters, you might be a little disappointed.

Then there’s the decision by Samsung to downgrade the water resistance of the A27, meaning for those of you who are on the clumsy side, or like using their phone while in the bath, you might want to look elsewhere.

Yet for those after a solid phone that could be mistaken for a pricier Samsung at a glance, and want a big screen for games or video and longer software support than most rivals, the A27 delivers. It is worth considering the Galaxy A37 if you can stretch your budget, especially if you see it discounted.

Specs

• One UI 8.5, based on Android 16
• 6.7-inch, FHD+, Super AMOLED, 120Hz
• Fingerprint scanner
• Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 (4nm)
• 6GB
• 128GB
• Cameras:
• 50Mp main sensor
• 5Mp ultrawide
• 2Mp macro
• 12Mp selfie camera
• Up to 4K @ 30fps rear video
• SIM 1 + Hybrid (SIM or MicroSD)
• MicroSD (up to 2TB)
• Bluetooth 5.1
• 5,000mAh battery
• 25W wired charging
• 162.4 x 78.2 x 7.8 mm
• IP64 certified
• 200g
• Colours: Black, Blue, Light Pink