Samsung's 'Galaxy A' First Unpacked Today... Full Power in the Mid-Range Market

Online Unveiling of Galaxy A52 and A72 Expected Today at 11 PM
Huawei Facing US Sanctions, LG Electronics Seeks to Fill the Void

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Samsung Electronics is hosting a global unpacking event for the ‘Galaxy A’ series for the first time. This is interpreted as a strategy to quickly fill the gap left by Huawei, whose smartphone business has been disrupted by U.S. sanctions, and LG Electronics, which is considering withdrawing from the business, by offering cost-effective mid-range models. As pent-up demand is expected to increase the smartphone market this year, attention is focused on whether Samsung Electronics, which has held the top spot in the global smartphone market for several years, can solidify its number one position with the Galaxy A series.

Samsung Targets Mid-Range Market

Samsung Electronics will hold the ‘Galaxy Awesome Unpacked’ online event at 11 p.m. on the 17th. At this event, new models of the Galaxy A series will be unveiled. This is the first time Samsung is holding a global unpacking event targeting mid-range models. It is also unusual that the event is held just over two months after the Galaxy S21 series was unveiled in January.

The reason Samsung is focusing on the Galaxy A series is that the importance of mid-range smartphones is growing day by day. Demand for affordable models with reasonable prices is increasing every year, especially among Generation Z, who value cost-effectiveness, and emerging Asian markets. According to market research firm Omdia, six out of the top 10 best-selling smartphones globally last year were mid-range phones such as the iPhone SE, Galaxy A51, and A21s. In the domestic market, sales of the Galaxy A31 surpassed those of the Galaxy Note20.

Park Jin-seok, a researcher at Counterpoint Research, explained, "Expanding the 5G mid-range smartphone lineup is a global trend recently," adding, "With competitors strengthening their lineups, such as Apple expected to release the budget-friendly ‘iPhone SE+ (tentative name)’ in the second quarter, Samsung seems to feel the need for an active response."

In particular, Samsung Electronics has been aggressively releasing mid-range smartphones since the beginning of the year, tightening its lineup. Following the Galaxy A12 last month, the Galaxy A32 and A42 5G were simultaneously launched on the 12th. Including the two new products expected to be unveiled at this event, Samsung will have introduced five A series models in the first quarter alone. This is seen as a strategy to dominate the market while taking the lead over competitors. Industry insiders believe that the Galaxy A series has played a significant role in Samsung maintaining its number one position in the global smartphone market for years.

Strengthening mid-range phone products is also a strategy to block the pursuit of Chinese companies such as Oppo and Vivo, which are taking advantage of the gap left by Huawei’s smartphone business disruption due to U.S. sanctions, and to target the void left by LG Electronics, which has effectively declared its withdrawal from the smartphone business.

Galaxy A52 and A72 Priced Around 500,000 to 600,000 KRW

At the unpacking event, the ‘Galaxy A52’ and ‘Galaxy A72’ are expected to be unveiled. Both products will be released in LTE and 5G models, with an expected retail price in the range of 500,000 to 600,000 KRW. Samsung Electronics has equipped these mid-range models with many features previously exclusive to flagship products, such as water and dust resistance and high refresh rates, securing specifications comparable to premium devices.

Based on the information released so far, both models share the same front design. They commonly feature a flat Infinity-O display with a punch hole at the top, a quad (four) camera setup on the rear with a 64-megapixel wide-angle main camera, and a 32-megapixel front camera. The application processors (AP) will be the Snapdragon 720G for the LTE models and the Snapdragon 750G for the 5G models. The Galaxy A72 is expected to support 3x optical zoom and up to 30x space zoom on its camera.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.