Galaxy A42 5G Could Boost Samsung's Mid-Range Portfolio

If you haven't yet heard by now, Samsung's best selling 5G phone in the past six months isn't the Galaxy S20. Sure, the company's high-end phone does have its fair share of buyers but even Samsung has practically admitted defeat in making its sales numbers not sound so terrible. The 5G-enabled Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71 are, instead, some of its more popular handsets this year so far. And that may be giving Samsung the confidence to further push that mid-range series with what could be its most affordable 5G phone yet.

The Galaxy A41, which was launched just last month, is a rather odd phone for a single reason. It runs on a MediaTek Helio P65 instead of any Qualcomm Snapdragon or Samsung Exynos chip. Its successor might be equally unique in that it will be offering 5G support, perhaps using one of MediaTek's new Dimensity chips as well.

SamMobile reports the existence of a certain SM-A426b which it suspects is an international model of a Galaxy A42 5G. Its mere existence is already significant since there is almost no 5G-enabled phone in existence on this lower run of the mid-range ladder. If Samsung follows its pricing trend, this phone could be even cheaper than the nearly $500 Galaxy A51 5G.

Not much else is known about this phone though it is rumored to boast of 128GB of internal storage. That's two times more than this year's Galaxy A41 and definitely a step up as far as entry-level phones go. Given its target market and price, a MediaTek Dimensity 800 might not be that far-fetched, unless MediaTek announces and even "lower" 5G chip in the next few months.

The Galaxy A42 5G might not be available until early 2021 at earliest, which gives plenty of time for other manufacturers to try and beat Samsung to the punch. Presuming Samsung won't even launch a 4G-only version of this phone, it could mark the start of the company's more aggressive push to put 5G in all its phones, no matter the tier.