We’re waiting for the Galaxy S23 to be announced at Unpacked in a few weeks, but the S23 isn’t Samsung’s first phone release of 2023. $200. It offers some significant upgrades over last year’s A13 and gets a whopping four years of update support. This is rare even for phones that cost several times as much.
This phone has slightly larger bezels than more expensive phones, and instead of an unobtrusive hole punch, there’s a teardrop-style notch for the front-facing camera. There’s also a fingerprint sensor attached. Conversely, the phone still has a microSD card slot and a headphone jack, both of which are becoming increasingly rare even on budget phones.
Budget phones have been plagued by supply chain shortages during the pandemic, returning to low-cost ARM chips and low-resolution screens. The Galaxy A14 doesn’t have his Snapdragon chip, but it does have a very capable MediaTek Dimensity 700. It also sports a 6.6-inch 1080 x 2408 LCD touchscreen instead of his 720p panel on last year’s A13 and most other similarly priced budget phones. It also features his 90Hz refresh for smoother animations.
Samsung promises days of battery life with its 5000mAh battery, but the 15W max charging speed is a bit slow by 2023 standards. However, you don’t have to wait for an Android update right out of the box. While many budget phones still ship with Android 12, the A14 comes with Android 13 and the latest One UI interface. Additionally, Samsung promises four years of security patches for him and two major Android OS updates for him (Android 14 and 15). That’s all you can expect from a budget phone, and you’ll probably want to replace it in four years.
One place a budget phone like the A14 has to compromise is the camera. There are three lenses on the back of this smartphone, but don’t expect the same results as the three-lens Galaxy S smartphone. The primary 50MP camera is nothing to sneeze at, but the 2MP macro and 2MP depth cameras do little to improve your mobile photography experience.
Samsung has unlocked phones and offers brands from all three major carriers. Carriers themselves have phones in stores, but Samsung offers instant trade-in offers. If you have an iPhone or Galaxy from a few years ago, you can probably save $100 off the price tag.
