Introduction
While everyone is raving about Samsung’s latest and greatest Galaxy S series, for many these high-end devices are either out of reach or downright unnecessary. When you look at the sales figures, it quickly becomes clear that Samsung’s A series has higher sales volumes than the S series, so it deserves our attention as reviewers. Today, we have the cheapest smartphone from the A series – the new Galaxy A06.
Not much has changed from last year Milky Way A05. Not to be confused with the Galaxy A05swhich is a slightly more expensive device.
With the Galaxy A06, you still get a base plastic model with no official protection against dust and dirt ingress, a modest 6.7-inch, 60Hz LCD display, a single speaker, a rather meager MediaTek Helio G85 chipset, and just 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable eMMC 5.1 storage in the base variant.
The camera setup hasn’t changed either, with a 50MP main camera and 2MP depth sensor on the rear, and a basic 8MP selfie snapper on the front. You still get a 5,000mAh battery and 25W charging like last year.
Samsung Galaxy A06 specifications at a glance:
- Body: 167.3×77.3×8.0mm, 189g; Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame.
- Display: 6.70″ PLS LCD, resolution 720x1600px, aspect ratio 20:9, 262ppi.
- Chipset: Mediatek Helio G85 (12 nm): Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 and 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G52 MC2.
- Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM; eMMC 5.1; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
- Operating system/software: Android 14, up to 2 major Android upgrades.
- Rear camera: Broad (head): 50 MP, f/1.8, AF; Depth: 2MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 8MP, f/2.0.
- Video recording: Rear camera: 1080p at 30/60 fps; Front camera: Yes.
- Battery: 5000mAh; 25W wired.
- Connectivity: LTE; Dual SIM; WiFi 5; BT 5.3; 3.5mm jack.
- Miscellaneous: Fingerprint reader (side).
To be honest, the only things that really seem to have changed from last year’s Galaxy A05 to this year’s Galaxy A06 are the color options and the addition of a side-mounted fingerprint reader in the power button. Well, that and the intrinsic fact that you’re getting a newer device that starts life on Android 14 and is expected to get two more major software updates. Other than that, the Galaxy A05 is essentially the same phone for less money.
That said, we can’t just make a blanket statement based on the specs alone and leave it at that. We’ll be diving deeper into what the Galaxy A06 has to offer in the following pages. Plus, this is a great chance to see just how far Samsung’s entry-level hardware has come, considering the Galaxy A05 never made it to our office last year.
Unpacking
The Galaxy A06 comes in a two-part slide-out cardboard box. The inside is made entirely of cardboard and is printed using soy ink. While we certainly appreciate the eco-friendly approach, this is probably the flimsiest case we’ve come across in a while. The cardboard is simply far too thin to ship. Our review unit arrived with the box completely smashed. To be fair, the phone itself was fine and undamaged, but that seems like a minor miracle considering the state of the box.
The Galaxy A06’s accessory package doesn’t earn us any extra points for the unboxing experience either. Aside from the phone itself, all you get is a passive USB Type-C to Type-C cable, a SIM ejector tool, and some documentation. That’s it. No charger, no case, nothing. It’s not like this is a new development, but compared to some of the competition, we feel a little let down by Samsung.