Samsung Galaxy A51 vs A50s vs A50: What's the difference?

Samsung recently launched the Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71 as the first smartphones in the company’s 2020 Galaxy A series. Our focus today is on the Galaxy A51, and how it stands up against the Galaxy A50 and Galaxy A50s. So, how does the Galaxy A51 fare against its last-gen counterparts; let’s find out.

On the performance front, the Galaxy A50s and Galaxy A51 get the same 10nm Exynos 9611 SoC with both offering 6GB RAM. The Galaxy A50, on the other hand, gets an older 10nm Exynos 9610 chipset. Now, because Indian prices for the Galaxy A51 have not yet been released and the 6GB version costs little over Rs 24K in Vietnam, we’d have to give the Galaxy A50s the benefit of the doubt.

Cameras

In terms of optics, both the Galaxy A50 and A50s pack triple rear cameras, while the Galaxy A51 gets a quad-camera setup. In terms of capabilities, the Galaxy A51 does have the upper hand, but it is barely ahead of the A50s. Apart, from the macro lens, there aren’t any big differences here. If we had to pick on of the three phones, we’d go with the Galaxy A51. One more thing to consider here is price, and for the price, we feel the Galaxy A50 has a better camera than its counterparts.

Design and Display

All three phones look pretty sleek but feature plastic bodies. Additionally, displays specifications are also pretty similar across all three devices. However, the Galaxy A51 gets a punch-hole display rather than the waterdrop notch on the Galaxy A50 and A50s. Moreover, the A51 also sports a 20:9 aspect ratio as opposed to the 19.5:9 aspect ratio on the other two devices. If nothing else, the punch-hole notch does have a more modern feel to it.

Verdict

The similarities between the Galaxy A50, A51 and A50s make it pretty hard to pick either one of the three phones. On paper, the Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A50s are pretty hard to tell apart, with the most noticeable changes on the A51 coming in the form of a punch-hole display and fourth macro lens.

The Galaxy A51 also runs on Android 10 with the One UI 2.0 skin out of the box. Since the pricing of the device hasn’t been revealed to Indian audiences, we believe it won’t exceed Rs 23,000 for the base variant. The improvements on the Galaxy A51 seem minor over the A50s, and we don't recommend getting it if the price exceeds Rs 20K in India.