It was a fairly uneventful week for the US smartphone market – the most important (and worst) factor that occurred is that Samsung hiked up the costs of a number of of its smartphone and pill fashions. It’s not so unhealthy, although, as you don’t really should pay the brand new MSRPs – now we have higher offers.
Additionally this week, Samsung is lastly launching the Galaxy A37 and A57. Beginning with the Galaxy A57, we’re glad to see this one accessible early – the A56 took endlessly to launch within the US.
As for the telephone itself, it brings a slimmer, lighter body (6.9mm, 179g vs. 7.4mm, 198g) with higher water resistance (IP68 vs. IP67) than its predecessor. It has a sooner Exynos 1680 chipset too (up from 1580). The remaining isn’t all that completely different, together with the 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired-only charging.
The Samsung Galaxy A37 retains the plastic body and it’s primarily the identical dimension as final 12 months’s mannequin (7.4mm, 196g), although it did get the bump as much as IPX8 water resistance. It makes use of an Exynos 1480 chipset (from the Galaxy A55) with sooner UFS 3.1 storage (up from UFS 2.2 on the A36).
Now we have an in depth comparability of the Galaxy A37 and A57 that will help you decide between the 2. There are causes to get both mannequin.
However there are causes to skip them too. The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is definitely cheaper than the A57 – it’s $50 much less for each the 128GB and 256GB variants. The FE is clearly the higher telephone with the high-end Exynos 2400 chipset and devoted 8MP 3x/75mm telephoto digicam. It’s thicker than the A57 (it measures 7.4mm and weighs 190g). It has an IP68-rated aluminum body.
The S25 FE is likely one of the telephones that have been affected by the worth hike – the MSRP for the 256GB mannequin went up from $710 to $750. Like we stated within the opening paragraph, you don’t should pay MSRP and right here’s the proof.
In the meantime, a 256GB Samsung Galaxy S25+ will be had for $700. That’s $140 greater than the equal S25 FE, however you do get a nicer 6.7” show (1440p+ vs. 1080p+, each LTPO) and a Snapdragon 8 Elite from final 12 months as a substitute of an Exynos from 2024. The Plus additionally options 15W wi-fi charging along with the 45W wired charging.
The Google Pixel 10a prices the identical because the A37. It has a smaller show (6.3” vs. 6.7”) however a comparable battery (5,100mAh with 30W/10W charging vs. 5,000mAh with 45W wired-only charging). In our testing, the Pixel 10a achieved an Energetic Use rating of 15:13h, beating A37’s results of 13:49h. And whereas the Tensor G4 isn’t any velocity demon, it’s noticeably sooner than the Exynos 1480.
You possibly can splurge and spend $100 extra on a Google Pixel 10. The non-a mannequin will get the newer Tensor G5 chip, plus a devoted telephoto digicam – 10.8MP 5x/112mm. Each Pixels supply Satellite tv for pc SOS messaging, which the Galaxys don’t.
We’ll additionally point out the Google Pixel 10 Professional and 10 Professional XL, which have been holding regular with $250/$300 reductions. The ten Professional has a number of necessary upgrades over the vanilla 10, together with a higher-quality LTPO show, a bigger 1/1.31” sensor in the principle (vs. 1/2.0”) and a better decision 48MP sensor within the 5x/113mm periscope. The Pixel 10 Professional XL is identical besides with a bigger show (6.8” vs. 6.3”). The Professional and Professional XL batteries are comparable sufficient (12:06h vs. 12:29h Energetic Use rating).
We seemed on the S25+, so let’s additionally take a look at its substitute, the Samsung Galaxy S26+. Final week, it value $1,000 / $1,200 for a 256GB / 512GB mannequin, this week it’s $75 much less. There isn’t a lot distinction between the 2 besides the newer chipset (Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 vs. Snapdragon 8 Elite) and a 5W bump to wi-fi charging (the 2026 mannequin does 20W Qi 2.2). Extra importantly, the battery life has improved (16:25h vs. 14:26h) regardless of battery capability staying the identical (4,900mAh).
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Extremely is $20 lower than it was seven days in the past – should you purchased one final week, you didn’t lose a lot. In the meantime, the Galaxy S26 value is identical, although now you get a $100 bonus should you commerce in an previous telephone.
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