Transsion (parent company of Tecno, Infinix and itel), Xiaomi’s Redmi, Nokia and some others brands may be at each other’s neck to capture a bigger share of the budget and mid-range smartphone market in Africa, especially Nigeria, but Samsung isn’t giving up.
The Korean tech giant revamped its budget strategy earlier this year with the launch of the first batch of M series smartphones. It was the first time in a long time that we saw Samsung offering a boatload of features at competitive prices.
Well, Samsung is looking to continue the momentum built over the previous few months and has today launched the much-awaited Galaxy M40. It’s a smartphone which brings the likable punch-hole design to the mid-range segment, along with a number of new and high-end features.
Like always, let’s first talk about the build and design of the Galaxy M40. It’s yet another phone with a plastic body that’s resemblant to the Galaxy M30 but now shows off some iridescence (rainbow-like gradient) like its elder sibling – the Galaxy A50 as well. I quite like the blue color variant we have with us.
The Galaxy M40’s display is one of the key highlights of this smartphone. Samsung has today launched the most affordable phone with a punch-hole display design, the one we have already seen on the Galaxy S10 series (which Samsung calls the Infinity-O display) and it looks great. Galaxy M40 features a 6.3-inch TFT LCD display with a Full-HD+ (2340 x 1080p) resolution.
Under the hood, Samsung has decided to finally replace its Exynos chipset with the more popular and powerful Snapdragon 675 chipset. Yes, this isn’t a joke and Samsung is now really giving users the performance they’ve been asking for. The chipset is coupled with 6GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB of storage, which is expandable up to 512GB.
In the camera department, well, you get a 32MP (f/1.7) primary lens, alongwith an 8MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide angle lens, and a 5MP (f/2.2) depth sensor in the vertical module on the rear. The punch-hole in the display houses a 16MP (f/2.0) selfie camera, which sounds great for a mid-range Samsung smartphone.
The Galaxy M40 also sports a 3,500mAh battery, which is a downgrade over the massive 5,000mAh battery pack in the Galaxy M30. It supports 15W fast-charging, which sure is going to come in really handy for heavy users.
Samsung Galaxy M40 Specifications
Network Properties
- 2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2
- 3G: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
- 4G: LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 34(2000), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
- Speed: HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (2CA) Cat6 400/50 Mbps
Launch Date
- Announced: 2019, June
- Status: Coming soon. Exp. release 2019, June 12
Design
- Dimensions: 155.3 x 73.9 x 7.9 mm
- Weight: 168 g
- Colours: Sweater Blue, Midnight Blue
- SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
Display
- Type: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Size: 6.3 inches, 97.4 cm2 (~84.9% screen-to-body ratio)
- Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~409 ppi density)
- Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass (unspecified)
Operating System
- Android 9.0 (Pie); One UI
Hardware
- Chipset: Qualcomm SDM675 Snapdragon 675 (11 nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Kryo 460 Gold & 6×1.7 GHz Kryo 460 Silver)
- GPU: Adreno 612
- Storage, RAM: 128 GB, 6 GB RAM or 64 GB, 4 GB RAM
- External Storage: microSD, up to 1 TB (uses shared SIM slot)
Camera
- Main Camera: Triple (32 MP, f/1.7, 0.8µm, PDAF + 8 MP, f/2.2, 12mm (ultrawide), 1.12µm, PDAF + 5 MP, f/2.2, depth sensor)
- Features: LED flash, panorama, HDR
- Video: 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps
- Selfie Camera: Single – 16 MP, f/2.0
- Features: HDR
- Video: 1080p@30fps
Multimedia
- FM Radio: Yes
- Loudspeaker: Yes
- Audio 3.5mm jack: No
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- Dolby Atmos sound
Connectivity
- WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
- Bluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, LE
- GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- USB: 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector
Other Features
- Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Battery
- Battery Type & Capacity: Non-removable Li-Po 3500 mAh battery
- Charging: Fast battery charging 15W
Samsung Galaxy M40 Price and Market Availability
The Samsung Galaxy M40 will be available in Midnight Blue and Seawater Blue colors. Pricing starts at INR 19,990 ($288) and the phone will be available across all the popular online retailers in India including Amazon, Flipkart and Pricebaba starting June 18. Availability and pricing for other markets hasn’t been detailed at this point.
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