Samsung Galaxy M55 Review: All Essentials Covered

The Galaxy M55 is part of Samsung India’s budget-friendly M-series lineup. At first glance, it may seem like a straightforward smartphone with mainstream features. But there’s more to it than meets the eye, especially considering its competitive starting price of Rs 26,999.

For that price, you get a vibrant AMOLED display with a smooth refresh rate, a decent triple-camera setup on the back, a reliable Qualcomm chip, and a big-capacity battery that supports fast-wired charging. But do these features make it a worthy mid-range smartphone? Let’s dive in and find out.

Samsung Galaxy M55 Review

Smartprix Score 3.6/5

Pros

• Elegant design
• Good cameras for daylight photography
• Good performance
• Good battery life
• Four years of OS updates

Cons

• No Gorilla Glass
• No Case in the box
• No fast Charging
• No charger in the box

Samsung Galaxy M55 Review: Design and Build

The Samsung Galaxy M55 design is one of its major highlights. The phone has a slim form factor, which is not something we are accustomed to seeing in the Samsung M Series. The M55 has a sleek 7.8mm side profile and weighs just 180 grams. Its rounded corners and edges further make the phone appear more elegant and feel good in the hand. 

Like most M-series phones, the M55 has a primarily plastic build with appealing color. Samsung offers the M55 in Denim Black and Light Green. Of these two, they choose Light Green, which certainly looks superior and more appealing than anything the competition offers in this price segment. The phone has a volume rocker and power button on the right-hand edge, both offering excellent tactile feedback.

The left side frame houses the dual SIM card tray. As for camera placements at the rear end, Samsung has followed the S-series design ethos. All three rear cameras are aligned with triple camera rings protruding out.

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 On the front, a large screen with uniform bezels on the left and right and a slightly thicker chin. There’s a punch-hole cutout at the top for the front camera, and Dragontrail glass covers the display. Samsung has also added an optical fingerprint sensor under the display, which works as advertised. 

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Samsung Galaxy M55 Review: Display and Audio

The Galaxy M55 rocks a big 6.7-inch AMOLED display. It’s got a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and can go as bright as 1000 nits.

With a 120Hz refresh rate, this screen makes everything smooth and buttery, whether scrolling web pages or feeding social media. It’s sharp and bright enough for most situations and renders accurate colors.

Like other Samsung phones, it has an Eye comfort shield to reduce blue light and a dark mode to protect your eyes in the dark.

One downside is that it doesn’t have DC dimming or a low-brightness anti-flicker mode, features you might find on other AMOLED phones in the same price range. However, I haven’t noticed any screen flicker issues at low brightness levels.

There’s no notification LED, but you can use the Always-on display option to keep track of notifications.

The phone has stereo speakers, delivering clear vocals but minimal bass. Overall, the audio output isn’t that detailed.

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Samsung Galaxy M55 Review: Performance and Software

The Samsung Galaxy M55 runs on Android 14, with Samsung’s own One UI 6.1. The UI is clean and straightforward, but here’s the catch: it comes with many pre-installed third-party apps, like Dailyhunt and MapmyIndia, on top of all the usual Google and Samsung apps. And here’s the kicker: some of Samsung’s apps, like MaxVPN, throw ads at you while you’re using them.

Let’s talk about the Samsung Galaxy M55 5G. This phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC. There are three options available for RAM and storage: 8GB + 128GB, 8GB +256GB, and 12GB + 256 GB. You can expand the storage to 1TB with a microSD card instead of using the second SIM slot. We tested out the top-tier 12GB RAM version, and it performed well on benchmark tests. It scored 5,82,124 on AnTuTu and 1,054 and 2,610 on the Geekbench single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.

In regular use, the Samsung Galaxy M55 5G functions well. It may not be the fastest phone in its segment. Still, it works smoothly without any app freezing or crashing during multitasking. However, the camera app takes a bit longer than expected to switch modes. This phone can handle graphically demanding games like BGMI and Real Racing 3 at moderate settings. It may warm up during gameplay but doesn’t get uncomfortably hot.

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Samsung Galaxy M55 Review: Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy M55 has a triple rear camera setup at the back. The trio has a 50-megapixel wide angle, 8-megapixel ultra-wide, and 2-megapixel macro lens. The wide-angle sensor is optically image-stabilized. Samsung also offers digital zoom up to 10x and 4 UHD videos at 30 fps. As for selfies, it rocks a 50-megapixel front camera.

Results: The primary camera takes good enough photos in daylight with natural colors. Night mode brings out shadow details without messing with the main vibe. We noticed some heavy noise reduction in most pics, though. But hey, it’s all good unless you’re zooming in too much. 

The ultra-wide camera generally performs well in different conditions. Still, the white balance can be a bit hit-or-miss. We’re not big fans of the 2MP macro camera. Instead of a dedicated macro camera, I would have preferred a dual camera setup with a better ultra-wide camera. 

The 50MP selfie camera struggles to nail even a basic selfie. It often gives low-quality shots and can’t quite get the color balance right, especially in low light or under artificial lighting. 

Regarding the video, both front and rear cameras can shoot UHD at 30 fps, and you can go up to 60 fps for HD. Plus, there’s a relaxed “Super Steady” mode for smoother videos. However, it’s only available for HD recording on the rear camera.

Samsung Galaxy M55 Review: Battery and Charging

 The Samsung Galaxy M55 has a large 5000mAh battery that lasts all day, even if you’re gaming or watching videos. The phone supports 45W fast charging, too, which is pretty cool. But Samsung doesn’t include a charger in the box, so you’ll have to shell out some extra cash for one of those fast-charging adapters. We are getting close to six hours of screen time, which is not bad. We don’t have the new Samsung fast charging adapter, so we couldn’t record the best battery refilling time.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy The Samsung Galaxy M55?

The Samsung Galaxy M55 12 GB RAM variant that we reviewed turned out to be a respectable mid-range smartphone, considering a price tag of Rs 32,999. Samsung made a smart move by choosing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, enhancing its market competitiveness. The device offers satisfactory everyday performance and battery life

In terms of its design, the Galaxy M55 prioritizes functionality over aesthetics or build quality, making it a solid choice for users with such preferences.

 The device boasts a vibrant display and fast charging capabilities, adding to its appeal. However, it is noteworthy that other smartphones in the same price range offer better performance and more advanced features. This is for users who prioritize a superior camera, top-notch build quality, and premium user experience from competitors or from Samsung’s portfolio.