Samsung's Galaxy A27 Costs $50 More Than Last Year and Has Worse Cameras and Waterproofing

What Samsung Actually Changed The Galaxy A27 launches at $349.99. That's $50 more than the Galaxy A26 it replaces, according to The Verge's report published today. The single genuine upgrade is the chipset: Samsung swapped the Exynos 1380 for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3. That's a real improvement. Qualcomm's mid-range silicon has consistently outperformed Samsung's in-house Exynos chips on efficiency and gaming benchmarks. Everything else is a wash or a step back. The selfie camera drops from a higher-resolution sensor to 12 megapixels. The ultrawide falls to 5 megapixels. The waterproofing rating downgrades from IP67, meaning it could survive a meter of water for 30 minutes, to IP64, which is splash and dust resistance only. The phone is also slightly thicker at 7.8mm. The 50-megapixel main rear camera, 6GB of RAM, 128GB storage, 6.7-inch 120Hz display, and 5,000mAh battery are all unchanged.

The Pricing Context

Samsung isn't operating in a vacuum. RAM and NAND flash prices have climbed significantly this year due to a global memory shortage, and budget phones sit at the bottom of the margin ladder with the least room to absorb those cost increases. The Verge noted that Nothing canceled planned additions to its budget CMF smartphone line entirely rather than pass costs on to buyers. Apple raised prices across Macs and iPads today, though its iPhone lineup has not yet been affected, according to The Verge's reporting. The $50 increase has real industry context. This is not a Samsung-specific pricing failure.

The Fair Case for Samsung

Buyers who heavily use their phones for everyday tasks—scrolling, video, social media—will likely notice the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 more than they'll notice the camera resolution changes. The ultrawide drop from whatever the A26 shipped with to 5 megapixels matters for detail-oriented photography, but most people shooting casual ultrawide shots on a $350 phone aren't pixel-peeping. The battery and display specs, which drive daily usability more than almost anything else, didn't change. Samsung could reasonably argue the Snapdragon upgrade justifies the price jump on its own. The IP64 downgrade is harder to defend. Dropping full submersion protection to splash-only on a phone you're charging more for is a direct spec regression that affects real-world durability.

U.S

Gets One Color, Everyone Else Gets Three American buyers get the A27 in black only. International markets receive blue and pink options as well. The U.S. release date is July 14th. International markets get it earlier, on July 3rd, according to The Verge. No explanation was provided for the U.S. color restriction.

Source Note Two of the three sources provided for this article—GSMArena and SamMobile—did

not contain usable, on-topic material about the Galaxy A27. The GSMArena article was a June 2024 piece about an unrelated HMD device. This article is based on The Verge's June 25, 2026 report, which is the only source with direct, current, verifiable information on the A27.

The Open Question The real test for the A27 is whether the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 delivers

enough tangible day-to-day performance gains to justify both the price increase and the camera and waterproofing regressions. Benchmark comparisons between the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 and the Exynos 1380 won't be available from independent reviewers until after the July 14th U.S. launch, which is also when buyers will have to decide whether $349.99 is the right price for what Samsung is actually delivering.