Samsung's mid-range phones are popular with the Galaxy A making up a large chunk of the company's sales. The Galaxy A34 5G sits in the shadow of the Galaxy A54 5G, which is a slightly higher-spec model.

But when it comes to getting value for money - it costs from £349 in the UK - there's a lot that this lower-tier Galaxy A model has to offer. We got our hands on it prior to launch to see what it's all about.

Design and build

• 161.3 x 78.1 x 8.2mm, 199g
• Glastic finish, IP67

Samsung has shaken up the design of its Galaxy A devices, which from the rear at least now look pretty much the same as the Galaxy S23. That comes down to the design around the cameras, presenting each lens individually, rather than using an island as was the case on the previous generations of Galaxy A phones.

That lends a premium look to this phone and at first glance it looks just like the Galaxy S, which might appeal to those who want the flagship but can't quite afford it. It's not the same however - and in the rear of this phone is a plastic panel - or Glastic as Samsung refers to it. It's a slightly less premium finish than that Galaxy A54 5G and the Galaxy S models, but it still looks great because of the finish.

Samsung has opted for a matte finish in a choice of four colours - graphite, silver, lime and violet - but the matte finish isn't just flat, there's some depth to it, refracting light to give a nice shimmer - the Awesome Silver is especially eye-catching.

Elsewhere this phone offers an IP67 protection rating, so despite being firmly in the mid-range, you're still getting a phone that will survive a dunk in water or a day at the beach.

Display and hardware

• 6.6in, Super AMOLED, Full HD+, 120Hz
• MediaTek Dimensity 1080, 6/8GB, 128/256GB + microSD
• 5000mAh, 25W

The display is one of the highlights of this device, with a 6.6-inch Super AMOLED panel. This is a great big display, making this phone a little larger than the Galaxy A54 5G that it launched alongside, but still sticking to the essentials: it's an AMOLED screen, with that characteristic Samsung saturation and first impressions are that it's good quality and should be great for movies on the move.

It offers a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate. This isn't adaptive like the Galaxy S models, but it will mean you have the option for smooth scrolling of your content.

When it comes to the power, the Galaxy A34 5G is positioned as more affordable than the Galaxy A54 5G, and that sees it move to slightly more affordable hardware. It's powered by 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 1080 hardware (compared to 5nm Exynos 1380 in the Galaxy A54), but this is still more or less equivalent to Snapdragon 7 series hardware.

It is, however, an update over the Galaxy A33 from 2022, with Samsung claiming that there's a 17 per cent CPU boost and a 14 per cent GPU boost. So there's a slight performance lift, but we've not had the chance to put this phone through its paces from the brief time that we've spent with it so far.

There's a big 5000mAh battery, however, which should be good for a couple of days of use, with 25W charging. This isn't the fastest charging you'll find even that this position, but Samsung doesn't seem to have chased fast charging on its devices.

Cameras

• Main: 48MP, f/1.8 OIS
• Ultrawide: 8MP, f/2.2
• Macro: 5MP, f/2.4
• Front: 13MP, f/2.2

As we mentioned in the design section above, there's been a shift in how the camera is arranged, ditching the superfluous fourth sensor - depth - and keeping the lenses that produce images instead. Naturally, the camera is one of the areas that's leveraged to keep the price down and there's a shift down the scale here compared to the Galaxy A54.

There's a 48-megapixel main camera, supported by an 8-megapixel ultrawide and 5-megapixel macro sensor. Of these, the main and ultrawide will be the cameras you'll likely use the most. But we also suspect that these cameras will offer the same performance as the Galaxy A33 5G, as they are the same spec.

Naturally, from the brief time we've spent with the Galaxy A34 5G, we haven't had the chance to test these cameras, but we will do as soon as we can, when we fully review the phone.

First impressions

The Samsung Galaxy A34 5G sits in an affordable position, not quite at the top of Samsung's mid-range option, but offering a couple of attractive features. The design - looking like the flagship phones - is boosted by the great finish to that plastic back. It might not be glass, but it looks great.

The IP rating that it carries is also attractive, but it's the big display that's likely to appeal to many buyers. It's big, bright and bursting with colour, in classic Samsung style. The hardware performance might be a little slower and the cameras a little less capable - but we'll bring you a full assessment when we've had the chance to review the phone fully.