Folks looking for a new entry-level phone are in luck, as Samsung’s Galaxy A14 has finally hit store shelves, making it the first phone release from the South Korean tech giant. The new handset takes over for the Galaxy A13, which served as one of Samsung’s main budget-level devices in the past year. The A14 was revealed back in CES 2023 in Las Vegas, alongside a slew of other Samsung products.
The thing with budget phones is that while they are not performance powerhouses meant for the most gruelling of smartphone tasks, they are equipped with hardware meant for more casual and moderate use, just enough to get users throughout the day with all the basics as well as a bit of media consumption. As such, the phone comes equipped with a rather large a 6.6-inch LCD display with FHD+ resolution, as well as a 90Hz refresh rate which makes for smooth scrolling and UI operations.
Given its price, the Galaxy A14 is of course made out of plastic, although Samsung has introduced a few updated design trends on here, such as the separate camera bump layout which is also present on the upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra, as well as a slightly slimmer display bezel, which foregoes the plastic trim that we usually saw on older budget Samsung phones. Inside the polycarbonate shell is a 5,000 mAh battery, with support for 15W charging speeds. There’s also 64GB of built-in storage, with support for micro-SD cards with up to 1TB of storage capacity. Additionally, there’s also a 3.5mm audio jack for use with wired headphones.
As for software, the A14 runs on Android 13 layered with Samsung’s One UI OS and a bunch of Samsung-exclusive apps. It’s powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 700 SoC, alongisde 4GB of RAM, which serves as a reminder of the phone’s budget restrictions. In terms of optics, the Galaxy A14 uses a triple-camera set-up onboard which consists of a 50MP (F1.8) main camera, a 2MP (F2.4) macro camera, and a 2MP (F2.4) depth camera. There’s also a 13MP selfie camera embedded in a waterdrop notch on the front for selfies and video calls.
As for availability, the Galaxy A14 currently retails for around $199 in the US, although UK availability has yet to be announced.