Zimbabwe remains Samsung country. The South Korean giant bewitched the country and you will find that most adults get Samsungs when the wallet allows.
Earlier this month, we had a poll on our WhatsApp channel (which you should join by the way) which showed that 44% of people in our community use Samsungs as their main phones. Huawei was a distant second with 14%.
We love Sammy. I last used a Samsung phone about 5 years ago but I consider myself a huge Sammy fanboy because of how well the Note 3 treated me.
One of the main reasons Sammy beats Apple in these parts is that it offers devices at different price points. If you want to shell out $2150 for this 1TB Galaxy Fold 6 no one is stopping you. But if you can only spare $194 for this 256GB Galaxy A15, you are well within your rights.
On that Galaxy A15
Counterpoint Research reports that the Samsung Galaxy A15 was the best selling Android phone in Q2 2024. That’s globally, not Zim-specific.
The A15 comes in two flavours, a 4G one and a 5G one. Both models, which are pretty much the same on everything else were the top selling Android phones in Q2.
The A15 5G had 2% market share whilst the 4G model had 1.8%. So, combined they had a massive 3.8% which means the Galaxy A15 was overall the second best selling smartphone in that quarter, second only to the iPhone 15.
Unless you have one, you probably know nothing about this popular little phone. The S24 Ultra steals the headlines but it comes in 9th on the list with 1.4% market share. It’s still impressive for a phone that started at about $1200 but there are levels to this.
The A15 was launched in December 2023 and so has been on sale this whole year. In Q1 2024, it was only bested by the S24 Ultra on the Android front.
This all makes you realise how Transsion (itel, Tecno and Infinix) have conquered this corner of the world so much that you forget that globally, ol’ Sammy is still a beast. Although Sammy’s piece of the pie is shrinking bit by bit.
Of note is also the fact that Sammy’s flagship smartphone which costs at least $1200 before deals, is outselling every other Android phone from every other Android phone manufacturer.
You’re thinking of the hot and competitively-priced Nothing phone 2 or the critic-loved OnePlus 12? Or maybe you fancy the Pixel or many of Huawei’s cool phones? Some of guys attest that the itel S23 is as good a budget phone as you can get.
Whatever it is and at whatever price point, it’s being outsold by the $1200 S24 Ultra.
It’s even more impressive for Apple which only sells premium smartphones. All 5 iPhone entries on the list cost more than $600. It’s ridiculous how popular Apple phones are.
But back to the Samsung Galaxy A15.
What does the A15 look like?
As you can see, Samsung is sticking to its ‘unified design language’ shenanigans. This little A15 looks like its big brother, the S24. So, you can fork out as little as $130 and from a distance, you look like an S24 user.
I know teenagers care about appearances and that’s probably a good thing for them. Those with the more expensive models hate this of course but let them fume from their lofty positions.
I mentioned teenagers because Samsung South Africa’s marketing material makes it clear who they’re targeting with this phone. Their tagline goes, “A device to help students and first-time workers manage their busy schedules.”
Oh, by the way, I’ve been calling it the little A15 but it’s not a tiny phone. It has a 6.5 inch screen and also packs a 5000mAh battery.
Do note that the screen is a Super Amoled one, rather than the IPS LCD ones you typically get at this price range. That simple means you can expect richer colours and darker blacks with the OLED. It’s also 90Hz and should be smooth when you scroll around the interface.
The rest of the specs look like this:
- 6.5″ Super AMOLED display, 1080×2340 pixels
- Mediatek Helio G99 chipset
- 50MP main camera
- 5000mAh battery
- 128GB or 256GB storage
- 4GB, 6GB or 8GB RAM
- Android 14
Apparently that spec list is a winner. Do note though where Samsung beats similarly priced phones is in software support. This A15 is offered with up to 4 generations of OS upgrades and 5 years of security maintenance.
So,you can rest easy knowing that your A15 will still get Android 17 and security patches a year after that. Needless to say, not many sub-$200 can boast the same.
I have played around with many sub-$200 phones, some of which have more character and are more exciting than the A15. However, for this kind of software support alone, I would probably choose Sammy if I were in the market for phones in this price range.
That’s even disregarding how I believe Samsung’s One UI is the best Android skin on the market. I’ll fight you on this one so just accept it.
Those that have used this phone, how have you liked it? With so many people buying it, if it was a bad phone there would be a lot of noise online but the silence indicates that it’s a good little phone.
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