Introduction
The Samsung Galaxy A40 is the most compact one in Samsung's A-series lineup while still embodying everything great about these midrange phones. It's supposed to be a compact, well-balanced mid-ranger with a Super AMOLED screen serving as a key selling point and main advantage over its direct rivals. It also offers an ultra wide-angle camera as a bonus, which is a rare find in the segment.
In addition to the ultra wide-angle lens and the Super AMOLED panel, the Galaxy A40 packs an in-house Exynos 7885 chipset that can go head-to-head with the competition's Qualcomm offerings and a generous 3,100mAh battery considering the small dimensions of the phone.
Quite frankly, nothing about this phone makes us excited, per se, but it could potentially be one of the most balanced midrangers that should make it into one's shopping list. Well, that's still pending a deeper examination, and this is where this review steps in.
Samsung Galaxy A40 specs
- Body: 144.4 x 69.2 x 7.9 mm, 140 grams, plastic back and side frame.
- Screen: 5.9" Super AMOLED, 1080 x 2340 px resolution; 19.5:9 aspect ratio; ~437 ppi.
- Chipset: Exynos 7885 (14 nm): Octa-core (2x1.77 GHz Cortex-A73 & 6x1.59 GHz Cortex-A53), Mali-G71 MP2 GPU.
- Memory: 4GB RAM, 64GB built-in storage, microSD slot support.
- OS: One UI based on Android 9.0 Pie.
- Rear camera: Main: 16 MP, f/1.7, PDAF; Ultra-wide: 5 MP, f/2.2, 12mm, no AF; LED flash; 1080p@30 video recording.
- Front camera: 25 MP, f/2.0; 1080p@30fps video recording.
- Battery: 3,100mAh, Fast charging 15W.
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE Cat.12 3CA 600Mbps (DL) / Cat.13 2CA 150Mbps (UL); USB-C 3.1; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot; A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS; Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE.
Unfortunately, our review unit didn't come in its original packaging so we can't be sure what Samsung will include in the retail box. The phone supports 15W quick charging, which is as high the Galaxy S10 series but we're not sure whether a compatible charger will be supplied with the Galaxy A40 given its market positioning.
Design and build
The Galaxy A40 comes in an all-plastic body with and in Black, White, Coral and Blue colors with the latter being the one in our hands. Samsung says it has a 3D Glasstic back but in our experience, that's just a fancy way of saying it's a plastic surface, which has been finished to imitate glass. Sure, it really feels like glass at first but you will start to recognize it for what it is over time.
The blue variant that we have looks more like gray at a certain distance and when you look at it from an angle, you start to see a subtle gradient, which changes colors much like the ones you'd see from a spilled oil on wet asphalt. Also, fingerprint smudges stick quite easily but aren't as prominent.
The Galaxy A40 lies well in the hand thanks to the slightly rounded sides of the back panel. The curves help a lot with the grip and overall aesthetics. And except for the slightly protruding camera module and fingerprint scanner, the back design is pretty clean.
The fingerprint reader works very well - it's blazing fast and accurate with the only thing slowing it down is the screen unlock. Just a brief tap on the scanner is needed for your finger to be recognized but it takes some time for the phone to unlock. Our only complaint concerns the positioning of the sensor - if it was just a few millimeters lower, it would have been perfect. Users with a tad bigger hands won't mind, though.
On the front, we see a slightly curved to the edges glass panel improving the feel and grip even further. We also noticed that the bezels are impressively thin, including the top and bottom ones. Samsung managed to squeeze in a 5.9-inch panel inside a pretty small package. For reference, the A40 is just 2mm taller than the high-end Galaxy S10e and it's just as wide while offering a 0.1-inch bigger display.
And the notch isn't all that obtrusive, although a bit deep. Perhaps the 25MP sensor on the front required a bit more space.
The side frame of the handset is still made of plastic but the color and the overall feel make it look like it's made of metal. The volume rocker and the power button are on the right, with the latter positioned lower than the other and it's easy to reach. On the other side, we find the SIM card and microSD card tray.
The bottom accommodates the speaker grille, 3.5 mm audio jack and the USB-C port used for charging and data transfer. The main microphone is there too whereas the noise-canceling mic is located on the top side.
Given the size and the materials used for the Galaxy A40, it's not surprising to see that it weighs just 140 grams. And as we said earlier, it's super easy to handle with one hand and it somehow doesn't feel as slippery as a normal glass sandwich phone would. The upside in all of this is that the plastic is less prone to breaking but scratches are easier to appear when placed on rough surfaces, so keep that in mind.
Here's a 360-degree image of the Galaxy A40 to get a better understanding of its overall design.
Infinity-U Super AMOLED display on a budget
As we already mentioned, the screen is one of Galaxy A40's key selling points - SuperAMOLED panel, which is a rare Pokemon in around these parts of the market. It's also one of the few compact devices to have one, too.
The screen measures just 5.9" in diagonal and packs a sufficient amount of pixels - 1080 x 2340 pixels resolution. The aspect ratio is extra tall - 19.5:9 and the pixel density is around 437 ppi. The rather small U-shaped notch on the top is indeed a bit deep but it's not wide, which is more important. You can get used to it really fast and it's not as obtrusive.
The results from our tests say that the Galaxy A40's panel isn't too shabby in terms of picture quality too. It scored 410 nits with the brightness slider cranked up to maximum and boosted up to 548 cd/m2 in Max Auto mode. Sunlight legibility is excellent and rarely matched at this price range.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.358 | 479 | 1338 | |
| 0 | 410 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 548 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 424 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 551 | ∞ | |
| 0.377 | 490 | 1300 | |
| 0.465 | 600 | 1290 | |
| 0.344 | 441 | 1282 | |
| 0.315 | 493 | 1565 | |
Color accuracy is impressive too - dE2000 is just 1.9 in the default mode and goes up to 3.1 and 3.9 in cinema and photo modes. These results are typical for a higher-priced handset. Essentially, you won't be able to tell the difference between input and output colors.
Battery life
Battery life is definitely not one of the strongest suits of the Galaxy A40 but it's not necessarily a weak point either. The 3,100mAh unit didn't deliver the runtimes we expected, especially in the web browsing and video playback tests. Still, an overall 73h endurance rating is fairly dependable so you will probably squeeze out a full day of moderate usage.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Samsung Galaxy A40 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Loudspeaker
The phone has a single bottom-firing speaker, which is a standard for phones in this price range. However, we can't call it loud as our tests show that it's considerably quieter than the competition. It might have something to do with the size of the handset but we can't be entirely sure.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 66.2 | 68.3 | 73.6 | Good | |
| 68.9 | 71.3 | 82.7 | Very Good | |
| 70.2 | 71.9 | 84.6 | Very Good | |
| 70.0 | 73.8 | 87.0 | Excellent | |
| 69.8 | 71.5 | 90.5 | Excellent | |
| 75.6 | 76.0 | 81.1 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The Samsung Galaxy A40 did splendidly in the first part of our audio quality test. When hooked to an active external amplifier, it delivered a perfectly accurate output and with high volume levels and perfect clarity marks.
Hеadphones degraded the volume to just above average and introduced some intermodulation distortion. It also caused a moderate hike in stereo crosstalk and when you add it all up we can only give an average mark.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.03, -0.05 | -91.0 | 90.7 | 0.048 | 0.048 | -85.9 | |
| +0.30, -0.17 | -89.0 | 90.8 | 0.065 | 0.265 | -61.1 | |
| +0.03, -0.06 | -93.4 | 93.2 | 0.0009 | 0.0082 | -92.3 | |
| +0.30, -0.12 | -92.0 | 91.9 | 0.102 | 0.231 | -47.0 | |
| +0.04, -0.04 | -92.2 | 91.9 | 0.0032 | 0.015 | -97.1 | |
| +0.05, -0.03 | -96.1 | 91.6 | 0.0033 | 0.024 | -56.4 | |
| +0.04, -0.00 | -93.3 | 93.2 | 0.0029 | 0.0077 | -93.8 | |
| +0.07, -0.01 | -92.9 | 93.2 | 0.015 | 0.076 | -68.8 | |
| +0.04, -0.04 | -90.7 | 90.7 | 0.0015 | 0.014 | -94.5 | |
| +0.05, -0.29 | -92.5 | 92.5 | 0.024 | 0.296 | -55.0 | |
| +0.01, -0.04 | -92.3 | 92.4 | 0.0041 | 0.0085 | -80.7 | |
| +0.45, -0.54 | -92.2 | 92.8 | 0.0084 | 0.492 | -51.5 |
Samsung Galaxy A40 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Samsung's brand new One UI on top of Android 9.0 Pie
The new Galaxy A-series from Samsung all come with Android 9.0 Pie out of the box and more importantly, with the more refined and brand new Samsung interface - One UI. It runs smoothly, it has plenty of features and it's optimized for one-handed use.
For example, swiping one more time when you open the notification shade will lower the quick toggles within your thumb's reach. The swipe down works in the settings menus as well - the UI elements will be positioned in the lower half of the screen and you can reach them with your thumb.
Notification shade
The icons have also been changed and are now identical to the ones we saw on the Galaxy S10-series. You can also choose between the standard software button navigation bar or the gesture-based navigation. As we've already pointed out in our previous reviews, the gestures are just swipes from the bottom. Depending on the setting you choose, the back and recent apps gestures are swipes from the bottom-left and right while swiping from the middle will always bring you back Home. They are pretty simple to use but not at all that elegant as other solutions.
Home screen, recent apps menu and Bixby Home
Also, the quick switch between two apps is impossible. If you are using the quick switch function a lot, you will have to resort to the software button navigation.
The general Settings menu is now way more organized and a bit easier to find stuff. The Display sub-menu, for example, holds all of the display and home screen settings. You can change the color mode from there, switch on the Night mode and the Blue light filter. The Home screen menu lets you customize pretty much everything about the home screen including the app drawer. You can go with an app drawer or just place everything on your home screens. You can bring out the app drawer with a single upwards swipe from the home screen but we found the swipe down option for the notification shade to be particularly useful.
Settings menu
The navigation bar that we've talked about earlier can be customized from the same Display sub-menu. You can swap the recent apps and the back button if you are used to your previous UI that isn't Samsung-made.
Unfortunately, we didn't find an always-on screen option in the menus despite the AMOLED panel. There's nothing in the Lock screen sub-menu as well.
Display menu, home screen settings and navigation bar customization
The Biometrics and security section contains exactly what you'd expect. You can set up your fingerprint and your face to unlock the phone with some additional options. As already mentioned, the fingerprint reader is super fast and reliable but it feels like the chipset is a bottleneck here. The scanner can recognize your fingerprint with just a brief tap but it takes some time for the screen to light up.
Biometrics menu
The face unlock feature also works pretty well and a couple of additional options could potentially make it more accurate and fast but it's not as secure as the fingerprint reader. After all, it only relies on the front camera for facial recognition.
A couple of useful gestures are buried in the Advanced features menu. There's the double-tap-to-wake function that's been around for years now, the smart alert (the phone vibrates when picked up to notify you about a missed call or text), flip to mute and smart stay (the screen will stay on as long as you are looking at it). The fingerprint reader also supports a swipe gesture to bring down or hide the notification panel. This one is pretty useful and reliable.
Interestingly, Samsung is also offering the option to tone down on some animations and transition animations to speed up the navigation through the menus.
Although obtrusive at times, the Smart pop-up view might come in handy in some cases. You can enable it for individual apps that support split-screen view. When you receive a notification, it pops up on your screen in a small icon and when you tap on it when, it opens up the app in a small window - perfect for multitasking. In some cases, we found that tapping will open up the app in full-screen if you are using another app at the moment.
Smart pop-up view
Under Device care, you will see the standard battery, storage, memory, and security management menus. The battery will perhaps be the most useful one. It offers the usual information about which apps or services have used most battery since the last charge and it gives you pretty granular settings that you can adjust to further improve battery life.
Device care and battery menu
Of course, since this is a Samsung phone, there are lots of pre-installed system apps like Calendar, Clock, Gallery and even a dedicated Galaxy Store. The Samsung Internet web browser is probably the most useful and feature-rich one and it's a great alternative to Chrome once you get used to it.
In terms of performance, the UI runs pretty smoothly without any hiccups or hangs. Animations seem a little bit slower than usual but it appears that the Exynos 7885 handles the rather heavily-customized UI well enough.
Performance
The Galaxy A40 is powered by one of the most powerful in-house mid-range chipsets from the Exynos family - the Exynos 7885. It accommodates an octa-core CPU with 2x high-performance Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 1.77 GHz and 6x power-efficient and smaller Cortex-A53 cores ticking at 1.59 GHz. For graphically-intensive tasks, the SoC relies on the Mali-G71 MP2 GPU.
When it comes to memory, the phone comes only in one flavor - 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage with microSD card slot for expansion.
We kick things off with the usual CPU testing to see where the Exynos 7885 stands. And in single-core performance tests, the chip is right up there with the Snapdragon 660 and the Snapdragon 636. In fact, the score is a tad better in some cases.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
5908 - Honor 8X
5651 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
5411 - Samsung Galaxy A50
5396 - Nokia 7.1
4975 - Motorola Moto G7
4755 - Samsung Galaxy A40
4112
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
1890 - Samsung Galaxy A50
1715 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
1650 - Honor 8X
1618 - Nokia 7.1
1344 - Samsung Galaxy A40
1325 - Motorola Moto G7
1255
However, in
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
170218 - Samsung Galaxy A50
144574 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
139075 - Honor 8X
137276 - Nokia 7.1
117175 - Samsung Galaxy A40
106388 - Motorola Moto G7
106292
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
23 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
15 - Samsung Galaxy A50
14 - Honor 8X
14 - Nokia 7.1
10 - Samsung Galaxy A40
8.1 - Motorola Moto G7
6.9
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
22 - Samsung Galaxy A50
13 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
13 - Honor 8X
13 - Nokia 7.1
9.7 - Samsung Galaxy A40
7.4 - Motorola Moto G7
6.4
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
13 - Samsung Galaxy A50
9.2 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
9 - Honor 8X
7.6 - Nokia 7.1
6.3 - Samsung Galaxy A40
5.2 - Motorola Moto G7
3.8
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
12 - Samsung Galaxy A50
8 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
7.7 - Honor 8X
6.7 - Nokia 7.1
5.9 - Samsung Galaxy A40
4.6 - Motorola Moto G7
3.5
And as expected, the GPU performance isn't stellar as well. It will probably do just fine for the unpretentious users or those who don't do much gaming but it's measurably slower than pretty much every other alternative in the price range.
It's clear that the chipset isn't designed for heavy users and won't impress you with performance as the emphasis falls on energy efficiency.
13MP main camera paired with a 5MP ultra wide-angle lens
The phone carries a dual-camera setup consisting of a 16MP main snapper with f/1.7 and a secondary ultra wide-angle 5MP f/2.2 lens. And on the front, we find a 25MP snapper with f/2.0 and Samsung claims the selfies are one of the best in the class.
But before we dive into the pixel peeping and see how the three cameras perform in different lighting situations, let's take a look at the options and menus.
Camera menus
The default camera app has the same UI as the rest of the Samsung phones with One UI. Swiping to left and right will switch between different camera modes while a button in the viewfinder switches between the normal and the ultra wide-angle camera. The scene optimizer toggle is in there as well.
The additional settings menu can be found in the upper-left corner of the screen giving you a bit more control over the stills and videos. The settings are pretty standard, though.
The Pro mode is rather limited and you can only play around with the ISO, white balance and exposure.
Camera menus
Image quality
During the day, the phone can capture pretty good stills with enough detail, good dynamic range, punchy colors, and nice contrast. Highlights can be a bit clipped in some cases. HDR, on the other hand, was rarely triggered even though it was set to Auto.
Daylight samples with Scene optimizer
While we didn't find any deal-breakers, we noticed that the left part of each image looks a bit fuzzy while the right side stays sharp. We suspect it's just an unit-specific issue and we're willing to reevaluate camera performance if Samsung sends us another unit.
But all in all, the phone's camera isn't outstanding but it's not bad either. It's on par with most of its competitors for the asking price and even slightly above average in some aspects. Oh, and don't bother turning on or off the Scene optimizer - it doesn't do anything and we hardly found any differences between the normal photos and those with Scene optimizer.
Daylight samples without Scene optimizer
Low-light camera samples
Night photos turned out to be decent with little noise in the shadows. Turning on the Scene optimizer once again didn't do a great deal but it did bring a bit more contrast and made colors look a bit juicier. Unfortunately, once again due to the lens' defect, the left side of the images turned out to be fuzzy and with less detail. You can clearly see the problem at hand in the light sources in the photos below.
NIghttime samples with Scene optimizer
NIghttime samples without Scene optimizer
Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at the how the Galaxy A40's 16MP camera stacks against some of the competition.
Samsung Galaxy A40 against the Nokia 7.1 and Motorola Moto G7 in our Photo compare tool
Ultra wide-angle photos
Historically, ultra wide-a angle cameras are no match for the standard ones in terms of sharpness and overall image quality and in this case where the wide-angle unit is just 5MP and doesn't have autofocus, you can't expect the top-notch performance. But during the day, snapping a photo or two from the right distance can lead to some decent results. The clipped highlights are still an issue, though, and detail is lacking.
Daylight ultra wide-angle samples
When there's no sufficient light, we recommend using the main camera instead as photos appear smudgy and with plenty of grain.
Nighttime ultra wide-angle samples
Portraits
As pointed out in previous reviews, the ultra wide-angle camera isn't used for depth information so the software does all the heavy lifting and does the edge separation on its own. The results aren't mind-blowing but it works well enough. You can adjust the strength of the bokeh in real time or later on in the gallery with the slider below.
Portrait shots
Selfies
We were particularly impressed by the selfies - they are quite sharp with plenty of detail, good color reproduction, and wide dynamic range. Portrait edge separation isn't all that impressive, though.
Also, if you want to shoot in native 25MP resolution, you should tap on the "3:4H" icon found on top of the viewfinder otherwise, photos come out in 12MP Portrait shots, on the other hand, are saved in 8MP.
Selfies: Normal 12MP • Portrait • Normal 25MP.
Video recording
The main camera can only record up to Full HD (1080p) at 30fps and the same goes for the wide-angle unit. But if you 4K video recording, you can always download Open Camera or another third-party camera app from Play Store and enjoy 2160p recording.
When recording with the main camera, you can expect sharp videos with punchy colors and little to no noise. But we can't recommend shooting with the wide-angle lens as the trade-off is a huge loss of detail and dynamic range.
Here's how the Galaxy A40's video recording skills compare to some of its competitors in a more controlled environment.
1080p: Samsung Galaxy A40 against the Samsung Galaxy A50 and Redmi Note 7 in our Video compare tool
Competition
There aren't a lot of direct competitors in the same price range having roughly the same screen diagonal so it was hard for us to pick the most sensible rivals. On the other hand, this is good for Samsung. Having a compact handset in this price range among all those behemoths around.
It's definitely a standout feature and in our opinion, the design and the Super AMOLED panel are the other two key selling points of the Galaxy A40 that most other phones won't be able to deliver for the asking price. The secondary ultra wide-angle camera is also a rare commodity around these lands but it's not good enough to tip the scales in the Galaxy A40 favor.
For the almost identical amount of dollars, you can get the vanilla Moto G7, which has a clean Android OS with a couple of cool Motorola custom features on top. Camera performance isn't bad too but it falls short in terms of display quality and battery endurance when putting it against the Galaxy A40. The Snapdragon 632 isn't on par with the Exynos 7885 either.
Motorola Moto G7 • Samsung Galaxy A50
If you decide to spend a little extra, you can always opt for the Galaxy A50 but you will lose that compactness and gain better battery life and more powerful hardware in the process. The price gap might not be much for some so that's why we are throwing it out there for you to consider.
But if the Galaxy A40 is barely fitting in your budget, then why not go for something cheaper yet just as good (or better) - the Redmi Note 7. Yes, it's a bigger phone but it has more powerful internals, better overall camera performance, and much better battery life. You would miss, however, the AMOLED screen.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 • Nokia 7.1
Nokia's compact solution from late 2018, the Nokia 7.1, is another great option for vanilla Android fans. The display may not be OLED but it sure does deliver a great image quality and also supports HDR. Battery life is just about the same and the camera performance is noticeably better. It's designed with more premium materials as well, if you are into that. And it turns out, it's actually even just a tad cheaper.
And once again, if compactness isn't your top priority, you might want to consider something from Honor's catalog. It's hardly a better phone but it's a lot cheaper and has marginally better battery life. Also, you will have to be willing to live with a microUSB.
Verdict
The Galaxy A40 turned out to be a good, compact all-rounder. It has the ergonomics, it has the nice design, despite the plasticky build, it has a dedicated ultra wide-angle camera and more importantly, a Super AMOLED panel that makes this handset stand out.
The rather underperforming SoC and the lack of native 4K video recording, however, keeps us from giving it a great score. There are not many departments in which the Galaxy A40 excels - it's just okay. But at this price, it's hard to win on all aspects. If you are invested in the compact design, your choice should be either the Nokia 7.1 or the Galaxy A40.
It boils down to what kind of icing you want on top of Android or if you like any at all. Also, we wouldn't worry about the lens issue we had on our review unit - we're pretty sure it must be only our unit that's faulty.
Pros
- Nice ergonomics, thin bezels and a small notch (and a USB-C type of port).
- SuperAMOLED panel is great and punches above the class.
- Comes with Android Pie and Samsung's latest feature-packed One UI.
- Overall camera performance is good (except for the ultra wide-angle cam).
Cons
- No 4K video recording and no image stabilization.
- We expected better battery scores.
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