Introduction
The Galaxy M31s is the latest in Samsung's line of all too similar phones. It is the upgraded version of the Galaxy M31, which is similar to the M21 and is an upgraded version of the M30s. All of these phones look very similar, have nearly identical specifications with a few bits swapped around, and have all been released in the span of a year.
So what's the situation with the Galaxy M31s? Well, it seems despite the overwhelming similarity on paper, the Galaxy M31s seems to have a different body this time around, even though it oddly doesn't look all that different at first glance. Yet, there are enough changes here that need to go through a fine-toothed comb. These changes do subtly change the way you use the phone, so they aren't insignificant.
But as mentioned before, the Galaxy M31s is very similar to the other two phones, especially the M30s, in terms of hardware specifications. The display, the chipset, the memory and storage configuration, most of the cameras, and the battery are all identical across these models. This means if you already own a Galaxy M30s, then you really aren't missing out on much with the Galaxy M31s.
Samsung Galaxy M31s specs
- Body: Glass front, polycarbonate back and side frame
- Screen: 6.5-inch, 19.5:9, FHD+ (1080 x 2400px), Super AMOLED
- Rear camera: Primary 64MP, f/1.8 aperture; Ultra wide-angle: 12MP, f/2.2 aperture; 5MP f2.4 Macro camera; 5MP depth sensor; LED flash; 2160p@30fps video recording
- Front camera: 32MP, f/2.2 aperture
- Chipset: Exynos 9611: octa-core CPU (4x2.3 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.7 GHz Cortex-A53), Mali-G72 MP3 GPU
- Memory: 6/128GB or 8/128GB UFS 2.1; dedicated microSD slot
- OS: Android 10; Samsung One UI 2.1
- Battery: 6,000mAh, 25W charging
- Connectivity: Dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB-C; 3.5mm audio jack
- Misc: Side-mounted fingerprint reader, FM radio
But for those who don't own any of these phones, the Galaxy M31s could be an attractive proposition. We have a large, relatively high-resolution AMOLED panel, lots of cameras of varying focal lengths, and an absolute behemoth of a battery. Sure, it lacks some of the niceties such as a higher resolution display or a more modern Snapdragon chipset, but the Galaxy M31s is cheaper than phones like the OnePlus Nord and the Google Pixel 4a.
So with all that in mind, should you be spending your hard-earned cash on the Samsung Galaxy M31s? Let's find out.
Design
The Galaxy M31s has a pretty similar design, not just to the recent M-series phones but also most of the 2020 smartphones by Samsung. This includes things like a centrally located hole-punch camera on the top of the display and camera cluster in the top left corner of the back of the phone.
The hole-punch is how the Galaxy M31s distinguishes itself from other recent M-series launches, all of which had notches. The hole-punch on the Galaxy M31s is fairly prominent; normally, manufacturers tend these so they blend in better with the display. Samsung has instead chosen to give it a shiny chrome ring and also have a lighter appearance around the lens, so even when the display is off the camera shines brightly at the top.
Whether you like that or not, the camera cutout is pretty small and doesn't take up much space on the display. It will still be a bit distracting, of course, when consuming fullscreen content but it's also not as distracting as a notch or a larger, wider hole-punch.
The rest of the front is pretty unassuming. The corners are a bit squared-off with ever so slightly prominent bezels all-around. The good thing is that the edges are all flat, so we don't have to contend with all the issues that come with a curved display, just for the sake of thinner bezels.
The sides of the phone would have been pretty nondescript too, had it not been for the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner. The Galaxy M31s has the fingerprint scanner built into the power button. This is a much more elegant arrangement than the back button found on previous M-series phones. We even prefer it to the hit or miss affair that is Samsung's ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on the flagship devices, which says more about the ultrasonic scanner than this humble capacitive sensor.
Just to clarify further, the fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy M31s works perfectly. It can be awkward if you are holding the phone in your left hand but you can train it to scan your left index finger and with some practice, you can get it to unlock pretty quickly.
Over to the back of the phone, the Galaxy M31s features an attractive design for the rear panel. Our review unit came in the Mirage Blue shade, which featured an iridescent shade of blue which gradually turned into steely gray as you go up the phone. It looks quite fascinating, especially the reflection of light, which gives this glossy surface a distinct rough, matte texture that is quite unique (and hard to capture on camera).
In the corner is the camera array consisting of four lenses and the flash. The camera bump is nominally raised over the back of the phone but that's still enough to unsettle the phone on a desk.
In terms of build quality, the Galaxy M31s has a sturdy feel to it thanks to a rigid plastic frame. The back is also plastic and the glossy appearance means it could get scratched easily. The phone is a bit hefty, heftier than the Galaxy M31, but it's not as heavy as one would assume it would be considering it has a massive 6000mAh battery inside. Not having glass on the back has allowed the phone to shave off some grams from the total weight, which is in line with most flagship Android phones.
The Galaxy M31s has no ingress protection rating. We also didn't notice things like a rubber gasket around the SIM tray. It means not a lot of effort was put into making this impervious to the elements and there's also no case in the box so care will have to be taken in handling it.
Display
The Galaxy M31s has a 6.5-inch, 2400x1800 resolution AMOLED panel. As mentioned previously, the display has a cutout at the center top for the front camera. The panel is flat and covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The glass does not seem to be placed directly in contact with the display and there does seem to be a small but noticeable gap.
The display is excellent quality, as one would expect from a modern Samsung OLED panel. It gets adequately bright with good viewing angles. It has good color accuracy but doesn't support wide color gamuts. You can, however, set it to the vivid profile for a generic, saturated look.
The display is 60Hz, which likely won't be an issue for most customers. However, with an increasing number of budget phones starting to include a high refresh rate display, it behooves Samsung to get with the program and include at least a 90Hz display on its mid-range devices.
Software
The Galaxy M31s runs on Samsung One UI 2.1 based on Android 10. Our review unit was running the July 1 security patch at the time of publishing.
The software on the Galaxy M31s is pretty much identical in design and layout to other 2020 Samsung smartphones (and several 2019 models as well). You can expect all the basic features, such as a system-wide dark mode, a gesture-based navigation system, themes, customizable app icons, and face unlock. There are also many more features like an always-on display, life and double-tap to wake, smart stay, game launcher, and fingerprint swipe gesture to bring down the notification panel.
In terms of features, there is almost everything here that most users would need. The default Samsung apps are also quite usable so you don't need to rush out to download replacements.
Samsung One UI 2.1
Unfortunately, as we have often noted with budget Samsung devices, especially sold in countries like India, there is a fair bit of bloatware pre-installed, with multiple attempts to shove even more at you. Right during the setup process, you are inundated with multiple screens where you are asked to choose third party apps to install. You have to go out of your way to uncheck these otherwise they will just be installed along with the existing bloatware on the phone. By now we know how to navigate our way around these screens and try to have as clean an installation as possible but most users wouldn't be able to do this and not realize why their new phone is suddenly filled with so many unnecessary apps.
Pre-installed apps
You will also get a screen during setup where the phone asks for your access to exclusive Samsung services. "Asks" is a nice way to describe this, as there is no way to deny this request and you simply have no choice but to give Samsung permission to whatever it is it wants out of you.
"Here's some more bloatware for you. We insist."
The good news is that a majority of this trash can be cleared off the phone. You can uninstall each app manually from the app drawer or go to the Galaxy Store and then inside the My page menu find all the apps installed on the phone and delete all of the ones that can be uninstalled. The phone will annoyingly ask you for every item if you want to delete it but this still beats uninstalling multiple apps from the app drawer. Of course, the Galaxy Store itself is also a minefield that throws app suggestions at you at every opportunity but by now you are hopefully more adept at avoiding this.
We have brought this topic of 'suggested' app installations up multiple times in our previous budget and mid-range Samsung reviews but obviously, nothing we say here will change how Samsung conducts its business unless there is a sufficient backlash from the users. Unfortunately, customers purchasing in this price range are more likely to be new or novice users who really don't know any better, which is why they are often taken advantage of by companies.
Performance
The Galaxy M31s runs on the Exynos 9611 chipset, which has an octa-core CPU (4x 2.3GHz Cortex-A73 cores + 4x 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) and Mali G72 MP3 GPU. Our review unit had 6GB of memory and 128GB storage but there is also a variant available with 8GB memory.
The performance of the Galaxy M31s is mediocre. The chipset is starting to show its age and you can feel the phone stuttering occasionally during operation. Couple that with a 60Hz display and you get a phone that feels outdated even when brand new.
The GPU on the Exynos 9611 is particularly outdated at this point, as even much cheaper Snapdragon models have a better GPU right now. This means gaming is lackluster at best, especially if you are into the more demanding titles.
At this point, Samsung continuing to stick with its Exynos chipsets is hurting the company more than anything else. It is a constant game of 'stop hitting yourself' between the silicon and mobile divisions of the company that is getting increasingly hard to watch and we all think Samsung should just swallow its pride and switch to Snapdragons full time.
GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
1785 - Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
1785 - Motorola One Fusion+
1705 - Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
1692 - Realme 6 Pro
1666 - Samsung Galaxy M21
1319 - Samsung Galaxy M31
1315 - Redmi Note 9
1292 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
1261
GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
571 - Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
570 - Realme 6 Pro
565 - Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
548 - Motorola One Fusion+
542 - Redmi Note 9
361 - Samsung Galaxy M31
349 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
349 - Samsung Galaxy M21
346
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
279625 - Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
272229 - Realme 6 Pro
268785 - Motorola One Fusion+
267980 - Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
254000 - Redmi Note 9
200414 - Samsung Galaxy M31
195284 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
187863 - Samsung Galaxy M21
180711
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme 6 Pro
18 - Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
18 - Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
18 - Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
17 - Motorola One Fusion+
16 - Samsung Galaxy M31
10 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
10 - Samsung Galaxy M21
10
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme 6 Pro
16 - Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
15 - Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
15 - Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
15 - Motorola One Fusion+
14 - Samsung Galaxy M31
9.2 - Samsung Galaxy M21
9.2 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
7.6
Camera
The Galaxy M31s has a quad-camera system on the back, consisting of a 64MP f1.8 primary camera, a 12MP f2.2 ultrawide, a 5MP f2.5 macro, and a depth sensor. The depth sensor isn't a real, usable camera so let's just call this what it is, which is a triple camera setup. Also, there is a 32MP f2.2 fixed-focus camera on the front.
The camera system on the Galaxy M31s is nearly identical to that on the M31. The only difference is that the 8MP ultrawide on the M31 has been replaced with a 12MP ultrawide on the M31s. This means, for most parts, we are getting the same image quality.
Camera app
The main 64MP camera produces good quality images, with good detail, dynamic range, and exposure. The color accuracy is also quite decent, although greens can tend to have a yellowish appearance at times. We tested with the scene optimizer disabled, which tends to produce more contrasty, saturated images but the degree of its effectiveness can be somewhat inconsistent.
Main camera samples
As we said in the M31 review, the 64MP sensor is often at its best when shooting in the full native resolution. Normally we advise against it, as these high-resolution sensors really aren't meant to be used in their native resolution and tend to fall apart under scrutiny but this particular sensor holds up quite well and has tons of usable detail. The details also look more natural and less processed than the 16MP image. The image as a whole is less processed overall, which means it also has less dynamic range. This makes the 64MP mode impractical for every situation but certainly worth trying experimenting with based on the scene.
We also have an ultrawide camera, which has been upgraded to 12MP on the Galaxy M31s. Unfortunately, image quality is quite disappointing. It is a soft image with fuzzy details, and that is when you're looking in the center. The corners of the image are severely distorted and also aggressively soft. This results in the ultrawide images having a zoom blur look to them where only the center of the image is somewhat sharp.
Ultrawide camera samples
The Galaxy M31s has no dedicated telephoto zoom lens, so all zooming is done digitally. The 2x mode is just a straight crop from the center of the sensor, so it is technically still a lossless zoom and quite usable. The images are usable till 4x but beyond that, the artifacts in the image are too prominent to ignore.
1x zoom • 2x zoom • 4x zoom
Finally, there is the macro lens, which works reasonably well. It is a fixed focus dedicated macro lens, so it has a very limited range where it can be used, 3-5cm to be exact. In this range, you can get some pretty decent looking images provided there is enough light on the subject.
Macro camera samples
The sensor is only 5MP, so there isn't a ton of detail here to uncover. Also, the quality really falls off a cliff in indoor lighting and so the macro camera is only really usable outdoors during the day.
Conclusion
At the beginning of this preview, we mentioned that the Samsung Galaxy M31s is a familiar device, and you know what they say about familiarity. While Samsung keeps switching things around, this still is fundamentally the same phone that we looked at back in June, and before that in February, and before that in December.
Now there are some good bits in here; the display is still good quality, even if it's just 60Hz. The main camera can take decent quality pictures. And lastly, the massive battery with improved fast charging is class-leading. But all of it is based around a fairly old chipset at this point, which was never particularly quick to begin with, and is now thoroughly outclassed by all the quicker Snapdragon models around it.
And that's the issue with the Galaxy M31s as a whole. There are several devices you could purchase instead, which are either cheaper and are a bit better or are similarly priced and are a lot better. For example, you can pick up the Realme 6 Pro, which has a better chipset, a smooth 90Hz display and more premium build with a glass back. Or you could get the Realme X3, which costs just a bit more than the Galaxy M31s and has a Snapdragon 855+ and a 120Hz display. Even last year's Xiaomi K20 Pro is a better deal in comparison.
So even though the Galaxy M31s is not an expensive phone, it is still not great value when compared to everything else that is on the market. Even if this phone came with a more modern and competitive Snapdragon chipset, it would be worth recommending but the combination of the slow and aging Exynos 9611 chipset and an increasingly outdated 60Hz display means the M31s just feels like you're using a phone from a year ago. Which, if you think about it, it is.
Pros
- Great display quality
- Massive battery with fast charging
- Decent 64MP main camera
Cons
- Slow and outdated Exynos chipset
- Only 60Hz display
- Mediocre ultrawide camera
- Excessive pre-installed bloatware with aggressive attempts to install even more
- Plasticky design
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