According to Samsung, A series phones are watered-down versions of the flagship Galaxy S series. In contrast, the M series is the budget lineup and better than the J series.
The A and M series’s primary difference is Not the processor, display, RAM, internal storage, or build quality. Later in this article, a comparison between the six M series and A series phone will illustrate it. The only difference between them is on the software side.
For example, the M-series phones do not come with Knox security. Therefore, features like a Secure folder, Samsung Pay, Samsung Pass, or other Knox dependent features are not available. Moreover, the M series runs on One UI Core. Thus, Good Lock, Bixby, etc., are not compatible.
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Samsungs main target with the M-series is to sell them online. For example, the M31 prime is sold exclusively on Amazon India. Online customers compare phones before placing an order. Therefore, the price must be lower than the competition, but the specs also have to be better.
In contrast, A-series phones are meant to be sold in brick and mortar stores. As Samsung is selling M-series online, they don’t need to spend a lot of money maintaining shops, hiring employees, etc. Thus they save a lot of money, and they pass the savings to customers by lowering the price.
But the prices of Galaxy M-series phones are lower that does not mean that their quality is inferior.
There was a time when all the M-series phones were cheaper than the A-series, but now the line is blurred by Samsung. Other than by looking at the name, it’s tough to distinguish between these phones. There are Galaxy A phones that are cheaper than Galaxy M phones.
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There are also Galaxy A phones that are expensive compared to the M series. Later in this article, we will compare M51 vs. A51, M02s vs. A02s, and M21s vs. A21s, and it will show that some M-series phones have better specs, but the price could be lower or higher than A-series.
Samsung makes countless phones which we can’t even keep track of. They have several phone series. These are:
- S series
- A series
- M series
- F series
- J series
- Z series
- Note series (discontinued in 2021)
Are you confused? You are not alone. We are confused too.
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Before we proceed, let’s learn about these Galaxy series. S series is the flagship phone line up. Note series also flagship but has built-in S pen support. The Z series is a flagship with a foldable screen and the most expensive. Most A-series phones are cheaper than the S series but expensive than M, F, and J series. M series phones are primarily sold online, whereas A series are sold in stores.
M02s vs. A02s Display:
Both phones have a 6.5 inch 720 x 1600 pixel 270 PPI IPS LCD screen.
M51 vs. A51 Display:
Both phones have a 1080 x 2400 pixel screen. However, the M51 has a better 6.7 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen than the A51’s 6.5 inch Super AMOLED screen. Moreover, M51 has superior display protection with Corning Gorilla Glass 3+, whereas A51 has only Gorilla Glass 3 protection.
M21s vs. A21s Display:
In this case, too, M21s has a better display than A21s. M21s has Super AMOLED 6.4 inch 1080 x 2340 pixel screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. In contrast, A21s has a 6.5 inch 720 x 1600 pixel LCD screen without any display protection.
We can say that, For these phones, the M series has a better display than the A-series.
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Processors:
M02s and A02s both have Snapdragon 450 processor. Galaxy A51 has a 5G Snapdragon 765G, and M51 has Snapdragon 730 processor. And finally, M21s has a better Exynos 9611 processor than A21s’s Exynos 850.
It’s clear that these M series phones have either similar or better processors than A series phones.
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Internal Storage:
Galaxy M02s and A02s have similar internal storage configurations, 32GB 3GB RAM or 64GB 4GB RAM.
We can purchase the M51 in two configurations, 128GB 6GB RAM, or 128GB 8GB RAM. However, A51 only has a single 128GB 6GB RAM configuration.
A21s has too many variations compared to M21s. M21s has two variations, 64GB 4GB RAM and 128GB 6GB RAM. Whereas A21s has eight variations, from 32GB 2GB RAM to 128GB 6GB RAM.
External SD card support:
Except for Galaxy A51, all other phones have dedicated SIM card slot. The A51 uses a shared SIM slot.
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Cameras:
M02 and A02s have the same types of cameras. M21s and M51’s 64MP primary camera is better than the A21s and A51’s 48MP primary camera.
Headphone jack:
All of these phones have the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Battery:
Galaxy M51 has the best battery we have ever seen on any phone. It has a 7000mAh non-removable battery. In contrast, A51 has only a 4500mAh battery. Finally, M02s, A02s, and A21s have the same 5000mAh battery.
Build Quality:
Galaxy A51 has an aluminum frame plastic back. However, M02s, A02s, M51, M21s, and A21s has plastic frame plastic back.
Price:
The whole Samsung phone lineup is confusing. We don’t know what benefits Samsung gets by flooding the market with so many phones with similar specs.
From the above comparison, we can see that Galaxy M51 has far superior specs than A51. But A51 costs $550 whereas M51 costs around $500.
Galaxy A02s and M02s have similar specs. But A02s costs $155 whereas M02s costs $125.
Looking at the above examples, it’s clear that not all M series phones are more affordable than A series phones. These phones’ pricing entirely depends on Samsung, and there are no hard rules or logic behind it. Therefore, we can’t blindly say that the Galaxy M series phones are cheaper than the A-series phones.
If you are on the market to buy a new Samsung phone, please compare the Galaxy M and A phones separately and take your final purchasing decision.