Samsung today held an event where it showed off its new Samsung Galaxy A-Series phones. Unlike the S-Series models with their Unpacked events, these devices aren’t the flashiest phones with the fastest chips and the best cameras. They are, however, the phones that the rest of the world will buy and use en masse. In the top 10 smartphones sold in 2021 courtesy of Counterpoint Research, only one Samsung phone found its way there, and that’s the cheap and cheerful Galaxy A12.
Samsung didn’t announce phones that cheap, however. It debuted a new Galaxy A33 5G, an A53 5G, and an A73 5G. All devices will be available in April in various markets across the world.
Samsung’s A-Series event was streamed live on YouTube on Thursday, March 17, at 10 a.m. ET. That’s 7 a.m. PT and 9 a.m. CT. It’s available on YouTube for a rewatch if you missed it the first time.
In the A-Series, Samsung’s Galaxy A5x has been its goldilocks model. It’s cheap enough to not hurt the wallet but good enough that it can trade blows with something like the Pixel 5a or iPhone SE if an argument is being made for value. The A53 is a follow-up phone from the A52 and A52s from last year. It even looks a lot like the pair, notwithstanding its ditching of the headphone jack. Expect the same Infinity-O display with a fast refresh rate on the front and a rear square quad-camera layout, if you’re making a purchase.
Internally, it’s powered by an Exynos 1280 chip and paired with 6GB of RAM. Unlike the A52 which had a separate 5G model, all versions of the A53 are expected to come with 5G as the technology becomes far more ubiquitous across the world.
Samsung also debuted a new Galaxy A73, the phone in the Galaxy A-series that’s a step up from the A5x series. Samsung’s A72 wasn’t given as much focus as the A52 last year, and this year wasn’t much different. The company’s only acknowledgment of the A73 5G came via way of a literal footnote, noting it would go on sale from April 22 in unspecified select markets.
The A73 comes with a 6.7-inch FullHD 120Hz AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 778, and a quad-camera set up with a 108-megapixel main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide, a 5Mp depth sensor, and a 5MP macro lens.
As we noted, the Samsung Galaxy A72 was shortchanged last year, with only a single 4G model launching in a limited number of markets — none of them being the U.S. In contrast, the A52 had both a 4G model and a 5G model. Samsung would later follow it up with a revamped A52s in the summer.
Samsung announced the budget-friendly Galaxy A33 5G. It’s going to be available in the U.K. for 329 British pounds (or $430) and is very close in specs to the A53 5G with just two differences.
It’s a 6.4-inch plastic slab of a phone with a Full HD display with a 90Hz refresh rate on the front, and a 48MP main camera at the rear. The other specs are more or less the same as the A53 5G. It’ll go on sale on April 22.
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.