The Galaxy A13 is the most affordable 5G phone that Samsung has released to date and the $250 price point isn't the only thing to recommend about Samsung's latest A-Series phone.
The Galaxy A13 features a number of other specs that sound like they belong on a much pricier phone including an adaptive 90Hz refresh rate display, a trio of rear cameras and a 5,000 mAh battery.
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The Galaxy A13 will be available on AT&T starting December 3 and launches on Samsung.com and T-Mobile in January.
With support for both AT&T and T-Mobile's sub-6Ghz 5G network, you will have access to the much more pervasive 5G networks available today, so don't feel too bad about missing out on mmWave 5G.
The Galaxy A13 includes a large 6.5-inch HD+ (1600x720-pixel) display with a 90Hz adaptive refresh rate. That resolution is a bit disappointing, but combined with the 90Hz refresh rate, everything should run buttery smooth on the typically outstanding Samsung display. The MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor inside won't win you any mobile gaming tournaments, but it should be enough to carry out standard tasks and slower-paced games with ease.
While it's not as impressive a trio of cameras as Samsung's flagships, the 50MP f/1.8 primary wide-angle sensor on the Galaxy A13 sounds like a winner. Things do come to earth rapidly from there with a pair of 2MP f/2.4 macro and depth cameras rounding out the back of the phone. The front camera is somewhat underwhelming as well at 5MP and f/2.0. If that primary sensor can deliver, that's all that matters in this price range though.
The 64GB of internal memory should hold quite a few photos from those cameras, but the microSD slot supports up to 1TB cards, so running out of space is not a concern. The Galaxy A13 also still features a 3.5mm headphone jack, which balances out the relatively weak single speaker. A side fingerprint sensor helps keep your phone secure, which is particularly important since the Galaxy A13 also supports Samsung Pay with NFC.
The 5,000mAh battery in the Galaxy A13 is as big as anything you'll find in the Galaxy S lineup and given the less power-hungry display and processor it should be able to easily power through a day or more of usage. Charging speeds aren't terrible at 15W, but given the size of the battery, a full charge may take a couple of hours.
Finally, the Galaxy A13 launches with Android 11, disappointing given that Android 12 is the current version. While Samsung has a standard three years of software updates and four years of security updates for many of its phones, it hasn't made that commitment for the Galaxy A13 and we wouldn't anticipate more than a year of updates given its price point.
