Samsung Galaxy A16 5G smartphone review - The particularly inexpensive Galaxy with 6 years of updates

The 128-GB storage variant of the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G costs less than $200 but offers buyers great value for money. You get a bright 90-Hz AMOLED screen, a charging speed of 25 watts which is quite high for the phone's price class, as well as solid connectivity options. Aside from 5G and dual SIM, this also includes Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, good GPS and a triple-camera that takes solid photos in daylight. Although its case is only made of plastic, it has been built well and looks nice.

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is particularly suitable for casual users. If you use your cell phone almost exclusively for everyday tasks such as WhatsApp, online banking or sporadic web surfing, you can easily do all of this with the 6.7-inch Galaxy A16 5G. It offers sufficient power for precisely such tasks and can even be used in the rain thanks to its IP54 protection. Another selling point is its promised 6 years of updates. If you buy the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G, then you theoretically won't have to look for a new phone until 2030.

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is one of the cheapest Samsung smartphones currently available. The entry-level phone currently costs just under $200, but still offers features that until recently were reserved for more expensive mid-range models.

Highlights include its 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 90-Hz refresh rate, as well as a long update guarantee. In addition to 6 operating system upgrades, Samsung also promises 6 years of security updates—a rarity in this budget segment.

In this review, we will be taking a look at how well the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G holds its own against similarly priced smartphones and for whom it is worth purchasing.

On the outside, the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G looks no different from other Galaxy A models, as it uses the same angular design with a flat front and back. Although the side edges are relatively wide, this is fine for a budget smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G's plastic case almost conveys a premium feel. With its rounded edges, it feels good to the touch and looks stylish. Its glossy back reflects incoming light in slightly different colors depending on the viewing angle. In addition, it features a nice finish and proved to be very robust against all our pressure tests—plus, is protected against dust and splashes of water in accordance with IP54.

Our test device is the Light Green color variant. The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is also available in Blue Black and Light Gray.

The phone's internal storage can be expanded by inserting a microSD card, which can be up to 1.5 TB in size. Using our Angelbird AV Pro V60 reference card, the card reader delivered a high speed and, at 56.4 MByte/s, was faster than all of the comparison devices.

Samsung is very transparent about its sustainability efforts, providing comprehensive information on all related measures in its annual Sustainability Report (version for 2024 here). However, information on the CO₂ emissions of the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is not available.

Through its Self Repair Program, which is available in certain countries, Samsung provides spare parts and instructions for its products, including numerous smartphones and tablets. The Galaxy A16 5G is also already listed there.

According to Samsung, 25 percent of its plastic products will contain recycled synthetic resin by 2023. This proportion could now be even higher for the plastic case of the Galaxy A16 5G. Recycled paper is used for both the product packaging and the smartphone's case.

With WiFi 5 as its fastest Wi-Fi standard, the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is said to achieve data transfers of up to around 350 MBit/s, and this speed was confirmed during our practical test with our Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 reference router. You can't expect more in this price range—at least not at the moment. The comparison devices managed around the same Wi-Fi speeds.

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G supports numerous 4G and 5G bands, so you should get a good reception all around Europe, where this test was carried out. However, there are too few frequency bands for worldwide use.

You should definitely look out for the 5G suffix if you want to buy the Galaxy A16 5G, as the smartphone is also available in an LTE version in some countries. This is a little cheaper than our test candidate, but looks confusingly similar and also has slightly different features. The LTE version uses the MediaTek Helio G99, while the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G uses the slightly faster Samsung Exynos 1330.

If supported by the mobile provider, Wi-Fi calls can be activated via Samsung's own telephone app, while VoLTE can be activated in the connection settings.

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G delivers solid call quality for calls to mobile and landline networks. We were understood well by the person on the other end of the line during our test calls, but the other party sometimes sounded a little muffled. Even with the loudspeaker activated, the smartphone picked up our voice well, but added a slight echo.

A positive: the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is relatively low in radiation, achieving SAR values of 0.381 watts (head) and 0.943 watts (body).

In our test lab, the main camera showed that it can capture colors precisely in optimal lighting conditions and deliver a balanced white balance. However, it's still one that you can only really use during nice weather, as subjects almost completely disappear in the dark in 1 lux of residual light.

The accessories delivered with the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G are limited to a USB-C cable, a SIM tool, a quick start guide and another booklet with warranty information. Samsung sells matching 25-watt power adapters, such as the EP-T2510N, in its online store.

If you buy the phone directly from Samsung, you can optionally also add the Samsung Care+ insurance package to your shopping cart. It runs for up to 2 years and additionally includes theft protection, depending on the package booked.

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G's Samsung Exynos 1330 is an ARM SoC designed for more affordable mid-range smartphones. The Exynos 1330 combines 2 ARM Cortex-A78 performance cores—that clock at up to 2.4 GHz—with 6 ARM Cortex-A55 efficiency cores at 2.0 GHz. The ARM Mali-G68 MP2 takes care of graphics calculations.

The Exynos 1330 is one of the faster processors in this price range. During everyday use, however, you'll still have to put up with some stutters or longer waiting times when launching apps. The SoC quickly reaches its limit when running demanding applications or games.

The ARM Mali-G68 MP2 only has enough computing power for simple graphics calculations, so you can't expect much from the phone's gaming performance. Take GFXBench, for example: Only low-end tests such as T-Rex and Manhattan run at more than 30 frames per second in this graphics benchmark.

It sometimes takes a while for websites to load completely but otherwise, the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G doesn't present any obstacles when browsing. It performed above average in the browser tests, which is likely primarily thanks to its more up-to-date browser version.

Despite its comparatively fast UFS 2.2 storage, the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G sinks into mediocrity when it comes to its read and write performance. It seems that the memory controller isn't working optimally, as other budget smartphones such as the HMD Pulse Pro or the Motorola Moto G35, which use the same type of storage, achieved a significantly higher sequential data throughput during our test. 

As a result of the Samsung Exynos 1330's moderate performance, we noted no temperature problems during operation. Under full load, the case heated up to 45.5 °C, which was quite warm to the touch. Internally, however, the smartphone remained cool, as it always managed to deliver its full performance even under constant stress.

The mono speaker on the bottom of the device can get quite loud, namely up to 93.3 dB(A), but its treble-heavy sound is quite unpleasant on the ears. At medium volume, the mids and bass are still underrepresented, which doesn't make the sound experience much better. However, the mono speaker is sufficient for briefly listening to music and videos.

External audio devices can be connected to the smartphone via USB-C or Bluetooth 5.3. The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G only supports a handful of Bluetooth codecs, such as SBC, AAC, aptX, LDAC and the Samsung Seamless Codec (SSC).

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is more power-hungry than its predecessor. However, apart from its power consumption at maximum load, the phone's consumption remains moderate.

Its 5000 mAh battery can be charged at up to 25 watts. A charger is not included with the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G. On the other hand, it didn't seem to be picky when it came to the third-party power adapters we used during our test. With the 65-watt Ugreen 2C1A charger, it took 1:32 hours to charge the smartphone from 0 to 100 percent. The battery was 80 percent full again after 59 minutes.

Compared to its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G delivers worse runtimes. This comes as a result of its larger display, which has grown from 6.5 to 6.7 inches, as well as the higher power consumption of its Samsung Exynos 1330 octa-core SoC. Nevertheless, the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G should be able to last for several days at a time with a full battery and moderate use.

The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G is an affordable entry-level phone with good features. Highlights include its bright, 90-Hz AMOLED screen and a 6-year update guarantee.