The mid-range smartphone market is becoming increasingly competitive, with big players like Samsung increasing sales while upstarts like Nothing are also making waves.
The Galaxy A55 5G is Samsung’s latest mid-range offering, and on paper it looks like it’ll be a great value. Meanwhile, the Nothing Phone (2) also ranks high on our list of best mid-range smartphones, saving you a lot of money compared to the more premium smartphones on offer.
But which is the best mid-range phone between the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G and Nothing Phone (2)? We’ve created this comparison guide to highlight the key differences between the two.
Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is now more affordable
The two phones may both be in the mid-range market, but that doesn’t mean they’re priced the same. The Samsung Galaxy A55 5G starts at £439 with 8GB memory and 128GB storage, but upgrading to 256GB storage costs £489.
That makes the Nothing Phone (2) a little more expensive, with a starting price of £499 and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You can also upgrade to 12GB RAM / 256GB storage for £549 or 12GB RAM / 512GB for £619.
So why is Nothing Phone (2) more expensive? We have listed several main reasons further down.
Exinos vs Snapdragon
At the heart of the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is an octa-core Exynos 1480 chipset, a mid-range chip designed by Samsung itself.
As for the Nothing Phone (2), it is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, which was the flagship Android mobile processor in 2022.
It’s hard to know which processor offers the best performance without testing both side-by-side, but our guess is that Snapdragon has the edge here. Not only was it the flagship processor just a few years ago, but one of its cores (out of eight) supports his fast 3GHz frequency.
None Phone (2) has fast wireless charging capability
Samsung doesn’t seem to be particularly particular about improving the charging speed of its smartphones, even with the Galaxy S series. As a result, no wonder the wired charging speed is limited to his default 25W.
Nothing Phone (2) is a different story. The Nothing Phone (2) supports 45W wired charging, so you can expect to refill the cells in just 55 minutes.
Nothing Phone (2) also supports 15W wireless charging, so if you have a wireless charger, you can charge your phone without connecting a cable.
Samsung Galaxy A55 5G has a triple camera system
Which phone has the best camera? It’s not an easy question to answer just by looking at the specs. The first thing to note is that Samsung has opted for a triple camera system with a 50MP main sensor, 12MP ultrawide, and 5MP macro.
The Nothing Phone (2), on the other hand, comes with a dual camera system with a 50MP main sensor and a 50MP ultra-wide sensor. The megapixel count is impressively high, but unfortunately there’s no macro sensor to enhance close-up shots.
There are very few differences in camera specs, so we recommend waiting for our full review to hear our final thoughts on the quality of the cameras before checking them out.
Nothing Phone (2) has a unique design with LED
Most phones have metal or glass backs, sometimes with some tint, but few have LED designs like the Nothing Phone (2). These lights can also be used as a notification system, letting you know about incoming calls and messages even when the phone is facing down. We really like the design and it helped make Nothing Phone (2) stand out from its competitors.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 5G doesn’t have anything as flashy, but at least it comes in a variety of colors, including ice blue, lilac, navy, and lemon. For comparison, Nothing Phone (2) only comes in white and dark gray.
So, in terms of design, you’re essentially choosing between having a unique LED-based notification system or having a more diverse range of bright colors.
