Introduction
Samsung has been releasing innovative smartphones across all of its lineups including the affordable and battery monster Galaxy M-series in an attempt to compete against the various Chinese OEMs out there. The newly launched Samsung Galaxy M32 is the successor to last year’s M31 and brings some major upgrades including an Helio G80 SoC, 90Hz display, Android 11 out-of-the-box, and 25W fast charging support on-board.
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Well, the specifications on the paper look really nice but you should actually consider a smartphone’s actual performance before deciding whether to buy it or not. Here’s a complete hands-on review of the Samsung Galaxy M32 that you must read.
Prices in India, Variants, Availability
Samsung Galaxy M32 is available on Amazon India with its first sale on 28th June. Its 4GB+64GB variant is available at Rs 14,999/- while the higher 6GB+128GB variant is available at Rs 16,999/-. Get up to Rs 1,250/- off on using ICICI Bank Credit and Debit Card on Amazon India. Select between Light Blue and Black colour variants available with the same.
Specs at a glance
Before we talk in detail about the Samsung Galaxy M32 let’s see what the on-paper specs look like?
- Display: 16.21cm (6.4”) Infinity-U 90Hz refresh rate Display
- Processor: Mediatek Helio G80
- Storage: 4GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB
- Software: OneUI 3.1 based on Android 11
- Rear cameras: 64MP (main) + 8MP (ultra-wide) + 2MP macro + 2MP (depth)
- Selfie Camera: 20MP
- Battery: 6000 mAh, 15W in-box, supports 25W fast charging
- Weight: 196g
- Dimensions: 159.30 x 74.00 x 9.30mm
Design and Build
Samsung Galaxy M32 is all-plastic except the front. Although plastic is a way to go for cheaper phones. Anyways, Galaxy M32 arrives with a polycarbonate back with a square camera setup on the top-left corner with a quad-camera setup. There’s a LED flash under the camera setup and a Samsung branding at the bottle and that’s it.
The back panel is parallel lines passing through its top to bottom. These shimmering lines ensure that you have an uber grip when using the phone in one hand. Plus, the phone weighs 196g which is although not more, it isn’t that much, to be honest. You would still end up with some strain if you hold the phone for long given its weight. There’s nothing protruding outside such as the camera setup as it is almost flushed with the back panel which is another thing to worry less about.
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There’s a side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the right, clubbed with a power button as it performs both functions. There’s a volume rocker on top of the power button although I personally feel it is raised too high for reachability.
On the front, you get a Corning Gorilla Glass v5 on top for extreme protection against falls and drops. The front display is flat as well with an Infinity-U notch at the middle. Check out the Display section for more.
Since the phone has an all-plastic build, it isn’t vulnerable to cracks and breaks similar to a glass back which comes as a blessing in disguise, to be honest.
There’s no IP rating on Samsung Galaxy M32 which is a blow, to be honest. I would’ve loved at least some kind of protection such as Moto G40 Fusion (also an alternative) has an IP53 rating.
Display
Samsung Galaxy M32 is paired with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED panel with a 1080×2400 pixels resolution and 90Hz refresh rate on-board. The display size is the same as the Galaxy M31 although it has a greater refresh rate and 800 nits of brightness on board. Also, the aspect ratio has been increased from 19.5:9 to 20:9 with M32.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first, the display is huge and offers a much larger display for viewing movies, TV shows, and gaming. Now, having a 90Hz refresh rate is way better than a 60Hz display because it offers smooth transitions and animations.
The display is all good with great viewing angles, crisp and vibrant colours, and an unobstructed view thanks to a tiny U-shaped notch although a punch-hole would have been better. Talking about what the display cannot do, it can’t play HD or HDR content on OTT platforms. Now, the thing is, it is either the smartphone that failed to get appropriate certifications from these OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others to stream HD or HDR content.
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On the contrary, it could be because of the Helio G80 SoC as it could be limiting or restricting access to high-quality content. To shed more light on it, the 90Hz RR is great but still, the animations on the M32 are laggy and stutters at times. It is likely that the G80 SoC is underwhelming to handle HRR on the display and HDR content playback which is a major blow to the users.
Overall, the display, albeit being an sAMOLED, is average unless Samsung uses some kind of trickery to update HDR (or at least HD) certifications as well as update the system’s response on handling 90Hz refresh rate properly.
Samsung did make a few bumps in terms of specifications be it an AMOLED display to a big battery and a higher refresh rate with the Galaxy M32. But on the other hand, lack of HD/HDR content streaming, an underwhelming processor, and a 15W charging brick in the box are some of the shortcomings of the device.
Galaxy M32 at Rs 14,999/- isn’t much to ask although the phone is a bit sluggish and you could end up getting occasional stutters here and there. But it comes from Samsung which has made its reputation so I won’t say that you shouldn’t even consider buying an M32. Overall, Samsung Galaxy M32 is a solid phone to consider. Some of the popular alternatives are Moto G40 Fusion, Realme 8, and Xiaomi Redmi Note 10S that you can choose from.
