We go hands-on with the 2018 refresh of the Galaxy A6+!

Samsung refreshed the A6 family of devices yesterday, which now consists of two phones. One is the smaller A6 that we’ve taken a look at a few days ago, and the other being the bigger A6+. While the A6+ retains the same J-series inspired unibody aluminum design of its smaller brother, it’s physically bigger and has a dual-camera setup along with a better processor. Priced right around Php 22,990, the Korean company is asking for a fair bit of cash for the bigger smartphone – will potential customers still be enticed with that price tag?

Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018) Specs

• 1.8Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core processor
• 4GB RAM
• 6.0-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display
• 32GB of expandable storage (Up to 256GB)
• 16-megapixel f/1.7 and 5-megapixel rear cameras with LED flash, PDAF, Live Focus
• 24-megapixel f/1.9 front camera with LED flash
• 3G, LTE
• Dual SIM / Single SIM
• WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0
• GPS, A-GPS
• Fingerprint sensor, Samsung Pay, NFC, Face recognition, Dolby Atmos
• 3500mAh battery
• Android 8.0 Oreo

Initial impressions: reassuringly solid, and that aperture is oh so big

It’s not a big surprise that the Galaxy A6+ (2018) looks like an upsized version of its smaller brother. It has the same aluminum body, as well as the pronounced antenna lines that give it a Galaxy J7 Pro feel. We’re not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, considering that the J7 Pro is supposed to be a lower-priced smartphone compared to the Galaxy A6+ (2018).

The big change from the regular A6 (2018) is the inclusion of dual cameras on the rear. The Galaxy A6+ (2018) has a 16-megapixel f/1.7 primary shooter and aa 5-megapixel secondary rear camera. The f/1.7 opening on the main sensor of the Galaxy A6+ (2018) is one of the lowest in its class, and theoretically should allow the phone to shoot excellent low-light photos.

The fingerprint scanner is located right below the dual camera module.

As far as button design and layout goes, the Galaxy A6+ (2018) is identical to its smaller brother: the power button is on the right while the volume rocker is on the left, along with the speaker grille right above it. There’s seperate trays for the microSD expansion slot and the SIM, so you don’t have to choose between one or the other – you can opt to have both.

The Galaxy A6+ (2018) also has a bigger, higher resolution Super AMOLED panel compared to its smaller brother. Specifically, the Galaxy A6+ (2018) has a 6.0-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display. Colors are bright and vibrant, which is typical of Samsung’s Super AMOLED panels.

The Galaxy A6+ (2018) is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core processor, paired with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Samsung has not announced any other variant of the Galaxy A6+ (2018), so you’ll have to settle with the specs provided by Samsung Philippines if you want it.

The phone runs Android Oreo, and also has Bixby, Samsung’s own AI assistant baked in. You also get a few extras, like the NFC, face recognition capabilit as well as Dolby Atmos sound when you have a pair of headphones plugged in. The 3500mAh battery inside the phone should provide enough juice to last you a day.

As we mentioned earlier, the Galaxy A6+ (2018) is priced at Php 22,990. That’s a fairly steep price for the specs, considering that Samsung is facing off against a lot of upstarts at the sub 20K price point that has better hardware on paper. We’ll have to see in our full review if the Galaxy A6+ (2018) really deserves that price tag.