Samsung Galaxy “A” series phones are mid-range phones from Samsung. They are toned down version of the premium flagship phones. There is a sub series in A series as well according to the size and specs of the phone, indicated by the number; Galaxy A3 is the smallest, followed by Galaxy A5 and finally Galaxy A7, which is the biggest. In this post, we will compare Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 and Galaxy A3 2016.
Design and Display:
Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 is a successor the Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 and Samsung Galaxy A3 2015. Design wise, both the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 and Galaxy A3 2016 are similar with 4.7-inch screen and dimensions of height: 135.4 mm, width: 66.2 mm and thickness: 7.9 mm. Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 is available in four beautiful colours- Black Sky, Gold Sand, Blue Mist, Peach Cloud. Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 has an additional feature of being water resistant (up to 30 minutes in a depth of 1.5 m). This feature was missing in all previous A3 devices. It is also said to be dust proof.
Display wise also, they are both similar with High Definition screen of a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. The pixel density of 312 PPI is good for 4.7-inch screen. They both have super AMOLED display. The only difference is in the screen to body ratio. Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 has 69.28% body ratio whereas Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 has 67.78% body ratio.
There is Samsung logo on the top in both the devices. In Samsung Galaxy A3 2017, there is 8 MP front camera on the top whereas, in Samsung Galaxy A3 2016, there is 5 MP front camera. Below the display, both the devices have the physical home button, which has capacitive keys on either side. The keys are invisible and can be seen only when backlit. The back key is on the right side of home button. In Samsung Galaxy A3 2016, there is no fingerprint sensor, but in Samsung Galaxy A3 2017, the home button acts as a fingerprint sensor.
Both the devices have non-removable back cover and battery. There is a 13 MP primary camera on the back side for both the devices with LED flash next to it. Like all Samsung phones, volume keys are on the left side for both the devices and the power key on the right. There is a dual SIM tray and SD card tray on the right side for both the devices.
The charging slot is present at the bottom. In Samsung Galaxy A3 2017, it is a USB TYPE C port which doesn’t support micro USB. Samsung Galaxy A3 2016, on the other hand, uses micro USB 2.0.
Performance:
Samsung has improved the performance of Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 over Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 by using Samsung Exynos 7 Octa 7870. It runs at 1.6 Ghz and uses octa core processor. The RAM has also been increased from 1.5 GB to 2 GB.
Software:
None of the devices run on the latest Android Nougat (7.0). Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 runs on Android Marshmallow (6.0.1) while Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 runs on Android Lollipop (5.1.1). They both have SAMSUNG TOUCHWIZ UI on top
Camera and Storage:
Both the devices have similar rear camera configurations with 13MP primary camera and an aperture of 1.9 F. There is no significant change in the rear camera. They both have features like digital zoom, HDR, continuous shooting. Both record the video at 1920×1080 @ 30 fps.
The front camera has been improved in Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 with 8 MP unlike 5MP used in Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 but the LED flash is still missing in the front camera.
Both the devices have same internal storage of 16 GB. But Samsung has increased the expandable memory from 128 GB in Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 to 256GB in Samsung Galaxy A3 2017.
Battery and Connectivity:
There has been no significant change in the battery. Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 runs on 2350mAH battery whereas Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 runs on 2300mAH battery.
Both are dual SIM devices with 4G supported in only one SIM. The SIM slot is a normal one and not a hybrid one. Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 uses Bluetooth version 4.2 and also uses USB TYPE C port. They both have FM radio and NFC.
The Verdict:
Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 is an updated version of Samsung Galaxy A3 2016. Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 gives better performance and has improved front camera for selfies. It also has fingerprint sensor and is water resistant. If you want to upgrade from Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 to Samsung Galaxy A3 2017, we would suggest you should look for some other device from a different brand as the specifications are almost similar for both the devices with some minor improvements.
The Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 price in India is not available yet whereas Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 costs Rs.13490. For latest updates, you can check out 91mobiles.com.
