The Galaxy A55, months after its official launch, remains Samsung’s most exciting mid-range smartphone of 2024. And it will continue to hold on to that title next year as well, until it is succeeded by the Galaxy A56.

The Galaxy A55 has many amazing features, including the Exynos 1480, Samsung’s most powerful mid-range Exynos chipset and also its only mid-range chipset with a GPU based on AMD’s graphics architecture. The Galaxy A55 offers a smooth and snappy user experience, and thanks to all the power under its hood, the A55 will perform admirably for years to come.

That makes the A55 the most suitable candidate for Samsung's new support policy that will see smartphones getting six to seven major Android OS updates. But, unfortunately, the A55 is only eligible for four major Android OS upgrades, which is its biggest drawback.

Older software update policy holds the Galaxy A55 back

For some reason, Samsung chose a low-end Galaxy A smartphone, the Galaxy A16, to be its first non-flagship device that will get more than four years of OS upgrades. While the A16 isn’t the slowest or weakest phone Samsung has launched this year, it will struggle to provide a good user experience after the first 2-3 Android updates.

I'm not saying Samsung shouldn't offer six years of updates to the Galaxy A16. Whether customers pay top dollar for a smartphone or buy one that's affordable, they should get the best possible after-sales support. I'm just saying that six years of updates would have made more sense on a powerful mid-ranger like the Galaxy A55.

But is that a good reason to not buy the Galaxy A55 if you're in the market for a new phone right now? If you intend to use the same device for more than four years, the answer is yes, and you may want to wait for the Galaxy A56 that's coming next year with an even more powerful Exynos chip.

If you don't use the same phone that long and upgrade to newer devices more frequently, the A55 is still the best mid-range Samsung phone money can buy, and as we enter the holiday season, you may be able to pick it up at a substantial discount. To learn about what the Galaxy A55 gets right and where it falters, be sure to check out our review.

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