Samsung Galaxy A27 promises 6 years of updates — but drops microSD and raises the price
Samsung's Galaxy A27 is official, and its headline feature is genuinely unusual for a budget phone: six full years of OS updates and security patches, covering the phone through 2032. The specs leaked early via Samsung's Czech website before a wider announcement. A US launch is expected through Verizon, AT&T;, and T-Mobile, per SamMobile, though no carrier has confirmed pricing or a release date yet.
The phone
The A27 gets a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 800-nit peak brightness. The old teardrop notch is gone — replaced by a clean punch-hole cutout. Inside sits a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip (a 2024 4nm processor), paired with 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The 5,000mAh battery supports 25W wired charging, and the phone carries an IP64 dust and water resistance rating with Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the display.
The main camera is a 50MP sensor with optical image stabilization. The front camera is 12MP and shoots 4K at 30fps. The phone runs Android 16 with One UI 8.5 out of the box, and comes in black, blue, light pink, and light green.
The trade-offs
That six-year update promise is a real differentiator at this price. Nothing, Motorola, and Realme don't come close to matching it in the $299–349 range where the A27 is expected to land — roughly in line with where the Galaxy A26 launched.
But Samsung made some cuts that sting. The ultrawide camera drops from 8MP on the A26 to just 5MP. More significantly, the microSD slot is gone entirely — the A26 supported up to 1TB of expandable storage, making the A27 the first A-series phone to drop the feature. For buyers who relied on cheap SD cards to supplement storage, that's a meaningful step back.
EU pricing is set at €349 for the 6/128GB model and €439 for the 8/256GB version — around €50–70 more than the A26. US pricing hasn't been confirmed, but the A26 launched at $299, so expect a similar or slightly higher starting point. UK pricing is estimated at £299–349, though no carrier partnerships have been announced.
What to expect
A June 22 launch date has been cited by multiple sources, though Samsung hasn't made an official announcement. If the six-year software commitment holds up in practice, the A27 could still be a smart long-term buy — but rivals like the Nothing Phone 2a and Motorola Edge 40 offer more storage flexibility at comparable prices, and that missing microSD slot will be a dealbreaker for some.
