Samsung Galaxy A27 launches at $349.99 with several spec downgrades

Samsung has raised the price of its Galaxy A-series line again, and the new Galaxy A27 comes in at $349.99 in the United States, a full $50 above last year’s Galaxy A26. That makes the A27 a tougher buy on value alone, especially because Samsung has trimmed key specs rather than adding clear upgrades.

The biggest cuts land in the camera system and durability. The A27 uses a 12-megapixel selfie camera and a 5-megapixel ultrawide camera, while Samsung’s U.S. A-series page lists the A26 with a 13-megapixel selfie camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The A27 also drops to IP64 dust and water resistance, down from the A26’s IP67 rating, which means buyers lose a higher level of protection against dust and water exposure even as the price rises.

What Samsung appears to be keeping is the familiar entry-level A-series formula. GSMArena’s surfaced specs for the A27 list a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,000 mAh battery and 25W wired charging. The same surfaced listing points to a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset, Android 16, storage options of 128GB or 256GB, 8GB of RAM on the higher trim, and Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both the front and back. Those details suggest Samsung is preserving the basics that make the line feel current, while making trade-offs in areas buyers notice quickly in daily use.

The pricing gap is easier to read against Samsung’s own U.S. lineup. The company currently lists the Galaxy A26 at $299.99 before trade-in, which puts the A27’s $349.99 asking price clearly above the older model even before any promotional discounts. Samsung introduced the A26 on March 2, 2025 as part of its “AI for everyone” push for the A-series, and later placed it below the Galaxy A37 5G and Galaxy A57 5G in its 2026 A-series lineup. That leaves the A26 as the cheaper route into the series while the A27 asks more money for less camera reach and weaker protection, a sign that the budget tier is looking less like a bargain and more like an entry point that keeps creeping upward.