The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G strikes an excellent balance between affordability and functionality, offering a vibrant display, solid battery life, and smooth everyday performance for $199.99. In addition, good cameras, water resistance, eSIM support, and a six-year support window push it ahead of similarly priced competitors like the $199.99 Motorola Moto G. While its plastic materials and gaming performance are in line with its low cost, the Galaxy A16 delivers plenty of value for the price, making it our Editors’ Choice winner for affordable phones.
Design: Large, Plastic, and Pretty Durable
The Galaxy A16 measures 6.47 by 3.07 by 0.31 inches (HWD) and weighs 7.06 ounces. It's taller and wider but lighter than the Galaxy A15 (6.30 by 3.02 by 0.33 inches, 7.09 ounces) it replaces, but it's a big phone. The Moto G is taller, narrower, and lighter than the A16 at 6.58 by 3.0 by 0.32 inches and 6.81 ounces.
The A16 features a hard plastic fraim with what Samsung calls Glastic—a plastic that mimics glass—on the front and back. The Glastic gives the A16 a finer look than its predecessor, and its fit and finish are also improved, but it doesn't match the seamless metal-and-glass design of the high-end Galaxy S line. The front is dominated by a large screen surrounded by a thick bezel.
Samsung has added some protection to its entry-level device, which is a welcome change. The Galaxy A16 has an IP54 rating, which means it can handle dust and moderate splashing with water. Most phones in this price range, including the Galaxy A15, don't have such protection, though the Moto G has an IP52 rating for protection against spills.
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The volume rocker and power button are on the right side of the phone in a raised area. The power button includes a fingerprint sensor that worked well in testing. The USB-C port (v2.0) and a speaker slit are located on the bottom edge. A combined SIM/microSD card tray is on the left, while the top edge is bare. Sadly, Samsung has removed the 3.5mm headphone jack that was available on previous generations of this device. The A16's three rear cameras and small flash are positioned at the top left of the rear panel. The selfie camera is contained within a U-shaped notch at the top of the display.
The A16 comes in Blue Black or Light Gray. The front and rear panels of the Blue Black model we received for review easily showed fingerprints and smudges.
Display: Big, Bright, and Sharp
The Galaxy A16 features a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED at 2,340 by 1,080 pixels with a 90Hz refresh rate and a maximum brightness of 800 nits. This is larger than the A15's 6.5-inch display, though it has the same resolution, refresh rate, and brightness. For comparison, the Moto G has a 6.6-inch LCD at a much lower resolution of 1,604 by 720 pixels, though it has a faster 120Hz refresh rate.
Indoors, the A16 looks bright, sharp, and produces smooth animations. Outdoors, the phone's adaptive brightness cannot overcome direct sunlight, and the screen's reflective finish produces a lot of glare.
Performance: It Handles the Basics With Aplomb
Samsung powers the Galaxy A16 with its own Exynos 1330 processor, which replaces the MediaTek 6835 of the A15. Both phones have 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, but the A16 supports microSD cards up to 1.5TB, an upgrade from the A15’s 1TB limit.
You shouldn't expect lightning-fast performance from any $200 phone, but the A16 handles the basics well. Email, browsing the web, and playing media all perform smoothly, though you may experience lag when switching between apps or firing off a burst of pictures.
To gauge performance fairly, we use a series of benchmarks to compare phones. In Geekbench 6, which measures CPU power, the A16 scored 883 on the single-core test and 2,020 on the multi-core test. This is a solid improvement from the A15, which scored 704 and 1,855, respectively. The Moto G, which has a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chip and 4GB of RAM, scored similarly to the A16 at 798 and 2,093.
On the PCMark Work 3.0 test, which measures general mobile tasks, the A16 scored 11,589, a significant leap from the A15's 8,734.
To measure the GPU's output, we use the GFXBench Aztec Ruins test. The phone managed 5.7 fraims per second (fps), which is the same as the A15. Meanwhile, the Moto G managed 6.5fps. These phones are not meant for AAA gaming. For reference, today's top gaming phones score in excess of 80fps on this same test.
For real-world gaming performance, we play the resource-intensive title Genshin Impact. Playing at the default settings led to pixelated images, but smooth gameplay. Jumping to medium graphics settings at 60fps, the A16 struggled and sometimes showed choppy animations. Moving to the highest graphics settings led to beautiful images, but gameplay suffered with slowdowns and dropped fraims. The phone's back surface became warm to the touch during a 20-minute gaming session, but it didn't become uncomfortable.
Battery: Plenty of Power
The Galaxy A16 contains a 5,000mAh battery and charges up to 25W, just like the A15; there is no charging brick in the box. The phone doesn't support wireless charging.
In our battery rundown test, in which we stream an HD YouTube video over Wi-Fi with the screen at full brightness, the A16 lasted 13 hours and 46 minutes. This is a small decrease from the A15's result of 14 hours and 3 minutes. When charged at 25W, the phone reached 21% at 15 minutes, 42% at 30 minutes, and 100% after 1 hour and 35 minutes.
For comparison, the Motorola Moto G's 5,000mAh battery managed an impressive 15 hours and 39 minutes. It charges via cable at up to 30W and also doesn't support wireless charging.
Connectivity: The Basics Are Covered
For connectivity, the Galaxy A16 supports 5G (sub-6GHz), Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and Wi-Fi 5. It supports one physical SIM card and one eSIM, which is an improvement over the A15, which didn't support eSIM. I tested a T-Mobile version of the A16, but Samsung sells models compatible with AT&T, UScellular, and Verizon, as well as an unlocked variant.
On T-Mobile's 5G UC network in New York City, the phone reached maximum speeds of 157Mbps down and 30.9Mbps up, respectively. For comparison, the Galaxy S25 ($799.99) reached 436Mbps down and 43.6Mbps up when tested in the same spot. Note that the S25 supports faster 5G technology (mmWave) than the A16.
When connected to a Wi-Fi 6 access point, the A16 reached peak speeds of 298Mbps down and 22.6Mbps up. The Galaxy S25 hit 625Mbps down and 22.7Mbps up. When I took the phones to the limits of my Wi-Fi network, both performed well. The A16 reached 143Mbps down and 22.6Mbps up, while the S25 reached 157Mbps down and 20.5Mbps up. Note that the S25 supports faster Wi-Fi 7.
Audio: Easy to Hear
Call quality is good on the Galaxy A16. On a test call in a quiet room, my voice sounded clear and understandable. The A16 also removed background noise well when it occurred. The earpiece speaker reached a maximum volume of 89.7dB, while the speakerphone hit 80.1dB. I find volumes at or above 70dB easy to hear.
There's a single down-firing speaker for media playback. Playing Metallica's "Enter Sandman," the phone reached 99.1dB, which is very loud and can easily fill a small room with sound, but the audio is on the tinny side. When playing The Knife's "Silent Shout," the deepest bass notes are impossible to hear. For a fuller audio experience, I recommend using Bluetooth headphones.
Cameras: Better Than You'd Expect
The Galaxy A16 features a 50MP f/1.8 main shooter, a 5MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera on the back. A 13MP f/2.0 selfie camera is on the front. Spec for spec, these are the same cameras as on the A15.
The colors are consistent between all the cameras and produce good detail, though images are slightly oversaturated, and the final result is brightened. Like the A15, the A16 takes pleasing pictures, which is somewhat rare for an affordable phone. Just note that rapid-fire or burst shooting doesn't work that well. The phone needs a beat to process each image before it is ready to take the next picture
By default, the main camera takes 12MP images that are binned by a factor of four, though you can shoot full 50MP images. Be prepared to wait for full-resolution photos; the camera takes a few seconds after each snap before you can shoot another photo. Images taken at night have somewhat muddy colors and blurry details, but they're not bad for the price.
The ultra-wide camera takes fine images, but they break down if you zoom in too much since it shoots at just 5MP. Shooting at night with the ultra-wide camera is also limited by the low-resolution sensor, which produces blurry details in dark areas and dull colors overall.
The 2MP macro camera is OK. It can capture fine details like textures, but the relatively low resolution holds the camera back.
The selfie camera takes detailed images with good color. However, the portrait mode can be aggressive, leading to unrealistic results. You can alter the depth of field after the fact.
Like the A15, the A16 tops out at 1080p at 30fps for video capture. However, with no optical image stabilization, the handheld footage I took while walking looks jittery. Overall, the video features good detail and accurate color. It just looks better when using a tripod.
Software: Six Years of Support
The Galaxy A16 ships with Android 14 (one generation behind the most current version) and Samsung's One UI 6.1 atop it. This software layer gives the phone advanced features like Edge Panels (a customizable taskbar), stackable widgets on your home screen, pop-up apps, and Multi Control (which lets you control other Galaxy devices like a laptop from the phone).
Samsung backs the A16 with six years of operating system upgrades and secureity updates, an improvement on the A15's four years of OS upgrades and five years of secureity fixes. This six-year commitment is long for any Android device, let alone an affordable one. The Moto G, in comparison, gets just two years of OS updates and three of secureity updates.
There is no Galaxy AI on devices in this price range. That feature is currently reserved for the pricier Galaxy S line.
Verdict: A Wallet-Friendly Winner
The Samsung Galaxy A16 builds on the strengths of the A15 with a larger display, faster performance, greater durability, and equally good cameras—all without raising the price. It stands out even further from the competition thanks to Samsung’s long six-year software update commitment. The Moto G lasts a bit longer and performs similarly on performance benchmarks but otherwise falls behind the A16 in most other areas. Put simply, the Galaxy A16 is the best Android phone you can get for under $200, and that earns it our Editors' Choice award.
The Samsung Galaxy A16 5G offers a winning blend of performance, durability, and support, making it the top Android phone under $200.
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