Samsung said Monday that the Galaxy A71 5G will launch in the U.S. on Friday. It will be the cheapest 5G phone in the U.S., priced at $599.99 before carrier subsidies, undercutting the OnePlus 8 sold by T-Mobile by $100.
Samsung’s A-series phones are more affordable than its higher-end Galaxy S-series phones, like the Galaxy S20 family that was released earlier this year. While those phones also have 5G, the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra also support faster mmWave 5G wave networks offered by U.S. carriers. Those networks aren’t supported by the version of the A71 5G launching on Friday. Most people don’t need a phone with mmWave 5G right now, though, since it’s only available in limited parts of select cities.
The A-series phones are made out of plastic instead of metal and glass like the S-series devices. They also use midrange Qualcomm processors instead of the high-end chips in the S20-series phones. The Galaxy A71 5G has a big 6.7-inch screen, support for charging quickly and plenty of storage. It also has multiple camera lenses so you can take close-up shots and wide-angle pictures that include more of the scenery in a shot.
The Galaxy A71 5G will be available through T-Mobile and Sprint on Friday. AT&T and Verizon will also sell a version of it later this summer, Samsung said.