Samsung A72 Review: A Solid Premium Mid-Range Smartphone

Samsung boasts a number of top-notch smartphones scattered throughout various series. Among them, Samsung A72 is the best they have to offer from their premium mid-range A-series.

It was launched in Nepal back on March 22 and it starts at Rs. 51,999 (8/128GB). With this phone, Samsung is trying to provide a premium smartphone experience at an affordable price tag. Is it good enough? Let’s take a brief look!

Samsung A72 Review

Impressive Design

• 165 x 77.4 x 8.4 mm
• 203 g
• IP67 Rated for dust/water resistance
• Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

Samsung A72 borrows the design language of the new S21 series with slight modifications. It has a rectangular camera module on the rear but it doesn’t blend across the frame.

The new design of the A72 looks polished even though it uses a polycarbonate body. The matte texture on the rear makes it premium and is a much welcome change compared to Samsung A71’s glastic finish. On top of that, Samsung A72 is now IP67 rated for dust/water resistance. That’s one of the premium features that it borrows from Samsung’s flagship phones.

Samsung A72 has a dual stereo speaker setup that offers good loudness and impressive clarity. Speaking of audio, we do get a 3.5mm headphone jack right beside the Type-C port for charging.

Likewise, it has an improved in-display fingerprint scanner but it is still not perfect. It would have been better if the sensor was positioned a bit higher.

In regards to the overall build and design, Samsung A72 is a stylish phone with sleek and light body.

Impressive 90Hz Super AMOLED Display

• 6.7 inches Super AMOLED
• 1080 x 2400 pixels
• 90Hz refresh rate
• 800 nits peak brightness

The Samsung Galaxy A72 has a 6.7 inches Super AMOLED 90Hz panel. It is an FHD+ display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels that boasts a peak brightness of 800 nits.

Samsung provides top notch AMOLED display on it’s premium mid-range phones but the addition of high refresh rate makes it more awesome.

Many might question if the 90Hz refresh rate is viably noticeable? Yes, the extra smoothness while scrolling through UI is definitely an upgrade over normal 60Hz.

A72 comes with two refresh rate options: Standard and High. Samsung has not provided an adaptive refresh rate option here. In the High refresh rate mode, most apps run on 90Hz including most Google apps and other popular apps like Facebook, Netflix, Instagram, and Spotify.

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However, I did notice that the scrolling is not smooth when reading some articles on Facebook. But, this is more of an optimization problem of Facebook itself. Also, the display drops down to 60Hz in the camera app and some games.

Quad Cameras

• Rear Camera: 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.7X”, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS
  • 8 MP, f/2.4, (telephoto), 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
  • 12 MP, f/2.2, 123˚ (ultrawide), 1.12µm
  • 5 MP, f/2.4, (macro)
  • Video: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/120fps; gyro-EIS
• Front Camera: 32 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.8µm
  • Video: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps

Samsung Galaxy A72 is using a 64MP main sensor but the company has not disclosed the name of the sensor. It’s a large 1/1.7″ sensor with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS).

Along with this, it has a 12MP Ultrawide angle sensor, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a 5MP macro camera. Whereas, you get a single 32MP selfie camera on the front.

DAYLIGHT PHOTOS

Pictures from the main sensor are exceptionally good in daylight situations. The exposure is well balanced and the dynamic range looks really good.

As for the color reproduction, it is not as saturated as we expect from a Samsung phone. There’s still some hint of saturation though.

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Talking about the 64MP mode, you do not get HDR in this mode and the contrast looks slightly weak on 64MP photos.

LOW LIGHT PHOTOS

Samsung A72 can take some good pictures in low-light conditions. The 64MP sensor is definitely above average in low light mode.

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The dynamic range is wide and the color is well preserved in the night photos. However, the included Night Mode doesn’t provide a vast improvement over the normal mode. The shadows are lifted and the image is a tad bit brighter but the improvement is not as big as I expected.

ZOOM PHOTOS

Moving on, the 8MP telephoto lens offers 3x optical zoom which is very rare at this price tag. The results speak for themselves as the 3x zoom photos maintain a good level of detail with acceptable sharpness.

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The color profile on the 3X photos is slightly different with a colder look. You can go beyond 3X zoom as well and I would say that the zoom level up to 10X is definitely usable.

ULTRAWIDE PHOTOS

On to the ultra-wide-angle sensor, the 12MP sensor pumps out pretty good results. While the images have a slightly neutral color profile compared to the main sensor, the images have a good amount of detail. The dynamic range is also quite good.

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PORTRAIT AND MACRO PHOTOS

Now, what I like about mid-range Samsung phones is that they have a 5MP macro sensor when other manufacturers stick with a 2MP macro sensor.

Macro photography is cool but the images do not look appealing if it doesn’t have a good amount of details. So far, I like the macro sensor on the A72. The extra pixel certainly helps it to achieve more detail.

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On to the portrait mode, A72 captures really good photos with a bokeh effect. The subject separation and background blur effect are more than good enough. However, the face of the subject might look a bit softer in some photos.

SELFIE

Now, let’s talk about its selfie camera. It has a 32MP snapper on the front. And, it’s actually impressive. I like the details on the selfies. But the images do have a warmer tone to them.

It can also take good portrait selfies with not-so-perfect edge detection and decent background blur.

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Videos

The A72 can capture up to 4K 30fps from all of its cameras except the macro sensor. The 4K footages have excellent detail with an impressive dynamic range. You won’t notice noise and colors look natural as well.

As for stabilization, it works on all the cameras at 1080p resolution. Well, you have to sacrifice sharpness in 1080p footages but the stabilization helps smoothen the jitters and occasional camera shakes.

Improved Performance

• Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G (8 nm)
• 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM

Samsung Galaxy A72 gets a Snapdragon 720G chipset from Qualcomm. It is a good chipset but I was hoping for a better chipset at this price tag.

A72 is a no slouch when it comes to performance. It can easily handle general tasks such as web browsing and app browsing. It can run heavy games as well with good frame rates but it is not the most powerful silicon at this price. They could have gone with the Snapdragon 750G chipset that is used on the Samsung A52 5G.

So far, the performance has been good. It sails through all the things you throw at it.

Snapdragon 720G is a decent chipset and it manages to run the One UI 3.1 perfectly smooth at 90Hz. Along with that, it helps achieve 4k recording on both the main and ultrawide cameras along with good stabilization. However, A72 should have had a more powerful chipset at this price tag.

2 Days Battery Life with Fast Charging

• Non-removable Li-Po 5000mAh Battery
• Fast charging 25W

Samsung Galaxy A72 has a decent 5000mAh battery. It doesn’t feel fantastic when compared to the likes of the 7000mAh battery found on the M51.

On a 90Hz refresh rate, A72 was perfectly able to provide more than a day of usage with an average of 7-8 hours of screen on time. It also uses 25W Fast Charging that can charge the phone from 0 to 100 in about 1 and half hours.

Android 11 with OneUI 3.1

• Android 11
• One UI 3.1

On the software side of things, it has Android 11 along with OneUI 3.1. OneUI is definitely one of the best UI’s out there right now. After the One UI update, Samsung’s phone just feels much better.

A72 also gets some premium camera features like single-take and a new “fun” feature. So far, I haven’t had an issue with the software. Moreover, all the new Samsung phones now support Google News on the home screen.

Should You Buy Samsung A72?

Samsung Galaxy A72 is hard to ignore. It brings close to flagship features at an affordable price.

The 90Hz Super AMOLED display, quad-camera setup with surprisingly good 3X optical zoom sensor, and 5000mAh battery along with 25W Fast charging is really great. However, you can go for the A52 if you can live with a slightly smaller battery, display, and a 15W charger.

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Nonetheless, I would have loved to see a 120Hz screen and a more powerful chipset on the A72.

Hope you like our Samsung Galaxy A72 review. If you have any queries regarding the device, let us know in the comments below!

Also, watch our review of the Samsung Galaxy A12 in Nepali.