Samsung did a refresh of its A series with three new models – The Samsung Galaxy A3, A5, and A7. The Galaxy A5 2017 is placed in the middle of the pack, offering large 1080p screen, metal chassis, nice camera, and solid hardware. Let’s see how it compares to the Galaxy C9 Pro, the most powerful handset of the Samsung’s C series.
The new A series models look all the same, with softer edges, thin bezels, and a general design quite similar to the Galaxy S7. The phone looks nice, but we miss the design seen on the previous A series generation. This year’s models look almost the same as the last year’s flagship device.
On the other side, we have the Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro, a phone defined by its huge, 6-inch screen. The phone looks better, at least to us than the Galaxy A5 2017. Less rounded edges, even tighter bezels with the usual key placement make the Galaxy C9 Pro one very attractive device.
The Galaxy C9 Pro is huge thanks to its behemoth display. Measuring at 162.9 x 80.7 x 6.9 mm, the phone is next to impossible to use with one hand, but it is a perfect choice for users wanting to have a phone that can replace a tablet. The Galaxy A5 2017 sports usual dimensions – 146.1 x 71.4 x 7.9 mm – for a 5.2-inch screen device.
Hardware
Both devices sport nice hardware. The Galaxy C9 Pro is powered by Snapdragon 653 (4×1.95 GHz Cortex-A72 & 4×1.4 GHz Cortex-A53, Adreno 510) a powerful chipset that can offer excellent performance even on Quad HD resolution. The phone packs whopping 6 gigabytes of RAM and just 16GB of expandable (dedicated microSD card slot) storage. The phone can go up to 83,000 point mark in Antutu, an excellent score.
The Samsung Galaxy A5 sports Exynos 7880 chipset (Octa-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A53, Mali-T830MP3 GPU) and while the processor is enough for a 108p resolution, it isn’t as powerful as the Snapdragon 653. The phone packs 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of expandable (dedicated slot) storage. The phone can score around 60,000 points in Antutu.
Display
The Galaxy C9 Pro features a humongous 6-inch, 1080p AMOLED screen, with a solid sharpness (367 ppi density). You won’t have the sharpest screen around but 1080p is just right for the size. The Galaxy A5 packs a 5.2-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen, a bit smaller but still large enough to make browsing and watching videos enjoyable. AMOLED screens are known for their rich colors and humble power requirements.
Camera
Both phones come with the same 16MP (f/1.9) main camera sensor, with the selfie cameras being the same as the main ones (16MP, f/1.9). The main camera on the Galaxy A5 2017 supports autofocus, LED flash, touch focus, and HDR, while the main snapper on the Galaxy C9 Pro comes with phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, touch focus, and HDR. Dual LED flash will make low light photos sharper.
As for the video recording, both devices support 1080p@30fps video recording.
Additional Features
Both models support fast battery charging and come with fingerprint sensors. The Galaxy C9 Pro, expectedly, comes with a large, 4,000 mAh battery. The Galaxy A5 2017 features a 3000 mAh battery. Both have the USB Type-C connectors.
Both devices run Android 6.0 Marshmallow. We sure hope for Samsung to offer Android Nougat update for the Galaxy A5 2017 in the future since you just can’t release the phone as expensive as the A5 in 2017 and equip it with Android Marshmallow instead of Nougat.
Pricing, Conclusion
The Galaxy C9 Pro (64GB) can be found for around Rs 37,000 ($550), while the expected price for the Galaxy A5 (2017) is Rs 30,000 ($450). The $100 price difference won’t matter to users looking for a powerful 6-inch device.
But for those wanting a solid, big-brand, smartphone and don’t want to carry around a 6-inch behemoth, the Galaxy A5 (2017) could be a solid choice. It packs less powerful but still good enough (for 1080p resolution) CPU, it has a large screen, and nice (although seen before) design.
If you’re not looking for a beastly 6-inch device, or not suffering from the need to own a Samsung-branded device, there are many much better choices out there, offering more for less money.