It is finally time to check out the new Samsung Galaxy A72! This device is of course the successor to last year’s A71 which you guys might remember was one of my favorite phones of the year, so naturally Im super excited to finally its successor – and Im sure you guys are interested as well. We’ve got a fresh design, some great new features and add-ons – there’s a lot to talk about here so I won’t waste anymore time, let’s just go ahead and unbox this thing and see what the new A72 is all about.
Samsung Galaxy A72 on Samsung’s website: https://techdaily.deals/A72
Samsung Galaxy A72 on Amazon: https://geni.us/b2uGJRr
So right off the bat I do want to just mention that this A72 I have here is the international version of the device, its the dual SIM, 4G LTE model, there’s actually no A72 5G even out right now, that may or may not change in the future but at the time of filming this at least, there’s essentially just this one new A72 out right now.
Sliding off the lid of the box here, the first thing we get is the phone itself – obviously, I got mine in this blue color, its also available in black, white and purple, and all those are colors we have seen on previous new 2021 A series phones already. Digging a little deeper inside the box we do get a couple accessories included. Theres the standard USB C charging cable, and a 25w USB C wall plug. Inside the lid of the box there’s one more small little packet of stuff worth going through. On the outside is where your little SIM ejector tool is fashioned, and Inside here you’ll find the usual stack of paperwork, instructions and information, along with a clear rubber case to protect your new phone. Its nice to see Samsung still including this here with the A72, and I’ll show you what it looks like on the phone in just a second.
So with all that stuff out of the way, here is the new A72 once again. And if you saw my unboxing of the new A52, or even the new A32 from a couple of weeks ago, I think you’ll notice that this phone has an almost identical design with those devices, but similar look aside, there are quite a few things that make this A72 – the current highest end A series phone – stand out from the rest.
First off, the A72 is once again the largest A series phone in the lineup. Its a 6.7 inch device – that’s the screen size – and that’s exactly the same size as we had last year. If your’e curious, here’s actually what the A72 looks like stacked up against the slightly smaller A52 – the difference I think is super subtle, but the 6.5 inch A52 is just a little smaller.
Up front, not a whole lot has changed – you still have the same camera hole punch across the top which has shrunk in size just a little bit. There’s fairly slim bezels along the sides with a slightly larger chin across the bottom. Now with that being said, the screen to body ratio on this new phone did decrease ever so slightly – the black borders are a little thicker this year, the frame and housing of the phone also stick out a bit more too. Fortunately, I don’t think it is that noticeable. The device itself as a whole is also thicker, heavier and more substantial in the hand – it feels really solid, the boxy sides are what I like, there’s no curve or taper anymore, its a beefier device but like I said, I do think I like that. The polished metal frame of course also gives the phone a more premium vibe and around back, we see that familiar matte plastic rear housing that seems to come on most Samsung phones nowadays. Its comparable to the S21 though it lacks that sort of metallic-like finish, its a little duller in comparison, but its fine, its exactly what we’ve come to know now and compared to the glossy rainbow finish of last year, I kind of like this more simple matte look.
A couple other physical things I do just want to quickly mention – this new A72 is now IP67 water and dust resistant, so it should be able to handle an accidental splash and this is not something we’ve had on any A series device before. Also, the phone does ship with a screen protector already installed – mine was a little off center, you might be able to tell the selfie camera isnt line up right but besides that, like I mentioned in my A52 video, it looks and feels like this screen protector is a little higher quality than what was shipped on last year’s A series, so that’s nice to see. And if you’re curious about that included case, well here it is once again. Just a super simple, crystal clear, very flexible rubbery plastic case – again, something we’ve seen before but a nice little addition nonetheless, its slim, it protects every corner and edge of the device, and its just great to throw on there just in case.
Taking a closer look at everything else, on the left side there’s nothing at all, on the right is where you’ll find the usual power and volume buttons, up top is the Sim and SD card tray, this version of the device has the Dual SIM or Sim and SD card combo setup. Down below, the headphone jack has stuck around, there’s the USB C port in the middle and the downward facing speaker there off to the right. And in addition to this speaker, the ear piece is also a speaker now too for a dual stereo sound experience – something I asked for last year, and Im really happy to see it added to this phone this year – the out loud listing experience on this A72 is just so good now, here’s a quick sample so you can get an idea.
Around back obviously we’ve got quite the camera setup to talk about and I’ll go over that in just a second. As far as unlocking the device, we do get that in display fingerprint sensor again this year. And my initial impressions on this are that it feels pretty good, not quite as fast as the S21, you still have to keep your finger on it for a split second, but it seems totally fine thus far and Im glad to see it still offered. Face unlock is also an option of course, that too feels pretty quick at least out of the box, so either way you go you should be getting into this phone pretty easily.
Now one of the biggest new features added not only this new A72 but also to the new A52 as well is a high refresh rate display. We have the option to enable a 90hz mode for a fast, fluid and just phenomenal user experience on this device, and considering 90hz and even 120hz displays are seemingly becoming the norm now – even on more affordable devices – I’m really glad to have this here on the A72. I do think most everyday users are going to notice a difference between 60hz and 90hz – or high motion smoothness as Samsung calls it in settings – and I also think this is the kind of feature that allows this phone now only to continue to be competitive in the midrange space, but also likely be one of the top options out there In its price range.
The display on its own is also really solid. We once again have a Super AMOLED panel coming in at a resolution of 2400 by 1080 packing in around 394 pixels per inch. It’s bold, it’s bright, it looks good from every angle, and this I think is what Samsung does best on not only their flagship devices but also and especially on their A series phones. The display on the A72 also seems to be even brighter and more colorful than last year as well – with 800 nits of brightness, outdoor viewing shouldn’t be an issue, and again compared with the high refresh rate mode, you get a viewing experience that I believe is still one of the best for the money. It’s a big display that shows your content well, its bright, it’s colorful and I think it really is the perfect sort of setup for this phone.
Now inside, this is where the new A72 gets a little weird with the specs. Powering this phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset – a solid upper midrange 700 series processor, but maybe not quite as powerful as some people had expected. But more on that in a second. You also get either 6 or 8 gigs of RAM, 128 or 256 GB of storage, and the latest Android and Samsung One UI updates out of the box which is great to see. In general, obviously this phone feels fast and responsive and for a vast majority of people, its going to be the kind of device that can handle anything you want – from casual social media use all the way up to intense gaming and multitasking. Its not the flagship caliber powerhouse but for half the price or less, it can still keep up just as well. Objectively, its a fine, fast phone, but comparatively, I do think some spec-conscious folks were expecting a little more here – perhaps the 750 or 765 instead since we did technically see the 765 in an A71 last year. And actually, the A52 5G gets the 750G processor as well, so that sort of leads to an interesting decision or comparison to make.Still, even with that minor critique and somewhat confusing lineup, I think this A72 is plenty powerful and remains a solid, bang for your buck kind of device. For those of you not willing to spend flagship prices, this is absolutely the device to consider instead because the money you save really outweighs any performance sacrifices you’d feel – and I don’t think this phone sacrifices much anyway, at all.
Also, this bigger, thicker devices packs an even larger battery inside as well. We now have a 5000ma capacity inside, truly a bigger than average setup, and that gets me really excited about how long this phone could last. Of course, running the 90hz mode will dig into that extra battery capacity a bit – and Samsung is transparent with that in settings – but still, a bigger battery is also better, and if you maybe don’t care about the 90hz display mode at all, that means you really have a powerhouse of a device now – and I suspect this A72 will be close to a 2 day device under normal use – perhaps even better than that.
So last but not least, lets talk about all those cameras around back. Now interestingly enough, while the setup looks to be the same as from the A52, there’s actually a but more here to go over. The 64mp main lens and 12mp ultra wide both appear to be the same, but we now have an 8mp telephoto lens for zoom and portrait capabilities, along with a 5mp macro lens. Up front, selfie camera also appears to be the same, its a 32mp shooter, and inside the camera app, its actually a very familiar sort of set of features and shooting modes. We once again get that fun filters mode front and center for whatever reason, but beyond that you can see up to 30x zoom with the telephoto lens which is great, definitely a solid add-on, all the rest of the usual Samsung shooting modes are there including pro picture and video controls, super slow mo, night mode you can of course shoot in the 64mp mode, capture video in 4k with both the rear lens and selfie camera, there’s enhanced video stabilization and HDR – all in all, its a solid camera setup from start to finish and Im super excited to put it to the test over the next few days to see how capable it really is. It may still be a little behind the crazy flagship setups, but there’s definitely a ton of potential here and it could very well be one of the best and most capable and robust camera setups in its price range this year/
All in all, I really do think that this new A72 is a solid upgrade over last year’s A71. Aside from maybe a slight bump down in processor, everything else on this phone has either been changed, improved, or left alone if it wasn’t an issue – and that’s great to see. Im curious if Samsung has a 5G version of this phone coming at all, or maybe a rumored A80 successor or perhaps something different entirely but for now, I’m really excited to have this regular A72 and I’m looking forward to see what all it can do.
