I don’t buy phones for my parents, but I am the person they ask for advice when they need new ones. For years, I’ve recommended Moto G phones. With the announcement of the Galaxy A16 5G coming to the US, Samsung has given me a reason to change my advice.
Budget Phones Are All My Parents Need
I hear you. The Galaxy A series isn’t the one that grabs the most headlines. Millions of people have them, but this isn’t the line of phones they dream over. Galaxy A owners are either not the kind of people that care about phones, period, or the Galaxy A device is just a placeholder until they have the funds to get the phone they actually want.
My parents are in the first group. They have phones because they need to have them, not because they want to. My mom only gave up her flip phone a few years ago. My dad forgets his phone at home quite frequently.
I generally recommend that they get a Moto G. The phones are within their budget, they hold up decently enough, and (until recently) they didn’t come with much bloat. My parents have been happy with them. There are plenty of reasons for people, in general, to gloss over flagship phones in favor of budget ones.
The Downside of Most Budget Phones
There’s a downside to most budget phones. In an effort to keep costs low, developers don’t provide them with years of software support. Most are fortunate if they get a single update to the next major version of Android. Often enough, the version of Android you have when you buy the phone is the only one you will get.
Again, my parents aren’t the kind of people who will notice or care. But that doesn’t mean tech enthusiasts should skip budget phones, and everyone else will be just peachy. Unsupported phones eventually end up with widely known, unpatched software vulnerabilities. They’re the models easiest for nefarious types to take advantage of. Plus, it’s hard to be selective about your phone updates when there aren’t any to begin with.
Google has attempted to resolve the issue by moving more components out of Android and into Google Play Services. Budget phones get updates to Google Play software, but there remain vital parts of the phone that go unsupported and unchanged.
How Samsung’s New Budget Phone Is Different
With the Galaxy A16 5G, Samsung is solving this problem, and it’s solving it in a big way. The Galaxy A16 will not get just one or two years of software updates. It will get six. Six!
Just a few years ago, it was normal for $1000 Android phones to go unsupported after a couple of years. That’s still your lot in life if you opt to buy a gaming phone. Seven years of software support is a big reason to choose a Pixel or premium Samsung Galaxy phone over other Android devices, like the very compelling phones from OnePlus. OnePlus phones don’t yet have the same staying power.
In 2024, it was impressive to see Google commit to seven years of support for the mid-range Pixel 8a. Credit goes where credit’s due, but that phone still starts at $500. At $200, the Galaxy A16 5G launches at less than half the starting price. The Pixel 8a is more comparable to the $400 Galaxy A35, which hit the US in 2024 with five years of promised updates.
I love high-end phones as much as the next person. As a Galaxy Z Fold 6 owner, I carry around one of the most expensive phones you can buy (granted, I bought mine used for around the price of a 256GB base iPhone). Yet these are the kinds of changes I’m most excited to see. A short life cycle has long been an area where Android phones suffer, and this is not only changing for the high end of the market but at the more affordable end as well.