A while back, we got word that Samsung added a new wallet-friendly device to its smartphone lineup, in the form of the new Galaxy A17. While the A17 won’t exactly “wow” hardcore Android fans with its specs sheet, the main point of its existence is its affordable price tag, which undercuts a lot of other Android phones while keeping all the basics intact. It’s now available in the UK as well, which should be ideal for people after a new budget smartphone from Samsung.
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That being said, the Galaxy A17 is available for £199 in the UK when bought sim-free, making it one of the most affordable devices on the market. It’s only available in a single RAM and storage configuration at 4GB and 128GB, and is powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 1330 chipset. If you’re curious about whether or not you should get one though, then you might want to check out what else it offers.
When it comes to design, the Galaxy A17 pretty much retains a lot of the same visual elements seen on other Samsung budget smartphones. There’s a large chin and water drop notch, both of which look rather outdated at this point. As for its display, the phone features a Super AMOLED screen measuring at 6.7-inches, with a 2340 x 1080 pixel resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. It’s a decent setup and should be more than enough for content consumption, especially for Netflix binges and such. There’s also Gorilla Glass Victus protection for the display, something not usually found on budget-friendly Android handsets.
For software, Samsung has provided One UI 7 on top of Android 15, with a promise of up to six years of security updates and six major Android version upgrades. Samsung’s been getting better at long-term support for its smartphones, and gone are the days of poor support with TouchWiz. It does come pre-loaded with Android 15, and while it’s not the newest Android version around it’s not too bad considering that there are niche devices out there still shipping with Android 14.
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There’s a pretty “standard” camera system on the phone’s rear panel which consists of a 50MP main camera, a 5MP ultrawide camera and a 2MP macro lens, with a 13MP selfie camera rounding up the setup. The phone is powered by a 5,000 mAh battery which supports 25W charging speeds, although it doesn’t look like Samsung is using silicon-carbon technology for this one. Given its affordable price, large battery and decent-looking display, the Galaxy A17 might end up being a popular option for a lot of buyers who are looking to get the basics for not much cash.
