Samsung Galaxy M35 review: Best midrange Samsung phone!

Hello everyone, Samsung has just launched the Galaxy M35 in Nepal. And if you have been looking to buy a midrange Samsung phone in 2024, I think the Galaxy M35 might be the best phone for you. The M35 here is basically the cheaper Galaxy A35 which features the same chipset, display and camera specs.

Samsung Galaxy M35 5G Specifications

• Display: 6.6” FHD+ 120Hz OLED, 1,000 nits
• Dimension: 162.3 x 78.6 x 9.1 mm
• Weight: 222g
• Chipset: Exynos 1380
• UI/OS: Android 14, One UI 6.1
• Rear Camera: 50MP (OIS) + 8MP (ultra-wide) + 2MP (macro)
• Front Camera: 13MP
• RAM/Storage: 8GB RAM, 256GB storage
• Battery and Charging: 6,000mAh, 25W charging
• Color: Dark Blue, Light Blue, Gray
• Buy Galaxy M35

Samsung Galaxy M35 Review

Design

• Dimension: 162.3 x 78.6 x 9.1 mm
• Weight: 222g

Now the first thing you will see compromise on the Galaxy M35 to meet the price point is its design. You get a pretty basic stuff with all plastic build. The colour options are also less attractive than the Galaxy A35. It’s also quite chunky weighing more than 220gms but that’s understandable since it has a big 6000mAh battery.   Upfront, the bezels are also quite thick. So, the M35 overall isn’t a good-looking phone for sure, you also don't get any form of IP rating as well. But it's not a big compromise for a budget phone.  I however liked the fact that you get Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection on a budget phone and during my one week of testing, I haven’t received any big scratches, so that's nice. 

Display

• Display: 6.6” FHD+ 120Hz OLED, 1,000 nits

Another thing that's nice is you get a superb AMOLED display here. It has good colour calibration out of the box, and the touch response is great. It can get fairly bright for outdoor visibility and can be super dim during nighttime.  Coupled that with decent stereo speakers, this is a good phone to marathon-watch movies. Although, there is no HDR playback support on OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime here. Otherwise, for the price, this is a good A+ display.  I also liked the vibration motor here. It's actually better than what you get on more expensive Samsung phones like Galaxy A25 and A35. So the typing experience here is not that bad.  BTW, you don't get an in-display fingerprint here as the A35. It uses a capacitive fingerprint sensor here which is located comfortably and it's quite fast too. 

Performance

• Chipset: Samsung Exynos 1380 (5nm)

As for the performance, this phone uses the same Exynos 1380 chipset as the Galaxy A35. When I reviewed the A35, I said that this chipset is just not good enough if you are paying over 30K, but for a budget phone, it does make sense. I have the 8GB RAM variant with me, and for normal uses like browsing the internet, and using social media, it's fast and responsive enough. The 120Hz refresh rate is fairly smooth too, with no lags or stutter. It also has a vapour chamber cooling solution, so on my usage, I didn't face any heating issues.  However, you will notice app openings to be a tad bit slower and when you try to game on it, you will not get the best of experience. For instance, you can play PubG mobile in smooth graphics and extreme frame rates and the average fps is around 58, but as you see the 99 percentile is at just 48fps, meaning you will notice some stutter during combat. And high graphics games such as Genshin Impact have a miserable 99 percentile.  So, if you game a lot, I would suggest you go for the Nothing Phone 2(a) or the Poco X6 which will provide you with much more stable fps. 

OS and UI

• OS Android 14/One UI 6.1

Anyway, two areas where Samsung phone does a much better job Vs the competition is with the software experience and the cameras. Here, the Galaxy M35 comes with Android 14 & One UI 6.1 out of the box. The software here is clean with very little bloatware, no Ads and an effortless experience. Samsung is also promising 4 years of OS and 5 years of security patch, which is the industry's highest on a budget phone. 

Camera

• Primary: 50MP f/1.8
• Ultrawide : 8MP f/2.2
• Macro : 5MP f/2.4

Camera-wise, you get a basic 50MP camera with OIS, an 8MP ultrawide angle lens, a 5MP macro camera, and a 13MP selfie camera. But with Samsung optimisation and processing, the photos come out really well. The dynamic range and white balance are also decent. The way it processes greens and blues is eye-pleasing and social media-ready. However, the details on the photos are not that great – I noticed the photos to be a little soft when you zoom in. You will notice photos getting noisier during low light too. But because of the pleasing colour tone, I liked the output I was getting.    The Galaxy M35’s portraits and selfies are also quite optimised. It produces a nice skin tone with background blur and exposure management. However, it would have been better if Samsung provided the 2X portrait option, this option is now available in most Android phones these days.  Surprisingly, the 8MP ultra-wide camera is also not bad. Although the dynamic range and details are compromised, you can click some good-looking wide landscape shots from this phone.  For videography, you can click 4K 30fps videos from the main and selfie camera. Although OIS is disabled, software-based EIS works here to stabilise the videos to some extent and I was able to get decent stabilisation. The 1080P ultra-wide video isnt great though with low details and noise levels. 

Battery

• Battery: 6000 mAh

Ok so far, for a budget phone, the Galaxy M35 has a good display, acceptable performance, 4 years of Android updates commitment, and above-average cameras, but the USP of this phone is truly the battery. Because it has a 6,000 mAh battery, which is much larger than the usual 5,000 mAh industry standard.  So even on my heavy usage which included hours of watching YouTube videos, and playing Clash Royale, the battery would remain at 15 to 20% before I go to bed. And this is one of the rare phones where even if my battery is at 10-15%, I was comfortable carrying it around because I know for sure, it would last me for a couple of hours. Charging, as expected, isnt very fast. With the 65W Ugreen GAN charger that I use, it takes the phone from 0 to 100% in about 1.5 hours. So, yeah, not as fast as I am used to!  

Samsung Galaxy M35 Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Superb AMOLED display
• Clean software experience with long-term updates
• Great battery life
• Decent main cameras

Cons:

• Basic design with thick bezels
• Heavy weight
• Average performance in high-end gaming
• No IP rating

Samsung Galaxy M35 Review: Conclusion 

Overall, as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I genuinely feel the Galaxy M35 is the best Samsung phone under NPR 50,000. Yes, I understand, the Exynos 1380 isnt the fastest chipset and you will definitely get faster phones at a cheaper price, but other aspects of this phone are simply unbeatable.  Plus, the reason why people like to buy Samsung phones is No. 1 They have the highest number of service centers, and No. 2 Samsung update history is really good. So, when Android 15 rolls out, it will be one of the first budget phones to receive that update.  Hence, if you are eyeing for a safe, no-nonsense midrange phone, this is it – The Galaxy M35! 

• Meanwhile, watch our review of the Samsung Galaxy M35