Samsung Galaxy A42 vs Galaxy A40
43
out of 100
VS
35
out of 100
Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy A42 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 750 5G) that was released on September 2, 2020, against the Samsung Galaxy A40, which is powered by Exynos 7 Octa 7904 and came out 1 year and 5 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A42
- 2.1x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (436K versus 208K)
- Comes with 1900 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3100 mAh
- Shows 68% longer battery life (26:28 vs 15:48 hours)
- Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
- More recent OS version: Android 13 versus 11
- Slow-motion recording at 480FPS
- Ability to record video in 4K resolution
- More energy-efficient CPU – Snapdragon 750 5G
- The phone is 1 year and 5 months newer
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A40
- 64% higher pixel density (437 vs 266 PPI)
- Weighs 53 grams less
- Better grip in hands – the body is 6.7 mm narrower
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
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Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Super AMOLED | Super AMOLED |
| Size | 6.6 inches | 5.9 inches |
| Resolution | 720 x 1600 pixels | 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 266 ppi | 437 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 500 nits | 548 nits |
| HDR support | No | No |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 84.3% | 85.5% |
| Display features | - Always-On Display | - |
| RGB color space | 97.7% | 142.6% |
| PWM | 242 Hz | 245 Hz |
| Response time | 9.5 ms | 9 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A42
6.6″ (20:9 ratio) = 16.3 in2
Galaxy A40
5.9″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 13.2 in2
~23% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 164.4 mm (6.47 inches) | 144.4 mm (5.69 inches) |
| Width | 75.9 mm (2.99 inches) | 69.2 mm (2.72 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.6 mm (0.34 inches) | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 193 g (6.81 oz) | 140 g (4.94 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | No |
| Rear material | Plastic | Plastic |
| Frame material | Plastic | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray | White, Black, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, rear |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 750 5G | Samsung Exynos 7 Octa 7904 |
| Max clock | 2200 MHz | 1770 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 6) | 8 (2 + 6) |
| Architecture | - 6 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 570 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 2 cores at 2.2 GHz: Kryo 570 Gold (Cortex-A77) |
- 6 cores at 1.6 GHz: Cortex-A53 - 2 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A73 |
| L3 cache | 3 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 8 nanometers | 14 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon 694 | No |
| Graphics | Adreno 619 | Mali-G71 MP2 |
| GPU shading units | 256 | 24 |
| GPU clock | 800 MHz | 770 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~409.6 GFLOPS | ~49.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
| Single-core score | 829 | 486 |
| Multi-core score | 2044 | 1530 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 176341 | 84899 |
| GPU | 68939 | 18657 |
| Memory | 73319 | 43900 |
| UX | 117699 | 60859 |
| Total score | 436298 | 208315 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | Less than 3 |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy A42
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-11 (Jason Baker) | GeekBench CPU | 828 / 1875 |
| 📘 2026-09-11 (Jason Baker) | AnTuTu | 556264 |
Samsung Galaxy A40
No benchmark results yet
Memory
| RAM size | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 1866 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 2.1 | eMMC 5.1 |
| Memory card | MicroSD | MicroSD |
| Memory card max size | Up to 512 GB | Up to 512 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | Android 9.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 11) |
| ROM | One UI 3.1 | One UI 3.1 |
| OS size | 20 GB | 14.6 GB |
| OS updates | 2 years | 2 years |
| Security updates | 4 years | 4 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 3100 mAh |
| Max charge power | 15 W | 15 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | No |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (27% in 30 min) | Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (50% in 40 min) |
| Full charging time | 2:01 hr | 1:45 hr |
| Web browsing | 10:34 hr | 05:59 hr |
| Watching video | 15:12 hr | 09:54 hr |
| Gaming | 06:09 hr | 04:04 hr |
| Standby | 132 hr | 77 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#123rd place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 48 megapixels | 16 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8000 x 6000 | 4616 x 3464 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| Slow motion | 480 FPS (720p) | 120 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 123° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 8 MP 3) Macro: 5 MP 4) Depth: 5 MP |
1) Standard: 16 MP 2) Ultrawide: 5 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 16 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.7 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGM2 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 5 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K4HA | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 5 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC5035 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/5" (≈ 0.2 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | - |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 20 megapixels | 25 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 5184 x 3880 | 5984 x 4140 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 25 mm | 25 mm |
| Sensor | Hynix HI-2021 | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.78" (≈ 0.36 inch) | 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 0.9 micron |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac) | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP | PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | No | No |
| Hybrid slot | Yes | No |
| LTE Cat* | 18 | 12 |
| 5G support | Yes | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Mono | Mono |
| Headphone audio jack | Yes | Yes |
| FM radio | No | Yes |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Announced | September 2020 | April 2019 |
| Release date | November 2020 | April 2019 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $365 | $250 |
| Successor | - | - Samsung Galaxy A42 |
| SAR (head) | 1.15 W/kg | 0.49 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.33 W/kg | 1.34 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy A42 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 21