Samsung Galaxy M32 Review - The in-between of good and better

Samsung launched the Galaxy M32 three months ago with Helio G80 and a 25W fast charging feature. 

Samsung Galaxy M32

The Galaxy M32 clearly targets consumers who are looking for an affordable Samsung handset since it is priced at only PHP 13,490. It is similar in many ways to the Samsung Galaxy A32. Inside, the handset is powered by the 2.0GHz 12nm MediaTek Helio G80 octa-core processor with 8GB RAM, 128GB expandable storage, and a 5,000mAh battery.

Samsung has sacrificed some to keep the price down such as using an older type of AMOLED panel versus Galaxy A32. With all of these going around, how well does the Samsung Galaxy M32 fare given its features and price?

Let's find out!

Unboxing/Accessories

At GIZGUIDE, we love unboxing the review units that arrive. However, Samsung only loaned us the phone with no box and accessories at all. This means we can't give you the details of how the box looks like and the inclusions that come with the handset. We're also restrained to adjust some parts of the review due to the missing wall charger and cable. But we'll dive deeper into it later on in this review.

Build/Design

Suitcase-like design

Samsung Galaxy M32 comes in a build consisting of glass at the front and plastic at the back. It has a textured finish featuring a suitcase-like design which I have mistaken as a decorative protective case at first. It's such a nice design and an easy eye candy to many.

The device weighs light at only 180 g. It has a nice grip although personally, I really like cases on my phone. Another thing, the Galaxy M32 is also a fingerprint magnet and is prone to hairline scratches. There's no mention of IP rating though.

Trendy design!

The handset sports a 6.4-inch 2.5D curved Super AMOLED screen with a waterdrop notch housing the front shooter and an earpiece on top of it. It has thin bezels on three sides and a fairly large chin bezel. 

Top and bottom

Samsung Galaxy M32 is available in Black and Blue variants. We are loaned with the latter for this review.

There's no protection on top of the screen. Notably, it has a triple-slot SIM tray and a dedicated microSD slot for internal storage expansion of up to 1TB.

The first microphone sits alone on top of the phone. Meanwhile, the 3.5mm headphone jack slot, secondary microphone, USB-C slot, and down-firing grille speaker are at the bottom.

Left and right

The triple-slot tray is on the left while the volume rockers and power button/side fingerprint scanner are on the right. 

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy M32 design is trendy and can easily capture anyone's attention. 

Multimedia Experience

Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate!

The 6.4-inch 2.5D curved Super AMOLED display breathes accurate & crisp colors, sharpness, and adequate contrast. This is expected from a Super AMOLED, though. Of course, the always-on display feature is present.

The display also has a refresh rate of up to 90Hz and offers 800 nits peak brightness levels. Our favorite movies and series are enjoyable to watch on this handset. 

The Super AMOLED display is a feast in the eyes!

Easy on the palm

Moreover, its sunlight legibility wasn't an issue. It also has a built-in optical fingerprint scanner which is quick most of the time. 

The single bottom-firing speaker is fairly loud, but not that loud. It may seem quiet for some but for me, personally, it's okay. Distortion is unnoticeable when amped up to the loudest level. 

Cameras

Quad-camera setup

The Samsung Galaxy M32 is equipped with a quad-camera setup of 64MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF + 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 macro + 2MP f/2.4 depth + LED flash. 

The stock camera app features include portrait, photo, video, AR doodle, pro, panorama, food, night, macro, slow motion, and hyperlapse.

Scene optimizer is present with up to 10x zoom available when taking photos.

Rear Camera Samples

Daylight

Daylight wide

Indoor

Indoor wide

Indoor 2

Food mode

Macro mode

Portrait

Lowlight

Lowlight wide

Lowlight 2

Lowlight wide 2

The 64MP main shooter did a nice job taking images during broad daylight. The scene optimizer feature aids in capturing the real color and tones of the subject. Overall, the photos taken are crisp and vibrant.

As mentioned, there is a macro sensor. However, it's disappointing since the images it produced lack in detail with washed-out colors. Meanwhile, the portrait lens gave us decent images with nice separation.

Macro needs improvement

Indoors, Samsung Galaxy M32 took good photos as well. With or without the scene optimizer, as long as the area is well lit, the handset can provide nice photos.  

The night mode captures average night shots. We noticed an inconsistency in colors when we switch from normal to wide using the night mode (see first two low light shot samples).

Overall, Samsung Galaxy M32's quad-camera setup produces nice photos. 

Waterdrop notch houses the lone selfie shooter

On the other hand, the 20MP f/2.2 selfie camera lies on the waterdrop notch. It carries the same rear camera features except for the macro, food, and scene optimizer.

Selfie Camera Samples

Daylight selfie

Daylight portrait selfie

Indoor selfie

Indoor portrait selfie

Lowlight selfie using night mode

Lowlight selfie with screen flash

The front shooter takes detailed images with the right amount of sharpness and colors in daylight. The portrait mode highlights the subject very well. The intensity of the blur can be adjusted up to level 7 with level 3 by default.

For selfies taken indoors, the result is great most especially in well-lit rooms (e.g. malls). As for the beautification, the skin smoothing is present of course, but it still retains the skin tones and textures which is a plus for us. 

The selfie camera works very well in favor of the Samsung Galaxy M32!

In low light, the night mode is photos are quite unusable. We prefer using the photo mode with the help of screen flash. 

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy M32 lone selfie shooter takes great photos and is easily a favorite feature for us. 

For videos, the handset can take up to 1080p at 30fps for both selfie and rear cameras.

Performance

Powered by MediaTek Helio G80

Inside, the Galaxy M32 has a 2.0GHz 12nm MediaTek Helio G80 octa-core processor, 950MHz Mali-G52 2EMMC2 GPU, 8GB RAM, and 128GB expandable storage up to 1TB. 

We're able to get a total of 201,170 scores from AnTutTu, 317 single-core & 1,251 multi-core scores in Geekbench, and 423 overall scores & average frame rate of 2.50 in the 3D Benchmark. 

The benchmarks

In the real world, the handset provided us an okay multitasking experience, multimedia, and decent gaming performance. Coming with an entry-level processor, the phone is not slow but not fast either. There were noticeable stutters and lags while using it on a day-to-day basis. This is apparent when multiple apps are running in the background of the Galaxy M32.

Lags and stutters are noticeable when multiple apps are running in the background

In case you're wondering, below are the default settings that we got in heavy mobile games such as PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty.

Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile on Samsung Galaxy M32, respectively

For security, it has face recognition and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner placed on the power button. Both are responsive throughout our experience.

One of the best features the Samsung Galaxy M32 packs is its battery. It has a huge 5,000mAh battery and has a 25W fast charging support. 

In our PCMark battery test, the handset clocked a total of 14 hours and 20 minutes. 

Samsung Galaxy M32 PCMark battery test

Meanwhile, in real-life usage, the handset can last up to a day and a little more under moderate usage. This comprises calls, texts, web surfing, music, and casual gaming.  

Terrific battery life!

Since we're only loaned with the phone, we can't tell about how fast it charges with the supposedly 15W in-box charger. But using a different fast charger, we're able to regain the juice in less than an hour. If you're looking for it, there is no wireless charging support. 

Battery settings

For connectivity, the Samsung Galaxy M32 has the following: WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 700MHz 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, and dual SIM. 

The smartphone runs on Samsung One UI 3.0 which is based on Android 11. Similar to other custom UI, this comes with multiple pre-installed apps, most are can be uninstalled though. It has an easy mode which makes the on-screen items bigger, and more. The overall software experience is smooth and nice. 

One UI 3.1

Android 11 and One UI 3.0 out of the box!

For our not-so-complains, we hope the Samsung Galaxy M32 has smoother performance for a 2021 phone. We also wish its rear cameras can deliver better images most especially on the macro part. Even though we're not able to test its 15W in-box charger, we wish that Samsung could've put a nicer charger since the phone supports 25W charging.

Pros - excellent Super AMOLED display, 90Hz refresh rate, good cameras, stellar battery life, 25W fast charging support, Android 11 and One UI 3.0 out of the box, decent gaming performance

Cons - entry-level processor resulting in lags and stutters, poor macro camera, 15W in-box charger

Samsung Galaxy M32 Specs

Display: 6.4-inch 2.5D curved Super AMOLED screen w/ 90Hz refresh rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 411 ppi

CPU: 2.0GHz 12nm MediaTek Helio G80 octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G52 2EEMC2 (950MHz)

RAM: 8GB

ROM: 128GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 1TB

Back Camera: 64MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF + 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 macro + 2MP f/2.4 depth + LED flash

Selfie Camera: 20MP f/2.2

Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 25W Fast Charging

OS: Android 11 w/ One UI 3.0

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 700MHz 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Dolby Atmos, USB-C, Colors: Black and Blue

Dimensions: 158.9 x 73.6 x 8.4 mm

Weight: 180 g

Price: PHP 13,490

Verdict

The in-between of good and better

The Samsung Galaxy M32 is indeed the in-between of good and better. Why?

It has an excellent Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, good selfie camera, terrific battery life, 25W fast charging support, and Android 11 & One UI 3.0 out of the box. However, it fell short in terms of performance because of its processor. 

For the price, it also faces stiff competition since there are smartphones out there powered by more powerful processors.

But still, the Samsung Galaxy M32 offers plenty of good stuff at the end of the day. Do you agree with us?

Build/Design - 4.5

Multimedia Experience - 4.25

Cameras - 4

Performance - 4

Average - 4.19/5