The upper mid-range smartphone market is a tough one with lots of devices offering great value for money., and one of the hottest smartphones in that segment right now is OPPO’s A9 2020. We have seen how Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 8 Pro squares up against it. And now it is time to determine which of two phones is the better value for a budget of ₦90,000 – Samsung Galaxy A50 or OPPO A9 2020.
Samsung is the world’s largest Android phone manufacturer, but it has had Chinese competitors eat into its marketshare in the last few years. One of those competitors is OPPO, also one of the world’s top smartphone makers. And it is with value-packed devices that it has done this.
In the last one year, Samsung has introduced new devices in its Galaxy A series and they offer much better value than older mid-range Samsung devices did. The Galaxy A50 is one of them, alongside others like Samsung Galaxy A10 (see Galaxy A10 unboxing/hands-on) and Samsung Galaxy A20 (see Galaxy A20 unboxing/hands-on). The question is, Is the Galaxy A50 competitive enough to fend off the Chinese advance? This is what we set out to find out below. Come along.
Samsung Galaxy A50 or OPPO A9 2020: The Preamble
₦90,000 is our budget: which of these two droids give you the best bang for that amount? That amount will get us the OPPO A9 2020, which has no variants. It will also get us the 4GB RAM + 128 GB ROM variant of the Samsung Galaxy A50.
That already puts the Samsung at a disadvantage from the starting blocks. You see, the A9 2020 is equipped with 8GB RAM. That is two times what the Samsung offers. The internal storage is the same for both phones, however.
But RAM is not all the difference between the two smartphones, and so we must dig deeper. Our contenders are ready. We are ready. You are ready. Let’s do this.
Samsung Galaxy A50 or OPPO A9 2020: Quick Specs Comparison
First up is our quick comparison table so you can view the similarities and distinguishing differences of the two devices at a glance.
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | OPPO A9 2020 |
| 6.4 inches, 1080 x 2340 pixels, Super AMOLED display, Gorilla Glass 3. | 6.5 inches, 720 x 1600 pixels, IPS LCD display, Gorilla Glass 3 |
| In-display fingerprint scanner | Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner |
| Mono speaker | Stereo speakers |
| Octa-core, Exynos 9610 (10 nm), 2.3 GHz | Octa-core, Snapdragon 665 (11 nm), 2.0 GHz |
| 25MP selfie camera | 16MP selfie camera |
| 25MP + 8MP + 5MP rear triple camera with LED flash | 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP rear quad camera with dual LED flash |
| 128 GB internal storage + dedicated microSD slot, up to 1TB | 128 GB internal storage + dedicated microSD slot, up to 256 GB |
| 4 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| 4000 mAh battery + 15W quick charging | 5000 mAh battery + 18W quick charging + reverse charging |
| ₦90,000.00 | ₦90,000.00 |
Appearance-wise, both devices share some similarities: screen size is almost exactly the same, and both screens have a waterdrop notch. They are also both well built and feel sturdy.
The Samsung has a triple rear camera, while the OPPO has a quad camera setup at the back. And this is where we get the grey areas out of the way: and it is usually about cameras.
I will say it again: camera specifications are meaningless on their own. And so, unless there is a direct shootout between these two phones, we cannot declare a winner between the Samsung Galaxy A50 or OPPO A9 2020 in the photography department.
Lastly, the former’s fingerprint scanner is built into the display, while the latter’s is rear-mounted.
Where Samsung Galaxy A50 has the edge
The Galaxy A50’s display has a much higher resolution than that of the OPPO. This results in sharper images and videos with more details. In addition, it is an AMOLED display, meaning that it is punchier and has much better contrasts and deeper blacks.
The Galaxy A50’s EXYNOS chipset is a slightly more efficient one, but it loses to the Snapdragon 665 in the OPP A9 2020 in other ways, which pretty much leaves the processors in a tie.
One other big advantage the A50 has over the A9 is the dedicated microSD card slot that supports up to 1TB cards – a huge difference over its opponent’s palty 256GB maximum capacity for cards.
Where OPPO A9 2020 has the edge
The first big advantage of the OPPO A9 2020 is its much longer battery life,thanks to the much bigger battery – 1000mAh more power to use. In addition, the OPPO has a faster quick charge feature and also has reverse charging. Reverse charging means you can use the OPPO as a power bank to charge your other devices.
The A9 2020 also offers more RAM – double that of the Galaxy A50, a boom for heavy app users. More RAM means that launching and switching between apps is smoother.
In addition, lovers of music will enjoy the difference made by the built-in stereo speakers of the OPPO A9 2020.
Samsung Galaxy A50 or OPPO A9 2020: Who wins?
The punchier, more vibrant display of the Samsung Galaxy A50 is enough to swing things in its favour for the choosiest of mobile users. The option for bigger capacity memory cards is also a thing certain categories of users will desire.
But for almost everything else, the OPPO outscores the Samsung. Twice the RAM is no joke and produces a huge difference in performance even if the processors are matched. App junkies, music lovers and those in need of extended battery life will find the OPPO a more desirable device to own. In addition, if you do not enjoy carrying a separate power bank around, OPPO A9 2020 doubles as one.
Samsung Galaxy A50’s battery life is not poor. The 4000mAh battery is more than adequate, but it is no match for the capacity and longevity of the OPPO’s 5000mAh battery. This is made possible thanks to the lower resolution display of the A9 2020. It simply offers much better power management and lasts much longer on a single charge.
Price is no issue here; the two phone pretty much cost the same thing. It is simply whether you want the Samsung Galaxy A50 or OPPO A9 2020.
You are going to have to look at your needs and decide which of the two gladiators you will spend your ₦90,000 on. Samsung Galaxy A50 or OPPO A9 2020?
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