Samsung Galaxy M40: New budget phone has a key Galaxy S10 feature

Samsung has just released the Galaxy M40 budget smartphone — and it shares one distinctive feature in common with the much pricier Galaxy S10 flagship.

The Galaxy M40 is the first of Samsung’s budget phones to have the Infinity O display — that is, a cutout selfie camera within the borders of the screen — just like the Galaxy S10. It’s a nice design flourish that’s sure to attract customers who want the look of a premium device without the hefty price.

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The Galaxy M40’s screen measure 6.3 inches, and has a 2340 x 1080 Full HD+ resolution.; the Infinity O display enables a 91.8% screen-to-body ratio, and the selfie camera peeking through the cutout has a 16 megapixel resolution with a f/2.0 aperture.

The rear triple camera set up, meanwhile, is composed of a 32-megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture, a 5-megapixel depth sensor, and a 123-degree ultrawide lens with 8-megapixel resolution. Under the hood, there’s a Snapdragon 675 chip with 6GB RAM and memory expandable up to 512GB via Micro SD card.

The handset will go on sale on June 18, and it’s priced at ₹19,990 (~£225/$290). Availability has only been confirmed for India so far, and it’s unlikely to hit shelves in the UK.

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While the specs are promising for a mid-range device, it can’t truly compete with the Galaxy S10 despite the superficial resemblance. The 550ppi pixel density makes for a much sharper display, the Exynos 9820 offers more muscle as a processor, and the camera is among the best in the business. In our review, we gave it 4.5/5 stars, and declared it to be “the best Android phone you can buy today”. We’re looking forward to seeing how the Galaxy M40 stacks up to it.

If it’s a Samsung flagship you’re after, then you won’t have much longer to wait for the next one to come out — the Galaxy Note 10 is expected to be released in August.