- Samsung Galaxy M40 will be available in the Cocktail Orange gradient color.
- Galaxy M30 will be available starting at Rs 13,990 for the 64GB variant.
- Offers on Galaxy M phones will go live on July 15 at 3 pm on Amazon India.
The throwaway and pocket-friendly sale will take place between July 15 to July 16, 2019. The 2-day sale will unfold some exciting offers and discounts within a range of products encompassing smartphones. Samsung brand will showcase on its popular Galaxy M series smartphones with a new variant Cocktail Orange color for the Galaxy M40 and a price discount for the Galaxy M30, among others.
Special offers on the Galaxy M series, which includes cashback and discounts, will be valid during the Amazon Prime Day sale that will go live on July 15 at 3 pm and exclusive members will be able to avail these offers until July 16.
The latest Galaxy M-series phone will be available in a new Cocktail Orange gradient color and will be priced at Rs 19,990. For a quick background, the Galaxy M40 was launched in India in two color options – Midnight Blue and Seawater Blue. The Cocktail Orange should be and captivating and visually appealing addition to the series.
The Galaxy M30, meanwhile, will be available with a Rs 1,000 discount, sliding down it’s starting price down to Rs 13,990. The base model comes with 64GB of internal storage. The 128GB storage variant will be available for Rs 16,990. Furthermore, customers purchasing the Galaxy M30 will also get a 10 percent instant discount on HDFC debit, credit cards and EMI as well as an extra Rs 3,000 off in exchange for their old phones.
The incredible element about the Galaxy M40 is that it offers an Infinity-O display, a Snapdragon 675 chipset and a 32MP triple camera setup. However, it also lacks an AMOLED display and a headphone jack.
The Galaxy M10, Galaxy M20 and Galaxy M30 have been successful in India, allowing Samsung to sell over 2 million units since the launch of the series earlier this year. These phones have offered impressive designs and hardware at prices competitive enough to make even brands like Xiaomi and Realme. The Galaxy M40 is the fourth phone in the Galaxy M series, and Samsung hopes to maintain that aggressive run.
Galaxy M40 Design
The front side of the Galaxy M40 gets a new Infinity-O display, which is a first for a Galaxy M phone. Like the Galaxy S10, the Galaxy M40 gets a small circular hole on the top corner of the screen to house the selfie camera. This solution removes the need for a notch in an attempt to minimise distraction while viewing the display.
Compared to the Galaxy M30, the bezels around the Galaxy M40 are thinner, so you get more screen real estate. The screen is 0.1-inch smaller than the Galaxy M30, but you won’t be able to tell the difference. The Galaxy M40 also offers a slightly smaller form factor and a slimmer profile with a thickness of 7.9mm, which makes it feel great in hand. At 168 grams, the Galaxy M40 is also delightfully lightweight.
The rear panel of the Galaxy M40 looks similar to other Galaxy M phones, but still manages to look fresh thanks to two new gradient finishes – Midnight Blue and Seawater Blue. The unit I received for review was in Midnight Blue, which offers a dark blue hue almost throughout the face of the panel, while the curved edges give off a lighter shade of blue. It’s almost like a dual-tone effect, which looks nice. The Seawater Blue offers light blue gradience that also looks quite attractive and would be my pick between the two.
There is a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, which is extremely quick to enroll your fingerprint. The triple camera setup is vertically placed on the top left corner. The power and volume buttons on the right side are easy to reach and so is the fingerprint sensor. All of this is to say that the Galaxy M40 offers good ergonomics.
Samsung has taken a bold decision by omitting the 3.5mm headphone jack on the Galaxy M40, which is unlikely to go down well in a segment that still sees love for the jack. The removal of the port doesn’t seem to offer any benefits as the battery capacity is smaller compared to the M30 and the phone isn’t as slim as the Galaxy A50. Samsung has tried to make up for it by offering Type-C earphones with the box. The Galaxy M40 supports a hybrid SIM slot and offers a single speaker grille on the bottom.
To further reduce the top bezel, Samsung has removed the earpiece and has opted for an On-Screen Sound tech which essentially means the sound is delivered from under the display. The quality of this under-display earpiece is quite average and lacks a certain clarity that a traditional earpiece delivers.
Galaxy M40 Display
Samsung has offered a segment-first punch-hole display, which looks unique, the company has also made a tradeoff. Instead of offering a Super AMOLED display like it did with the Galaxy M30, Samsung has used an LCD panel for the Galaxy M40. While Samsung displays are generally some of the best in the business, an LCD is still an LCD and will not offer the kind of richness, color depth and appeal that an AMOLED panel offers.
Right off the bat, the colors on screen look a little pale and washed out on the Galaxy M40 as opposed to the deep and bright colors on the Galaxy M30’s display. Blacks are not as deep and dark as one would have liked, which is particularly disappointing considering One UI comes with a system-wide Night mode that looks fantastic on AMOLED display.
That said, the Galaxy M40’s 6.3-inch FHD+ display still offers excellent sharpness with clear texts and sharp videos. It looks great for an LCD panel, that’s for sure. It also helps that the phone comes with Widevine L1 certification, which means you will be able to stream content on platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in true HD quality. Viewing angles and brightness levels even under peak sunlight are great as usual.
Galaxy M40 Performance and Software
Apart from the punch-hole display, another feature Samsung is accentuating about is that this is the first Galaxy M phone to run on a Snapdragon chipset. The 2Ghz octa-core Snapdragon 675 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM is enough to make sure the Galaxy M40 runs smoothly for most day-to-day tasks. It is a reliable processor as we have seen it work effortlessly with the Redmi Note 7 Pro as well.
Out of the box, the Galaxy M40 feels quite snappy as one would expect. Apps are speedy to open and load times are fast as well. Scrolling through the UI is swift and touch response is good. The chipset is capable of running games like PUBG and Asphalt 9 on medium graphics without any slowdown or jitters. Consequently, consumers being serious about mobile gaming and would like to play at max graphics settings at this price may want to consider the Poco F1 instead.
Undoubtedly, the Galaxy M40 is the first in the Galaxy M series to ship with Android Pie out of the box. On top of Pie, you get One UI which is Samsung’s custom software that is well optimized and adds to the smooth user experience.
Also, some One UI features are not present on the Galaxy M40 such as the blue light filter and Bixby Home page that offers customisable cards for relevant daily information. It is unclear why these features are missing, but Samsung may add them with future updates.
The phone offers an internal storage of 128GB, which is adequate for downloading and storing music, photos and movies offline. Expandable up to 512GB using a microSD card. The rear-mounted fingerprint sensor is quite snappy and mostly accurate. Face unlock is present, but it isn’t as fast indoors and not under low lighting conditions. The in-box Type-C earphones sound decent enough, especially with Dolby Atmos-enabled. But if you have a better pair of wired earphones lying around, you will need to use a Type-C to 3.5mm dongle to make things work, which is a bit of work.
Galaxy M40 Camera
The Galaxy M40 is yet another phone in Samsung’s portfolio to offer triple rear cameras (that includes a wide-angle lens). Triple camera setups have become a staple in 2019 as brands look to offer versatility. The Galaxy M40’s camera setup on the Galaxy M40 includes a 32-megapixel primary camera with f/1.7 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 123-degree FoV, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor, which is similar to set up on the more expensive Galaxy A70. Upfront, the M40 gets a 16-megapixel selfie camera housed within the cutout.