Samsung Galaxy M30s launched in India, brings upgrades all around

2019 saw Samsung doubling up on its mid-range strategy in India. The Galaxy M30 was amongst the first wave of Samsung’s next-generation mid-rangers and it set the tone for what to expect. Fast-forward six months, and we’ve got a replacement in the Galaxy M30s. The phone takes everything good about the Galaxy M30 and kicks it up a notch.

There’s a renewed focus on design with a much bolder gradient than the staid grey we saw on the M30. The ultra-marine blue looks plenty good, though the polycarbonate shell still doesn’t feel as nice as the glass used on phones like the Redmi Note 7 Pro. Not much else has changed and the front of the phone looks mostly the same, down to the waterdrop notch and 6.4-inch display.

With the switch over to an Exynos 9611 chipset, you should get a reasonable bump up in performance as well. The processor pairs four Cortex-A73 cores clocked at up to 2.3GHz with four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.6GHz in a big.LITTLE configuration. This is an upgrade over the Exynos 7904 in the M30, which paired two Cortex-A73 cores with six Cortex-A53 cores.

The other massive improvement is in imaging performance. The Galaxy M30’s 13MP primary rear camera was fairly hum-drum even when it launched. Now, the Galaxy M30s ships with a 48MP primary camera, and is paired with an 8MP ultra-wide camera as well as a 5MP depth sensor.

The new camera sensor should allow for more details in good lighting, and better low light results due to increased sensitivity in its pixel-binned mode. Meanwhile, the front camera has got an upgrade to a 24MP sensor.

What impressed us the most about the Galaxy M30 was its massive 5,000mAh battery that went on forever. Samsung has gone ahead and boosted this further. The Galaxy M30s ships with a 6,000mAh battery which should deliver even more longevity. A 15W fast charger is included in the box.

Samsung’s priced the Galaxy M30s competitively at Rs. 13,999 (~$195) for the 4GB/64GB variant and Rs. 16,999 (~$237) for the 6GB/128GB option.

The company has also brought the Galaxy M10s to the country, retailing for Rs. 8,999 (~$126). The device has a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen with waterdrop notch, a 4,000mAh battery with a 15W charger in the box, and a rear fingerprint scanner. The low-end phone, which has a new, Exynos 7884B processor, also packs a 13MP+5MP rear camera pairing and an 8MP selfie camera.

Both the Galaxy M30s and the Galaxy M10s will be available on Amazon India and Samsung’s website from September 29. The M30s will be available in Opal Black, Sapphire Blue and Pearl White, while the M10s can be had in Stone Blue or Piano Black.