Potential alternatives
The new Samsung Galaxy A17 5G is one of your most affordable entries into the Samsung ecosystem, but it’s hardly for everyone. Especially if you take a look at what the competition has to offer in the sub-€250 category.
One of the most prominent direct competitors to the Galaxy A17 5G is the Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G and the Poco X7, both from Xiaomi’s portfolio. Both are very similar phones under €250 with better displays, more powerful chipsets, more RAM and storage and faster charging. The camera experience on both is arguably better than the A17 5G too. However, the Redmi might be the better bang for the buck as it comes with 256GB base storage.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G • Xiaomi Poco X7 • Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro
Another budget solution worth considering is the Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro. You can find one for about €250, which is admittedly a bit more than the Galaxy A17 5G, but it offers better value for the money. It’s equipped with a dedicated zoom camera in addition to the better main unit, has a far superior display with HDR10+ support, a snappier chipset and longer battery life.
Samsung Galaxy A16 5G • Samsung Galaxy A36 • Motorola Moto G Power (2025)
Alternatively, consider the Galaxy A36, which goes for around the same price right now, and it’s a much better Galaxy phone. We get it, you want something familiar for your daily driver if you are a long-time Samsung user. In any case, the Galaxy A36 has a better feature set, nicer build, better screen and а faster chipset. Or you can get the Galaxy A16 5G, which is essentially the same phone, but it’s considerably cheaper. There’s really no point in getting the A17 5G when you have the A16 5G at a lower price point.
In the US, if the phone ever debuts in the US, the A17 5G’s only direct competitor is the Motorola Moto G Power (2025). It’s a decent solution with a better chipset, but it’s far from ideal with its LCD panel and unimpressive battery life. At least it has a set of stereo speakers and twice the RAM.
Verdict
The Galaxy A17 5G is meant to be a low-priced phone with a decent design and long software support from Samsung, but at its current pricing, it’s far from competitive in its price bracket. You can easily find more powerful smarrtphones with longer battery life, faster charging and brighter displays with HDR support.
Perhaps the biggest issue we had with the Galaxy A17 5G is how laggy it is. It’s important to note that this is our experience with the 4GB variant. It’s possible that the 6GB version has it much better. The poor performance now also raises the question of how Samsung will be able to keep this phone up to date with newer software versions, which will likely be more demanding of the hardware.
Pros
Nice design, despite the low budget.
Overall decent main camera.
Great selfie quality.
Solid battery life for video streaming and gaming.
Entitled to 6 major OS updates.
microSD card slot.
Cons
Screen is basic – not very bright, and with no automatic refresh rate switching.
Subpar chipset performance.
Some competitors support 4K video recording.
No stereo speakers.