Samsung launches Galaxy M42 5G, its most affordable 5G phone in India: Specs, features, price and everything to know

Galaxy M42 5G costs Rs 21,999 for the base variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.

Samsung launched the Galaxy M42 5G in India on Wednesday at a starting price of Rs 21,999. This is its most affordable 5G phone in the country to date. Samsung says the Galaxy M42 5G is also its first Galaxy M series phone to support its Google Pay rival, Samsung Pay. Other key highlights of the phone include a large Super AMOLED display, 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G SoC, “true” 48MP quad camera setup and 5,000mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy M42 5G India price and availability

Galaxy M42 5G costs Rs 21,999 for the base variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The phone also comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage option for Rs 23,999.

Also Read | Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G review: More value than OnePlus 9

The phone will be available across Samsung.com, Amazon and select retail stores.

The big headlining feature of the Galaxy M42 5G is, obviously, 5G connectivity support.

For a limited period, the Galaxy M42 5G will be sold at a reduced price of Rs 19,999 (6GB/128GB) and Rs 21,999 (8GB/128GB) respectively on Samsung.com and during Amazon’s online sale in May.

Samsung Galaxy M42 5G specs and features

The big headlining feature of the Galaxy M42 5G is, obviously, 5G connectivity support. Though you still can’t use it in India, Samsung joins the likes of Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo and Vivo in the race to shell out the “most affordable” 5G phone in the country – that title currently rests with the Oppo A53s 5G (starting Rs 14,990).

Samsung has reserved 5G for its premium Galaxy S and Note series phones so far in India. Only recently, it launched the Galaxy S20 FE 5G (a phone that was initially launched in September last year) in the country at an introductory price of Rs 47,999. It was expected that Samsung would launch the Galaxy A52 5G in India soon (only the 4G A52 is available at this point of time) but instead it has chosen to jump the gun and launch a budget 5G phone from M series here.

Speaking of hardware, the Galaxy M42 5G has a Galaxy F62-like back panel design (available in black and gray) with quad rear cameras inside a square housing. On the front, it comes with a waterdrop-style notch though – the Galaxy F62 comes with a punch hole.

The phone in question has a 6.6-inch 720p Super AMOLED display. Under the hood, it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor paired with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. This is expandable. Software inside the phone is Android 11 based One UI 3.1. Fuelling the phone is a large 5,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging.

For photography, the Galaxy M42 5G has a 48MP main (ISOCELL GM2 sensor), 8MP ultra-wide-angle, and two 5MP cameras, one for portraits and another for macros. On the front, it has a 20MP camera.

Rounding off the package are Samsung Knox security platform and Samsung Pay (NFC) for contactless digital payments.