The Galaxy M35, as you’ve probably guessed if you’re a long-time Samsung fan, is designed to offer some of the best specs of an A-series phone (in this case, the A35) at a cheaper price. Even more advantageously, the M35 packs a 6,000 mAh battery, which is 1,000 mAh larger than the A35.
As usual, the M-series variants have a different, less premium design and also lack features like water and dust resistance. But the price is also considerably lower, and in this review you’ll find out if the complete package is worth your hard-earned money.
design
Samsung hasn’t tried to make the Galaxy M35 stand out or slim from a design standpoint. Even for a phone with a 6,000 mAh battery, it’s thick and heavy.
The M34 also had a 6,000 mAh battery, but that battery was 0.3 mm thinner and about 15 grams lighter. I suspect the M35’s larger vapor cooling chamber (more on that later) and slightly larger display (6.6 inches versus the M34’s 6.5 inches) have something to do with the increased thickness and weight.
The phone’s footprint is also large, mainly due to the large bezels, which is to be expected on Samsung’s mid-range phones and even premium phones like the Galaxy A55.
All of these shortcomings are forgivable given the phone’s aggressive price tag, but I still wish Samsung had put a little more effort into making the design feel less generic and unwieldy. .
The only saving grace of this design is the back of the phone, which has a checkered texture that is aesthetically pleasing. However, this is something you won’t notice in everyday use unless you’re in the habit of keeping your phone face down when not in use.
display and audio
The viewing experience is an area where the Galaxy M35 punches above its weight. The display of this phone has the same specifications as the Galaxy A35. It’s a 120Hz Super AMOLED panel with punchy but not too vibrant colors, wide viewing angles, and the same 1000 nits maximum brightness.
That’s not all. The M35 features Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus+ for display protection. Again, this is the same glass as the A35 and even the Galaxy A55, which is nearly twice as expensive. Victus+ is nearly twice as durable and four times more scratch resistant than Gorilla Glass 5 used in the Galaxy M34.
The viewing experience is an area where the Galaxy M35 punches above its weight
The huge bezels are the only drawback to the excellent viewing experience you get with this phone. It’s also not HDR certified, which was to be expected since the A35 doesn’t have an HDR certified display either.
The M35 does away with the 3.5mm headphone port, but it does have stereo speakers, an upgrade from the previous model’s single speaker. The speakers aren’t as loud as the speakers on Samsung’s more expensive phones, but they sound good if you play the occasional YouTube video without headphones or earbuds.
camera
The Galaxy M35 has some impressive features for its price, but an impressive camera isn’t on the list. Daylight outdoor photos from the 50MP primary shooter and 8MP ultrawide camera are decent, but the latter can’t resolve many details.
Lack of detail is not an issue with the primary camera. It also has pretty good dynamic range for both stills and video. It’s also good in low light, especially if night mode is enabled. Night mode is a must for ultra-wide-angle cameras after the sun goes down.
Check out photos from the primary and ultrawide cameras in the gallery below.
For the 50MP rear camera, the Galaxy M35 includes many of the shooting modes found on more expensive devices, including Pro mode for both image and video, slow-motion and super-slow-motion, hyperlapse, single take, and more.
Portrait mode is also available and does a good job of separating the background and subject. You can see some portrait shots of the rear camera in the gallery below.
The Galaxy M35 has a 2MP macro camera, but macro photography is almost unusable, day or night. It’s been years since Samsung introduced a macro camera on its Galaxy smartphones, but the macro camera remains a gimmick designed to increase the total number of cameras on the spec sheet.
The 13MP front-facing camera gets the job done during the day, but struggles to suppress noise or resolve many details in low light. Night mode and using the display as a flash help, but not by much.
performance
The Galaxy M35 is powered by the Exynos 1380 chipset, which was introduced in the Galaxy A54 last year and is also used in the Galaxy A35. Paired with 8GB of RAM in our review unit, the Galaxy M35 performs well overall.
The user interface is smooth and quick overall, and gaming performance is good for the price. Thanks to larger vapor cooling chambers, trending in both mid-range and flagship Samsung smartphones these days, temperatures are kept in check and the chipset does not throttle earlier in older devices during long gaming sessions. There is no problem.
Considering the M35’s price, buyers won’t have any complaints about its performance.
You may experience occasional lag or stuttering during both gaming and non-gaming use, which is normal for non-flagship Galaxy smartphones. And frankly, given the M35’s price, buyers won’t have any complaints about its performance.
The M35 is well-equipped in terms of connectivity for its price. Supports 5G, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3. Call quality was more than acceptable, but call volume was a little on the low side.
software
The Galaxy M35 runs Android 14 and One UI 6.1 out of the box and has most of the software features found on Samsung’s flagship phones. Don’t expect Galaxy AI features.
Samsung has brought the Google Circle to Search feature to the Galaxy A35 and several other A-series phones, but the rest of the Galaxy AI experience is exclusive to flagship devices and is likely to remain that way for the time being.
As for software updates, Samsung promises four major upgrades to the Android OS and five years of security updates, which is great and something no competitor can match.
Check out our Galaxy A35 review to learn more about the software experience you get with the M35.
battery life
The Galaxy M35 has excellent battery life, as you would expect from a phone with a 6,000 mAh battery. Even with lots of gaming and 5G mobile data usage, you can get a full day of use out of it. During the review period, I never once needed to charge my phone before the early afternoon of the second day.
However, the Exynos 1380 chipset lacks the efficiency of newer mid-range Exynos chips or the latest flagship Snapdragon processors. Samsung claims up to two days of battery life, but the M35 doesn’t live up to that claim. At least it wasn’t for me.
The M35 supports 25W charging if you have the right charger (unsurprisingly, Samsung doesn’t offer an in-box charger), and a full charge takes 90-100 minutes . After 30 minutes of charging, the battery will go from 0 to about 45%.
verdict
The Galaxy M35 is a great value. It promises a great display, strong Gorilla Glass protection, good performance (and good cooling with a large vapor chamber), great battery life, and four major OS upgrades.
The design and camera quality are nothing to write home about. The display bezels are too large and the battery life isn’t great for a 6,000mAh battery. But none of that prevents you from trading at the asking price. The good outweighs the bad, so if you’re looking to buy a new mid-range phone and are on a tight budget, you should seriously consider the M35.
