Samsung Galaxy A18 goes official with One UI 9 out of the box

Samsung’s low-cost phones have a huge global market and consistently rank among its best-selling devices. The company is now ready to roll out another budget smartphone, following up on the Galaxy A17.

In a blog post earlier today, Samsung officially announced the Galaxy A18 4G for the French market, confirming nearly everything we learned courtesy of a leak yesterday.

This includes a 6.7-inch, 1080 x 2340, 90Hz Super AMOLED screen and a triple-camera system featuring a 50MP primary sensor, a 5MP wide sensor, and a 2MP camera, alongside a 13MP selfie camera. While past rumors suggested the Galaxy A18 could launch with a MediaTek or Qualcomm SoC, Samsung has equipped the device with its in-house Exynos 1610 chipset.

The phone also includes a 5,000mAh battery, supported by 25W fast wired charging. As the spec sheet suggests, Samsung’s latest budget offering retains most of the predecessor’s hardware, except for the new Exynos chip.

The standout feature here is Android 17-based One UI 9, making it one of the few Galaxy phones to run the latest software. With this, the Galaxy A18 4G joins Samsung’s new foldables and the Galaxy S26 FE as the only phones to launch with Samsung’s newest software out of the box.

Samsung says it will provide six OS updates and six years of security updates for the Galaxy A18 4G, which is pretty decent for a budget phone. Customers in France can now get the Galaxy A18 4G in a 4GB/128GB configuration, with a microSD card slot included. The phone will be available in Light Blue, Black, and Gray colorways.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy A18 isn’t exempt from the price hikes seen across the board, driven by the global components shortage. While the Galaxy A17 4G in the 6GB/128GB configuration retailed for €199 in Europe last year, the A18 4G with less RAM and the same storage will cost €279, as GSMArena points out.

Although we’ve only spotted the Galaxy A18 4G appears in France for now, it shouldn’t be long before that expands to other markets — hopefully including the US.