Samsung Galaxy F41 Review: best value for money?

A 6,000mAh battery.
A 6.4-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ display.
A 64MP multi-sensor rear camera setup.
A ₹15,499 price tag.

This, and more, is everything common between Samsung's Galaxy M31 and F41 smartphones. The F41 is the more recent of the two, but on paper and in person, you likely won't be able to tell them apart.

Which begs the question--why has Samsung launched the Galaxy F41, when the M31 already exists?

First, let's quickly run through everything the F41 gets, on both the hardware and software fronts.

Like I mentioned earlier, there's a tried and tested 6.4-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ display here, with the familiar Infinity-U notch. In true Samsung fashion, colours are punchy, and watching content on this display is very enjoyable. Bezel sizes are unchanged, as is the standard 60Hz screen refresh rate.

The rear camera setup is a 64MP triple sensor setup, and also includes an 8MP and 5MP sensor. There's no dedicated macro sensor here like you get on the M31, but it's still a reasonably versatile system, that performs quite well in day to day conditions.
Images taken in daylight are colourful enough, details are good and natural depth of field with the 64MP sensor is impressive.
On the ultrawide front, distortion is present but minimal. I would have preferred if the colours were closer to those on the main sensor, but it's not a deal breaker.
Portrait shots are decent, with edge detection doing its job well most of the times, even when taking images of objects.
Low light images from the rear camera are alright enough, with the dedicated Night Mode sprucing things up and working well to eliminate noise.
For selfies, there's a 32MP sensor that does well if you throw enough light into the mix, and edge detection is very good for a single sensor setup.
Both the front and rear cameras take up to 4K videos at 30fps, and slow motion videos at up to 240fps in 1080p resolution.

When it comes to design, there’s again the signature M-series polycarbonate body with a fingerprint sensor at the back, that’s just as reliable and quick as ever. In fact, this Fusion Green colour is very similar to what was offered on the M30s, but it looks much better when compared to the options offered on the M31. There’s also the 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C port and single speaker on the bottom of the F41. A full-fledged dual SIM plus microSD card tray is also present, which is very handy.

Before I forget, this device packs in the massive 6,000mAh battery we’ve gotten used to seeing on Samsung phones, which offers nearly two days of battery life with moderate usage. It charges at up to 15W, which does take over 2 hours to charge the phone from zero to full, but then again, you won’t be charging this nearly as often as other devices.

On the software front, things are largely the same. It’s still Android 10, but the F41 runs OneUI Core 2.1, which adds features like Single Take, that allow you to take multiple videos, photos and boomerangs with a single click.

With the same Exynos 9611 chip we’ve gotten quite used to, the experience is also quite similar. For day to day use, the F41 is more than enough with its 6GB RAM and up to 128GB internal storage, which can be supersized up to 512GB with a microSD card. Gaming performance is strong on titles like COD mobile, as long as you don’t push it too far with the highest graphic settings and max frame rate.

Now all this makes it seem like Samsung hasn’t really done much with the F41, except for giving an older phone a new name. But if you take a look at the economics of the device, things start to make sense.
You see, if you buy this phone from Flipkart, you’re offered the Flipkart Smart Upgrade Plan, which means you only pay 70% of the cost, in order to use the phone for 1 year. At the end of that year, you can either switch to a different device, or pay the remaining amount and continue using the F41. This brings down the effective cost from the Rs. 15,499 starting price for this device considerably, and coupled with available credit card offers, you can end up getting the F41 for a lot cheaper than it’s actual cost.
When you take that into consideration, you’re actually getting a whole lot of value for money, and at this price point, that’s what it’s all about.

The F41 manages to check some big spec boxes like a 6,000mAh battery, 6GB RAM and a large super AMOLED display, at an extremely reasonable price.
In my opinion, this is a paradigm shift for the brand—it’s taking everything that was good about the M-series, and putting it in its new F-series, so it can expand options for its customers at a very competitive price point. If you ask me, the F-series, with its latest Galaxy F41, is all set to be your next best daily driver.