Samsung Galaxy A18: Leaked Renders & Expected UK Deals

These are the first renders of Samsung's next budget phone, the Galaxy A18, acquired from proven industry leaker OnLeaks and provided exclusively to Smartphone Checker. They are built from the factory CAD data Samsung shares with case makers months before launch, so the dimensions are exact and the shape and camera layout match the finished phone. Below you will find the full 360-degree video, dimensions, expected UK price and how it compares to the current Galaxy A17.

Leaked renders of the Samsung Galaxy A18, showing the front, rear and triple camera housing. Click any image to view it full size. Images: OnLeaks × Smartphone Checker.

What is new: the camera housing

The A18 keeps the same triple rear camera arrangement as the A17 but moves to a slightly refined housing, with the pill-shaped lens surround sitting a touch flatter against the back. Everything else about the rear is near-identical, which is typical for a year-on-year A-series update.

For reference, the A17 carries a 50MP main camera with OIS, a 5MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro, alongside a 13MP selfie camera. With the housing barely changed, the A18 is likely to use a very similar setup.

Design and dimensions

The Galaxy A18 5G measures 164.4 x 77.8 x 7.84mm (9.74mm including the rear camera bump), against 164.4 x 77.9 x 7.5mm for the current Galaxy A17. In other words the footprint is all but identical (0.1mm narrower) and the body is 0.34mm thicker. It is unknown whether that extra thickness will translate into any extra battery capacity. It retains the 6.7-inch display and the same Infinity-U notch for the selfie camera as the A17, the waterdrop style used across the budget A-series.

Galaxy A18 vs Galaxy A17: how they compare

Confidence labels: Confirmed in a filing or database, From CAD derived from the leaked renders, Rumoured reported but unconfirmed.

Rumoured specifications

Beyond the CAD-derived design, current leaks point to a chipset split between the two variants. According to a ZDNet Korea report, the A18 5G drops Exynos for a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, while the A18 4G stays with MediaTek. The exact models are not confirmed: some outlets suggest a Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 for the 5G and a Helio G99 for the 4G (the chip the A17 4G already uses), but neither is nailed down. If those are the chips, the Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 benchmarks slightly faster than the Helio G99, though both are entry-level parts. Both are expected to carry a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display at 90Hz, a battery around 5,000mAh and fast charging. The 4G model has already surfaced in the GSMA database as SM-A185F. Treat the chipset, battery and charging details as rumoured until Samsung confirms them.

Leak timeline

• 7 July 2026 – Exclusive: first CAD-based renders, 360-degree video and dimensions published.
• 1 July 2026 – ZDNet Korea reported the A18 will drop Exynos, with the 5G model using a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip and the 4G model a MediaTek chip.
• 10 April 2026 – Galaxy A18 4G appeared in the GSMA database as SM-A185F.

Expected UK price

Based on the outgoing Galaxy A17's launch prices and how the A-series is usually positioned, we expect the Galaxy A18 to launch at roughly:

For context, the Galaxy A17 4G launched at £169 SIM-free, and A-series prices typically ease over the months after launch as stock matures. On that pattern, expect the A18 5G to arrive around £199 and the A18 4G to match the A17 4G at around £169, before both drift lower through their first year.

The budget A-series is the best-selling phone line in the world

This phone matters more than the modest spec sheet suggests. According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung took five of the ten best-selling phones in the world in Q1 2026, and every one was a budget A-series model: the Galaxy A07 4G (the best-selling Android phone of the quarter), the Galaxy A17 5G, the A56, the A36 and the Galaxy A17 4G.

Both the current A17 5G and A17 4G, the exact phones the A18 replaces, were global top-ten sellers. It is Samsung's cheap A0x and A1x lines, not its flagships, that are its true volume champions, which is why an incremental update like the A18 still ships in enormous numbers.

Galaxy A18 FAQ