Galaxy M31s versus Galaxy M51: The battle of the value monsters

The Galaxy M31s and the Galaxy M51 are Samsung’s latest devices in the value-oriented M series. They were released one month apart from each other, with the Galaxy M31s having been first to hit the shelves. It debuted in India in early August whereas the Galaxy M51 was released in Russia today, September 8, while remaining available for pre-order in Germany.

Now that both devices are available (albeit not everywhere, yet), we finally have the opportunity to see how they stack up against one another. The Galaxy M31s overshadowed the Galaxy A51 in our review, and perhaps this will make a direct comparison with the Galaxy M51 that much more interesting.

The Galaxy M31s and Galaxy M51 share many specs but key differences exist

The Galaxy M51 and Galaxy M31s look very similar, right down to the L-shaped camera configuration and button placement. They each have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and an Infinity-O Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400 by 1080, but the Galaxy M51 is on the larger side. Its panel clocks in at 6.7 inches whereas the Galaxy M31s has a 6.5-inch screen.

Evidently, this also means that the Galaxy M51 is a bit heavier and its overall dimensions are larger. Even so, you’d be hard-pressed to notice a design difference between the two unless you’d see them side-by-side. Have a look at the images below (left: Galaxy M31s left / right: Galaxy M51).

The Galaxy M51 and Galaxy M31s have a nearly-identical camera configuration with very few minor differences. The setups comprise a 64MP wide-angle sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide, a 5MP depth sensor, and a 5MP macro camera. They phones also have a 32MP front-facing camera each but the Galaxy M31’s selfie sensor has an f/2.2 aperture instead of f/2.0.

Different chipsets, batteries, and launch prices

Both phones have 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. Samsung also sells a Galaxy M31s variant with 8GB of RAM and it will probably do the same for the Galaxy M51, but as of now, the latter device comes with only one memory configuration.

One of the biggest differences between the two devices lies in the choice of silicon. The Galaxy M31s is powered by the Exynos 9611 chipset featuring eight CPU cores and a Mali-G72 MP3 GPU, whereas the Galaxy M51 is equipped with the Snapdragon 730/730G SoC featuring eight CPU cores and an Adreno 618 graphics chip.

Finally, the Galaxy M31s has a 6,000mAh battery while the newer Galaxy M51 sports an unprecedented 7,000mAh unit. Both benefit from 25W fast charging. They also run Android 10 and One UI 2.1 Core. The Galaxy M31s costs around 300 euro while the Galaxy M51 will set you back 360 euro. Prices will differ slightly from one market to another but the price gap between the two is fairly consistent.

Which one of these two Galaxy M devices would you be more inclined to buy and why? Feel free to let us know in the comment section, and in case you want to take a closer look at the Galaxy M31s and Galaxy M51 side-by-side you can check our new online comparison tool.

• Model: SM-M317F
• Dimensions: Bar: 159.3 x 74.4 x 9.3 mm
• Display: 6.5 inch / 165.1 mm Super AMOLED Display
• CPU: Exynos 9611
• Camera: 64MP

• Model: SM-M515F
• Dimensions: Bar: 163.9 x 76.3 x 9.5 mm
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Super AMOLED Plus
• CPU: Snapdragon 730G
• Camera: 64MP