Samsung has raised the prices of the Galaxy A57 and Galaxy A37 in India for the second time in three weeks. The new prices took effect on 6 September, according to a notice Samsung sent to retailers. The Galaxy A57 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage moves from ₹59,999 to ₹62,999. The 12GB version goes from ₹67,499 to ₹72,499. The Galaxy A37 rises by ₹3,000 for the 8GB/128GB model, ₹4,000 for the 8GB/256GB model and ₹6,000 for the 12GB/256GB model, which now costs ₹63,999.
The first round came on 22 August, when Samsung added between ₹2,000 and ₹5,000 to the same phones. Both launched in India on 25 March at ₹56,999 for the base A57 and ₹41,999 for the base A37. Added up, the base A57 now costs ₹6,000 more than at launch, about 11%. The top A37 has gone up ₹11,000, or 21%, in under six months.
In shillings, the September increases alone are between KES 4,100 and KES 8,200 per phone at the 7 September rate of KES 1.37 to the rupee.
Samsung has not said why
Samsung gave no reason for either increase. Its second-quarter results, published on 30 July, blame component costs. The mobile and networks business had revenue of KRW 33.2 trillion and an operating loss of KRW 0.7 trillion, which Samsung put down to “elevated component cost pressures across the industry”. It was the division’s first quarterly loss since Samsung began reporting the segment in 2011.
The component in question is memory. Samsung is the world’s largest maker of DRAM and NAND chips, and it is selling as much as it can to AI data centres, which pay more. That demand has pushed up memory prices for every phone maker, Samsung’s own handset division included. Samsung’s head of global marketing, Wonjin Lee, told Bloomberg in January that semiconductor supply problems in 2026 were “going to affect everyone, not just Samsung”.
India has been getting the increases in monthly instalments. An April round on the A06, A07, A17, A36, A56 and F17 was Samsung’s fifth price rise in the country this year. On 2 September the Galaxy A17, A27, F17 and A07 5G went up by as much as ₹14,500.
What this means for Kenya
Samsung Kenya has not announced new prices. But the A series has been getting more expensive here for a while. When the A57 and A37 launched officially in Kenya in March, Samsung set the A57 8GB/256GB at KES 68,300 and the A37 6GB/128GB at KES 49,000. A year earlier the A56 8GB/256GB launched at KES 54,995 and the A36 6GB/128GB at KES 40,995, as we noted when early retail prices for the new phones looked wild. That is a KES 13,305 jump on the A5x, or 24%, and KES 8,005 on the A3x, or 20%, before any mid-year adjustment.
The wider African picture points the same way. Omdia’s second-quarter numbers, published on 20 August, show African smartphone shipments fell 7% year on year, the first drop in three years. The average selling price rose USD 41 to USD 202. Kenya fell 15%, which Omdia put down to higher prices in the sub-USD 150 segment. Manish Pravinkumar, principal analyst at Omdia, said “vendors can no longer profitably manufacture $75 smartphones”. Omdia expects African shipments to fall 26% for the full year.
Some Kenyan retailers still list the A57 below Samsung’s recommended price. But beware, they may be used devices, or fake listings.
We wrote in December that 2026 would be the year cheap phones got expensive. The A57 and A37 show the case in the mid-range market segment.
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