Review of the Samsung A54 5G

Our Verdict

Not quite King of the mid-range, the Samsung A54 5G is certainly a looker. Its strong internals, killer battery life, and gorgeously bright screen keep it a strong contender for the mid-range crown.

Reasons to buy

• A stunning phone for those who like to show off
• Super-smooth 120Hz AMOLED display
• An affordable, but well-performing device

Reasons to avoid

• Samsung’s One UI is still a mixed bag
• Not designed for gaming

The Samsung A54 5G is a really beautiful handset in its eye-catching new violet colour choice, and I adore most things purple. Not only is it gorgeous, but for a very reasonable price, the new midrange Samsung phone has all the features you could possibly want in an Android phone—if not a little bit more.

The 2023 addition to the range brings with it a few upgrades over the equally excellent Samsung A53 5G. One of the sleekest midrange smartphones that Samsung has ever released, the new gadget is a blast to play with.

The Samsung A54 5G is a seamless and cosy gadget right out of the box. Even though this is a midrange smartphone, it has a lot of Samsung's signature luxury style. The phone’s multi-camera arrangement and pleasing, clicky power and volume keys are located on its smooth glass back, which is encased in a plastic frame with a metallic appearance.

With its still-overly styled One UI Android overlay, Samsung's newest offering is more of a fun substitute for direct rivals like the Pixel 7a, Nothing Phone 2, or — on the iOS side — iPhone SE than it is a must-have.

Price

The RRP of the Samsung A54 5G, with 128GB of internal storage, is $449.99/£449.99 as of the time of writing. The more sturdy phone simply costs a little bit extra for people who want twice the capacity. Third-party retailers are another place to get the item for much less money.

Details

Design

"Ugly" is the last thing anybody would say about the Samsung A54 5G, out of all that can be stated. The gadget still has Samsung's famous hole-punch selfie camera and thin, almost nonexistent bezels. It is a classic glass sandwich.

Samsung updated the A-Series smartphones' designs this year in a few rather ingenious ways. Three separate lenses and one flash have taken the place of the unsightly camera hump that is often seen. Although most users won't miss the add-on that much, this does unfortunately mean losing the depth sensor from last year.

Samsung's design is quite pleasant due to its minor redesigns. An hour of one-meter submersion in freshwater is possible with the yearly refresh's IP67-certified water and dust protection and smooth glass back, making it both a robust and dependable smartphone and a stunning piece of technical art.

Show

The stunning Super AMOLED display on Samsung devices is encased in a stunning chassis design and offers more than enough brightness. The screen's 1000-nit brightness makes everything surprisingly viewable, even in the intense summer heat.

The screen refresh rate of the A54 5G is also a silky smooth 120Hz. Whether you're using the home screen or a game, input latency is invisible and playback is smooth.

Gorilla Corning Glass 5 surrounds the A54's surface, increasing its resistance to potentially harmful drops and falls, although it may also scratch easily. Even though there were no scratches when we tested, we would nonetheless advise using a screen protector.

Power Source

For those seeking a phone that promises at least a full day's worth of battery life, the A54 5G is unquestionably the right choice. With a 5,000 mAh battery, Samsung's midrange phone costs half as much as the Galaxy S23 Ultra while offering a same battery capacity.

The A54 5G runs for days on relatively little power thanks to internals that are less demanding than those of its larger sibling. In spite of continuous movie playing, the gadget managed to endure almost a full day. It's an amazing phone, particularly for folks who won't be using it for intense gaming.

Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail are two demanding games that will significantly reduce battery life. Even if it is to be anticipated, playing the game nonstop may empty the phone's enormous battery in around seven hours, which is still impressive for a game with such high technical requirements.

Even with such a large capacity, charging times are also rather quick. The Samsung A54 5G can achieve 100% capacity in under 90 minutes when using a quick USB-C charger. Even while it doesn't charge as quickly as a OnePlus smartphone, it still charges quite quickly.

Performance

When compared to their Snapdragon counterparts, Samsung smartphones have always been criticised for having subpar Exynos performance. But the 5nm Exynos 1380 processor from this year is excellent; it performs well in every demanding programme we throw at it.

Performance in Genshin Impact is decent, with an average framerate at maximum settings in the mid-40s. Another very demanding game, Honkai Star Rail, performs substantially better, with certain regions seeing 60 frames per second or even higher.

Call of Duty: Mobile offers an exceptionally smooth experience, even at maximum settings, for more competitive play. Even though the game can't play at the full 120 frames per second on the display, most players can still enjoy it at this speed. Although it's not the greatest gaming phone available, most users will find it to be pretty satisfactory.

While Samsung's Exynos CPUs aren't really intended for gaming, the 1380 does a great job. But multitasking, which keeps the phone's One UI Android overlay operating as smoothly as you'd expect for everyday usage, is the chip's strong point.

We did notice some obvious stutters while switching between many active games due to some minor chugging that occurred when many games were running in the background. Apart from this one hardware-limiting problem, the performance is excellent.

Cameras

Samsung has made a few minor adjustments to the A54's camera setup in comparison to the A53 5G from last year. It is surprising that the depth sensor from last year was left out, even though there are still three primary cameras.

Though it is more difficult to get portrait mode images with a lot of depth of focus and macro pictures due to the absence of a depth sensor, the A54's cameras are still a minor improvement overall.

But Samsung's reputation for producing excellent camera systems is back. Although the gadget requires more effort to focus correctly and the images won't be as crisp as those taken with, example, a Samsung S23 Ultra, you can still capture excellent quality shots with it.

Your captured photos are reduced from 50 megapixels to only 12.5 megapixels by the A54's 50 megapixel primary sensor, which combines many frames to provide crisper pictures. When you make a shot, it might seem very crisp and colourful, making it ideal for an Instagram page.

Sadly, Samsung's low-cost cameras do not perform well in low light. With the Pixel-like Night Sight switched on, the A54's camera is unable to capture sharp images of moving objects, even in intense outside shadow. It's unimpressive, but it's still not worthless.

Of course, your enjoyment of Samsung's extensive post-processing will determine whether you like the images taken with the A54 5G. Even while they still seem great, colours in pictures are adjusted to be more saturated, not exactly representing the actual world.

The A54's supposedly delayed shutter speed is the main reason why Samsung's picture quality is so poor. There seems to be a little lag, in contrast to speedier Samsung phones, between hitting the capture button and receiving a picture. This causes any shooting setting other than the camera's default mode to lose focus. When dealing with moving objects, portrait and macro modes have a tendency to lose focus, thus anybody with even somewhat unsteady hands will suffer.

Is it wise to purchase the Samsung A54 5G?

If Samsung's One UI shell doesn't bother you, if you're searching for a gorgeous mid-range phone, and if you want a gadget with a multi-day battery life, we believe you should get the Samsung A54 5G.

Nonetheless, we are unable to wholeheartedly endorse this as the device for you if you're looking for the greatest gaming experience available.

If the Samsung A54 5G isn't what you're looking for

If you don't think this is the right gadget, here are some additional possibilities.

Pixel 7a

A strong midrange paired with an even stronger camera.

Google's Pixel 7a Pro, one of the greatest all-arounders available, isn't quite as ostentatious as the Samsung A54 5G, but it does make up for some of the latter's drawbacks.

Specifically, Google's notorious camera technology produces very beautiful still images with ease, especially in dimly lit environments. In addition, the images produced by the gadget have better colour science rather than the brilliance and saturation of Samsung's post-processing.

Regretfully, the Pixel 7a's screen is only 90 Hz, as opposed to the A54's 120 Hz display, but considering the price difference, it's a respectable compromise.

Phone 2

An even more dazzling midrange.

If you can believe it, the Nothing Phone 2 is somehow even more ostentatious than the Samsung A54. In addition to having comparable speed on a more straightforward, pure Android shell, the Nothing Phone 2 stands out thanks to a slew of awesome features.

Although this gadget costs £699.99 more than the Samsung A54 5G, the additional money paid for it yields even greater performance for demanding applications like gaming. You will, however, be forced to make do with a much smaller 4,700 mAh battery.

Go over to our list of the top Samsung phones for even more suggestions. We can also assist you in locating the best gaming iPhone if you'd like something a bit less Android.