Samsung has always had solid offerings on their A-series devices. Meet the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G, an upgraded version of the A52 series launched in the Philippines back in March. The smartphone gets some minor upgrades including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 5G chipset and WiFi 6 connectivity while still packing some of the notable aspects of the A52 5G like a 120Hz Super AMOLED display, quad cameras with a 64MP f/1.8 main lens, and a 32MP f/2.2 selfie lens.
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdargon 778G |
| Screen | 6.5-inch Super AMOLED, 2400 x 1080, Infinity-O Display, 120Hz |
| RAM | 6GB, 8GB |
| OS | Android 11, OneUI 3.1 |
| Rear Camera | 64MP f/1.8 Main, 12MP f/2.2 Ultrawide, 5MP f/2.4 Macro, 5MP f/2.4 Depth |
| Front Camera | 32MP f/2.2 |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB, expandable via MicroSD Slot |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 5G |
| Connectivity | Dual-Band WiFi 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, USB Type-C |
| Battery | 4,500mAh, 25W Fast Charging |
| Others | In-Display Fingerprint Scanner |
| Colors | Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Purple, Awesome Mint |
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G has a matte frame that feels good and weighty in the hand despite its plastic construction. It does not attract fingerprints nor smudges and it manages to be slim. Its camera compartment, however, does have a significant bump on the rear chassis.
All its edges are curved for smoother handling and Samsung clusters all the buttons at the right-hand side to make usage seamless. Fortunately, the volume rocker and power button do offer good tactility and resistance when pressed. At the top is its hybrid SIM tray that can house two SIM cards or you can sacrifice the second SIM card slot for a MicroSD card for storage expansion.
Its bottom comes with grilles for its bottom-firing speaker and microphone, as well as a USB Type-C port that supports 25W Fast Charging. Samsung isn’t removing the 3.5mm audio jack yet on the A52s 5G, which is good news for those who like using wired headphones.
One of the standout attractions on the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G is its 6.5-inch 2400 x 1080 120Hz Infinity-O Super AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 5. It’s a well-rounded display that is able to produce colors that pop and deep blacks. It can also deliver a fluid gaming and user experience thanks to its fast 120Hz refresh rate especially in games that support it.
Aside from saturated colors and deep blacks, its Super AMOLED display has a wide color gamut, even colors, and high brightness reaching up to 390cd/m2 at its maximum settings. Gamma is slightly off at 1.92 but contrast ratio is excellent given the nature of its screen.
The Galaxy A52s 5G has a bottom-firing speaker and uses its earpiece to get stereo sound. They perform well together and can deliver a bit of soundstage. Volume can get loud though higher frequencies can get tinny at max settings and bass is somewhat weak. Overall, its speaker setup is good enough for casual listening but not for properly enjoying audiophile-level formats.
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G comes with Android 11 with One UI 3.1 though the brand will be rolling out One UI 4.0 for it next year. Samsung breaks off the traditional Android mold and makes navigation and UI easier for users on One UI 3.1.
Bixby can be accessed by long pressing the power button while turning off the device has been changed to pressing the power button plus the volume down button. Users can access Panels or quick shortcuts by swiping in from the right-hand side. Panels can be customized with various apps to be quick launched.
Various improvements on One UI 3.1 include Live Captions, additional customization, and more widgets. This is already on top of vanilla Android options such as dark mode, split-screen, and multi-window support.
A total of 4 lenses reside on the Galaxy A52s 5G’s camera bump: a 64MP f/1.8 main lens, a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide, a 5MP f/2.4 macro, and a 5MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Meanwhile, a punch-hole at the front houses a 32MP f/2.2 selfie camera.
The camera app includes all the necessities like Photo, Video, Pro Photo, Pro Video, Slow Motion, Portrait, Macro, Night Mode, and Panorama. Extras include AR Doodle, AR Zone, Single Take (short videos), and Fun Mode (applies various filters and effects on photos).
64MP mode can be toggled via the aspect ratio toggle oddly enough. Toggles for the main camera, ultrawide, and digital zoom is easily accessible while video supports up to 4k30fps for the main lens and selfie camera, and up to 4k30fps (lacks 1080p60fps) for the ultrawide camera.
Its main 64MP f/1.8 main lens takes 16MP photos by default. Pictures come out with good colors and detail. Dynamic range was okay and there is some sharpening being done on the photos if you look close enough. Low light performance is decent and there is minimal noise considering the condition while high contrast pictures preserve details and colors and darker areas.
Performance is its 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide secondary lens is similarly impressive even though it has less pixel count. The edges are slightly soft but the center is noticeably sharp. There is minimal warping at the edges thanks to proper correction.
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G has 5MP f/2.4 macro lens instead of the 2MP f/2.4 fillers we see in midrange devices. It has a fixed focus of around 3 – 5cm, which gets you close to subjects. It has better quality, detail, and color rendition are fantastic compared to other macro shooters in its range.
At the front is a 32MP f/2.0 selfie camera at the front. It will take 8MP photos by default until users choose the 32MP option on the aspect ratio menu. Skin tones look natural and there is minimal beautification on its default setting. Colors are good and details are well-preserved. A solid selfie camera for sure.
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G does get a slight chipset upgrade with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G. It’s only a minor update, but an update nonetheless. Its chipset can be paired with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage though a 6GB/128GB variant is also available in the Philippines. The updated chipset copious amount of RAM gives the device plenty of performance overhead with minimal hiccups in normal usage.
Scores on synthetic benchmarks are pretty decent with the device reaching the 500,000 mark in AnTuTu Benchmark, 2,497 in 3Dmark Wild Life, 2,799 in GeekBench 5 Multi-Core test, and 12,085 in PCMark Work 3.0.
Gaming performance is top-notch with most games able to run at their maximum capped framerates. 60fps is the standard in mainstream games though PUBG Mobile can only achieve 40fps capped. Genshin Impact, however, will struggle to get to 30fps at the highest settings but has playable framerates at medium and lowest presets.
The Galaxy A52s 5G is powered by a 4,500mAh battery. It’s no means the largest battery capacity in the Galaxy A range but the device is able to last quite a bit of time in a single charge.
Under medium use composed of work, replying to emails, browsing the web, watching to videos, and occasionally playing games, the Galaxy A52s 5G is able to last around a day.
Charging is done via a 25W connection on its USB Type-C port at the bottom. It’s not the fastest charging tech in the market but the device is able to fill its tank rather quickly from 0% to 100% in around an hour and a half.
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G is definitely a contender for a great midrange device. It has a lot going for it like a 120Hz 6.5-inch SuperAMOLED display, great cameras, decent chipset, loud stereo speakers, and fair battery life.
Some might be turned off by its price though. At PhP 22,990, the Galaxy A52s 5G still has the makings of a slightly lower priced midrange device like a plastic chassis, limited charging, and mainstream games do not support higher refresh rates on its chipset.
If considered in a vacuum, the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G is a solid smartphone with premium features but other devices will still offer a better price-to-performance ratio. Those who can look beyond its faults will experience a fast and satisfying experience something akin to a baby S series device.
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G is now available in the Philippines for PhP 22,990 for its 8GB/128GB version and PhP 24,990 for its 8GB/256GB variant. Color variants include Awesome Black and Awesome Mint. You can get it via the Samsung online store and experience stores nationwide and partner retailers.
