With the Galaxy S22 FE and Galaxy A74 nowhere in sight, the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G plugs the gap between the S series and the A lineup. It is a slight upgrade from last year’s A53 5G, this year’s entry with a new Exynos 1380 chipset, WiFi 6 support, and a redesigned look.
| Chipset | Exynos 1380 |
| Screen | 6.4-inch Super AMOLED, 2340 x 1080, 120Hz |
| RAM | 8GB |
| OS | Android 13, One UI 5.1 |
| Rear Camera | 50MP f/1.8 OIS Main, 12MP f/2.2 Ultrawide, 5MP f/2.4 Macro |
| Front Camera | 32MP f/2.2 |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB, MicroSD |
| Network | Dual-Sim, 5G |
| Connectivity | WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, USB-C |
| Battery | 5,000mAh, 25W Fast Charging |
| Others | In-Display Fingerprint Scanner, IP67 Dust and Water Resistance, Glass Back Panel with Glossy Finish |
| Dimensions | 158.2 x 76.7 x 8.2mm |
| Weight | 202g |
| Colors | Awesome Lime, Awesome Graphite, Awesome Violet |
The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G closely mimics the design of the S23 series. The only thing immediately noticeable is the finish. The former has a shiny rear finish and matte sides while the latter has it in reverse. The LED flash is slightly lower but the camera arrangement remains the same as its high-end siblings. Its glossy finish means that it will be a dust and fingerprint magnet if you don’t have a case. It’s also worth noting that the chassis is has an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance.
The sides are slightly curved and not entirely flat. The back itself feels slippery but its 6.4-inch frame fits neatly in the hand. All its buttons are clustered at the right-hand side. The power key is bound to other functions like holding it down activates Bixby while double pressing it quick launches the camera app. The latter can be changed to open any app you want.
The SIM tray can be popped off from the top. It supports a dedicated SIM card and a hybrid tray for another SIM card or MicroSD. The bottom is slightly less populated with only a USB-C connector and grilles for its microphone and speakers since there is no 3.5mm audio jack.
The Galaxy A54 5G sports a 6.4-inch 2340 x 1080 120Hz AMOLED screen with Gorilla Glass 5. It is larger than the vanilla S23 but slightly smaller than the Galaxy S23+. The panel is fast, and responsive but Samsung has taken out the variable refresh rate to keep prices low but the smartphone still sports Always-On Display.
As with most AMOLED panels in the Samsung’s range, the colors look good and saturated while details look crisp. Its FullHD+ resolution is just right for its size. Its automatically set to Vivid Mode but you can change it to Standard via the Display Settings if you want a slightly more natural and neutered color tone.
Color balance is slightly off especially at the upper end of the brightness slider leaning towards a slightly stronger green hue but this should be noticeable in general use. Typical brightness maxes out at around 427.9 cd/m2 and it can go down to only 1.68 cd/m2 at its lowest setting.
The smartphone employs two speakers for external audio – the earpiece and the bottom-firing speaker. Most of the heavy lifting is done by the latter with the former filling in for additional soundstage. The speaker can get loud for such a small device but clarity is lacking at higher volumes. Vocals remain clear, however, making it decent enough for listening to podcasts or specific genres of music.
When it comes to software, the smartphone runs on Android 13 with Samsung’s One UI 5.1. There isn’t much new here when it comes to design but there are additional functionalities. There are new widgets and Modes and Routines that allow you to dynamically set triggers and functions depending on your preference.
The Gallery app gets more functionality this time around. First off is the Object Remover. This allows you to automatically erase shadows or reflections and remove parts of the frame with automatic blending. We wouldn’t use it for anything large on the frame but tinier imperfections can be removed with good blending.
You can also use the new Remaster Mode to get to optimize some of your photos. The smartphone will check the image and automatically apply a preset to boost image color and clarity. It won’t aggressively blow out colors but tastefully adjust some settings.
The company is simplifying the formula by omitting the rear depth sensor opting for a triple camera setup for the A54 5G. You will now get a 50MP f/1.8 main lens, a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 5MP f/2.4 macro lens at the back. Selfies can be taken with a 32MP f/2.2 front-facing camera.
The camera app remains simple with the usual inclusions such as Photo, Video, Pro, Portrait, Night Mode, Panorama, Fun and more. Video supports 4K30fps, 1080p60fps, and 720p30fps. Pro gives you quite the control over the lenses but there is no RAW support.
The main camera is now a 50MP f/1.8 shooter compared to the A53 5G’s 64MP primary lens. It takes 12.5MP photos by default after pixel binning. Performance is strong in daylight or well-lit areas with good detail and color rendition. It does boost colors a bit not too much to make photos look artificial.
Night photos introduce some amount of noise in darker areas. Dynamic range is good, however, allowing for good exposure in both bright and dim areas. The camera app will automatically use Night Mode in severe lighting conditions without you manually switching to the dedicated mode.
Alongside the 50MP main camera is a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide secondary. Photo quality is largely the same as the main camera with a wider angle. Daylight photos come out clean with good dynamic range and detail as well as proper lens correction.
Nighttime photos, however, can be hit and miss. The smartphone prefers using Night Mode with a long exposure on the ultrawide so you won’t be able to get quick snaps with the ultrawide in darker scenes. Photos won’t always be good so take your time when taking photos during the night.
There is also a 5MP f/2.0 macro lens at the back. It’s a bit of an upgrade compared to other midrange smartphones’ 2MP macros but is ultimately very situational. It will get close to subjects and we must say that photos taken in good lighting come out great but anything below optimal will result in a noisy photo.
A 32MP f/2.2 front-facing shooter is present for selfie lovers. Performance is decent especially if you take snaps while outside or in good lighting. Skin tone looks good and there’s minimal postprocessing by default to make everything look natural. Quality takes a slight dip indoors or in dim areas but are still serviceable.
Edge detection on the portrait mode can be a bit finicky on stronger settings blurring even the edges of hair or accessories. Best keep the effect low or tidy up your hair if you really want a strongly blurred background.
Samsung is using their in-house Exynos 1380 chipset for the Galaxy A54 5G. There are some improvements over the Exynos 1280 including two more Cortex-A78 Big Cores with the same 5nm lithography. There are some trade-offs, however, as the six Cortex-A55 little cores are now two cores less this generation.
Real-world performance is good enough for daily use but lags behind similarly-priced smartphones packing a Snapdragon 778G+. Benchmarks figures are decent with the device scoring more than 500,000 in AnTuTu and 12,600 in PCMark Work 3.0.
Performance in mainstream games is consistent and serviceable. Less graphics-intensive games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and League of Legends: Wild Rift will run at 60fps but there’s no support yet for additional graphics options or 120Hz. More demanding games such as Genshin Impact performs smoothly but you might need to turn down some options to get to 60fps.
Providing juice is a 5,000mAh battery – the nominal capacity for midrange smartphones nowadays. It’s the same as last year so we don’t expect any progressive improvements when it comes to battery life. On average, we were able to get a day and a half of use with the A54 5G with average use mostly consisting of WiFi and 5G connectivity. Using PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Test puts the device at 15 hours and 22 minutes.
Samsung is not offering any chargers in the box but the device supports 25W Fast Charging with compatible chargers. Filling up to the battery from empty to full will take around 1 hour and 40 minutes.
The company is also throwing in battery care within the software like limiting charging rates to 10W and battery capacity to only 85 percent. This should help with battery longevity especially if you don’t upgrade your smartphone regularly.
On paper, the Galaxy A54 5G is a decent enough midrange smartphone but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. The features added to One UI 5.1 is good but they are also available to other Samsung smartphones at the moment. It’s also up against stiff competition when it comes to performance as the Exynos 1380 isn’t much of a step up compared to other chipsets in its competitive arena.
But let’s give the device some slack. It has a great screen, loud speakers, satisfactory overall performance for general use, and a good set of cameras. Charging speed could have been faster but Samsung is sticking to its 25W Fast Charging at least for its A series smartphones.
There isn’t much to see here especially if you are coming from a previous generation smartphone. Don’t get us wrong, the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is a solid smartphone with decent specs, performance, and looks. It even has a more premium design and a newer chipset than the A53 5G. Thankfully, it’s priced near to the previous entry’s range to warrant a look if you’re looking for a new midrange smartphone.
The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is priced at PhP 24,990 and PhP 26,990 for its 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB variants in the Philippines, respectively. If you pre-order it until March 30, 2023, you will get a free Travel Adapter and a free storage upgrade for lower capacity model. You can also save up to PhP 10,150 by trading in your old smartphone as well as a 50% discount on the Galaxy Buds2 Pro and 30% off on the Galaxy Watch5 series.
The Galaxy A54 5G now up for pre-order through the Samsung website, Samsung Experience Stores, authorized Samsung stores nationwide, Lazada, Shopee, Abenson.com, and MemoXpress Online.
