The Samsung Galaxy A54 is better built and more aesthetically pleasing than its predecessor. Still, it performs similarly to the Galaxy A52s and is sold at a flagship-level price point for budget-conscious consumers.

It is not unfounded to say that Samsung’s Galaxy A series is among the most important Korean products. Counterpoint Research shows they are so significant that they make up over 50% of Samsung’s phone sales figures! In other words, the sales of the A series alone are equal to the combined sales of the S, M, and F series.

The Galaxy A series experiences impressive sales worldwide, from North America to Europe, Asia, and Dubai. Most of these sales can be attributed to Samsung’s continuous support and the production of high-quality products.

After the success of the Galaxy A50, Samsung is following a similar formula for the A7X, A5X, and A3X models. This includes using high-quality cameras, suitable hardware features, and mid-range chips that can easily handle everyday tasks and light gaming.

Samsung’s successful formula for the previous Galaxy A series is also being repeated in the A54, with the difference being that Samsung now intends to elevate its mid-range models by incorporating design elements from its flagship phones. This element has become increasingly important in recent years: the “luxury feel” factor.

The changes in the Korean strategy have come with a cost to consumers, and now Samsung is selling its mid-range A54 model for a 30% increase over the previous A50 model, which sold for $350. The A54 is now being sold for $450, equivalent to the price of the Google Pixel 6.

The significant price increase makes it difficult for the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G to become the best mid-range phone on the market. In this review of the Galaxy A54 with Buytronics, we will look closer at Samsung’s expensive mid-range phone.

Design and build quality of Samsung Galaxy A54

The design of the Galaxy A54 is strikingly similar to that of the latest Korean flagships, such as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. It isn’t easy to distinguish between the Galaxy A54 and the Galaxy S23 Plus in people’s hands. To create even more similarity, the Koreans have used a glass back panel instead of plastic for the first time in this model.

Combining a glass back panel and protruding camera island may be challenging for those with obsessive cleanliness habits, as they must constantly clean the camera area from dust and debris when removing the device from their pocket. Additionally, the glossy back panel easily attracts fingerprints and smudges.

The plastic frames around the cameras are adorned with a layer of chrome. While the camera bump is not particularly pronounced, it can still be a nuisance on flat surfaces during use.

The body dimensions of 8.2 x 76.7 x 158.2mm also have a striking similarity to the Galaxy S23 Plus, but the Galaxy A54 continues the path of the A53 with an 8.2mm thickness. Due to the use of a 19.5:9 display instead of a 20:9 display, the Galaxy A54 is now slightly taller than its predecessor. However, due to the 0.1-inch reduction in screen size, the display-to-body ratio also experiences a noticeable decrease.

With the decrease in the display-to-body ratio, the wide bezels on the Galaxy A54 are visible and may initially have an emotional impact on the buyer. However, as with previous models, this issue will gradually become less noticeable, similar to what happens with screen scratches.

Like previous models, Samsung has maintained the water and dust resistance feature for the Galaxy A54, which remains a very important element for buyers. According to the IP67 certification that Samsung received for this model, the device is expected to withstand water up to a depth of one meter for 30 minutes.

Thanks to using an OLED panel, a regular guest in Samsung’s mid-range phones, the device’s fingerprint sensor is located under the panel and provides acceptable accuracy and speed. Unfortunately, it should be noted that registering more than four fingerprints is not possible, a limitation that has existed in Samsung phones for years.

Finally, in the design section, we should mention the device’s color options, including black and white as base colors and lemon and purple as popular colors. We had the black

color for review, which tends to be more dark gray than black.

Galaxy A54 Display & Speaker

The Galaxy A54’s 6.4-inch display is 0.1 inches smaller than its predecessor but produces 25% more brightness. According to our review, the panel brightness increases to 1300 nits, 30% higher than Samsung’s announced figure of 1000 nits.

On the other hand, the 2340 x 1080 pixel resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a pixel density of 403 pixels per inch make for an ideal display for everyday use and tasks. The display surface is also protected by Gorilla Glass 5, similar to the back panel.

Samsung offers two profiles in the display settings for color accuracy and personalization: Vivid and Natural. These profiles cover colors up to the DCI-P3 and sRGB color spaces. Fortunately, this coverage is complete and 100% accurate.

The minimum brightness of the Galaxy A54 is 1.8 nits, which is the lowest among the mid-range devices we have reviewed so far. However, note that the Extra Dim software feature can reduce brightness beyond the announced figure.

Unsurprisingly, Samsung doesn’t use LTPO panels in its mid-range phones, so the Galaxy A54’s display will only switch between two refresh rates, 60Hz, and 120Hz, when the Adaptive profile is active, depending on the content displayed.

To provide an immersive audio experience in its popular mid-range devices, Samsung uses a set of two speakers, including the main speaker at the bottom of the device and the earpiece speaker for calls. The second speaker doesn’t have enough power to produce the same volume as the main speaker, so the unbalanced sound may be slightly annoying since it won’t be centered on the screen during video playback.

The sound volume is acceptable and suitable, but the frequency instability is still noticeable at higher volumes. Another positive feature of the A54’s speaker is its ability to produce deep sound with appropriate bass. As a better comparison, consider the S21 FE, which produces significantly lower quality and volume than the A54.

An unusual point about the Galaxy A54 speakers is that they get hot after playing music for a few minutes, and you can easily feel the high temperature of the glass on the back of the device.

Software and User Interface

Samsung offers its mid-range phones, including the Galaxy A54, with its proprietary One UI 5.1 user interface developed based on Android 13. To many buyers, one of the main reasons to buy the Galaxy A54 is this software, alongside a light and fast skin, also comes with four years of software support.

In fact, by providing four years of software support, Koreans have placed themselves one step higher than the original Android owner, Google, who only supports their Pixel series phones for three years. In other words, Samsung’s phones have the longest support period in the Android world, but only in the S series and some A models.

Apart from the user interface features, we must also talk about the software experience of the device, where you will experience a user interface free of any delays, sluggishness, or lag. Samsung is not particularly experienced in executing animations for opening and closing apps, but what it offers in One UI is better than any other skin in the Android world, second only to Pixel UI! The smoothest and best Android experience is found on Google’s Pixel UI, and next in line is Samsung’s reigning supreme.

My only personal issues with One UI can be summarized in two points: Firstly, why are the Quick Settings icons designed so small? And secondly, why do we have to tap on the app icon in the Overview (running apps) section to access information about the app, while in all other skins, we have to long-press on the app icon?

Despite any controversial issues, Samsung has collaborated with Microsoft and Google to create an ecosystem with few rivals outside of Apple’s products.

The deep integration between Samsung products (some models of the S and A series) and Windows practically eliminates the software gap between these two operating systems. You can wirelessly control messages, photos, videos, notifications, and even apps and view or run them on your Windows computer.

One important feature we expect to see in the mid-range category with the hardware becoming more powerful is DeX. Despite the desktop-like user interface of DeX, the range of software capabilities of Galaxies will increase more than ever, shining as an unrivaled product in the Android world.

Galaxy A54 Camera

Samsung’s formula for mid-range phones is only completed by adding a unique camera, where the company uses hardware-based optical image stabilization (OIS) for the first time and takes the camera of mid-range phones to a new level.

The primary camera of the Galaxy A54 experiences a reduction in image dimensions to 14 megapixels, which can directly impact the clarity of images. However, we should remember that other factors, such as the lens and image processing algorithm, will have a greater impact on the final output for better quality.

The ultra-wide camera is similar to the previous generation, and for the third camera, Samsung has settled for a macro camera by leaving aside the depth detection camera. The selfie camera uses a sensor and lens with similar specifications, including a 32-megapixel resolution and a wide 25mm lens.

Other Galaxy A54 camera system features include 4K@30fps and 1080p@30/60fps video recording capabilities that cover the needs of a wide range of users.

The primary camera of the Galaxy A54 uses a 50-megapixel sensor with 0.1-micron pixels and a size of 1/1.56 inches, which is located behind a lens with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization. As a result, the primary camera sensor is 22% larger than the previous generation, which helps to capture more light. The camera system supports phase detection autofocus (PDAF).

Poor lighting conditions, the Samsung Galaxy’s primary camera captures high-quality and satisfactory images with an acceptable dynamic range and relevant details. Colors in Galaxy A54 photos tend to be realistic, but depending on the scenario and content of the image, the color impact of objects may affect the color balance.

The ultra-wide camera of the A54 uses a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/2.2 lens and a 123-degree field of view. This camera does not capture details as well as the primary camera, but it can produce similar color output. However, in high-contrast lighting environments, the ultra-wide camera’s limited dynamic range may act as its Achilles’ heel.

The third camera, which has a 5-megapixel sensor and a macro lens, captures sharp and high-quality photos in sufficient light and if the subject is kept at an appropriate distance from the camera. However, the challenge here is finding the right distance, which can be frustrating. Therefore, the lack of autofocus in the macro camera is strongly felt.

The selfie camera of Galaxy A54, like the macro camera, captures high-quality photos if the distance is appropriate and can produce high-quality, detailed, and natural-looking photos with minimal software processing by capturing natural skin texture.

In general, smartphone cameras face challenges in low light conditions, but this is only partially true for the Galaxy A54 camera, at least for the primary camera!

Although when taking photos in low light with the primary camera, you will see significant noise in the images whether you enable Night Mode or not, the sensor receives sufficient light to capture details from the environment by reducing shutter speed and allowing light to pass through the lens stabilized with OIS.

With Night Mode enabled, the brightness of the images increases significantly, and color accuracy also improves. However, as mentioned before, the noise will be a permanent guest in the output photos.

Samsung provides three main modes in the camera software: ultra-wide, wide, and 2x zoom. Despite the lack of a telephoto lens, it is provided through software. By selecting the 2x zoom mode, other modes such as 4x, 8x, and 10x zoom will also be available to you, all achieved through digital cropping.

Conclusion and Comparison of Galaxy A54 with Competitors

The Galaxy A54 is a valuable and highly sophisticated product. Let’s take a positive look at the Galaxy A54.

The Samsung Galaxy A54 competes with mid-range smartphone like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro. Its standout features include a high-quality AMOLED display, impressive camera setup, and long-lasting battery life. These make it a great option for content creators or anyone who values screen quality and photography capabilities.

It is a mid-range smartphone that provides suitable performance, a high-quality camera, and an attractive appearance, and its functionality will be guaranteed by the company for at least 4 years in the future.

Where to buy Samsung Galaxy A54 5g in Dubai?

If you live in Dubai, UAE, and want your own Galaxy A54 in UAE, You can buy it from us!

We are an online electronics store in Dubai, UAE, called Buytronics. We offer various electronic products, such as Smartphones and Smartwatches. Buy the Galaxy A54 5G now and experience its amazing camera features!