This story is a part of Samsung Occasion, CNET’s assortment of stories, suggestions and recommendation round Samsung’s hottest merchandise.
Samsung’s giving Google extra competitors out there for reasonably priced telephones with the newly introduced $450 Galaxy A54 5G. The telephone launches on April 6 and will likely be out there for preorder beginning March 30, representing Samsung’s newest effort to seize the marketplace for middle-tier smartphones.
The Galaxy A54 5G has quite a bit in frequent with final yr’s Galaxy A53 5G. That telephone punched above its weight in some ways, aside from its often laggy efficiency, as I wrote in my overview. Each telephones have a 5,000-mAh battery, which matches the Galaxy S23 Extremely’s in capability, a display screen with a 120Hz adaptive refresh fee and 128GB of storage that is expandable as much as 1TB. In addition they have very comparable display screen sizes, with the Galaxy A54’s measuring 6.4 inches, making it simply barely smaller than the Galaxy A53’s 6.5-inch show. Worldwide pricing wasn’t instantly out there. However the Galaxy A53 5G had the identical US worth at launch, and lists for £399 and AU$699 within the UK and Australia, respectively.
Learn extra: Greatest Telephones Beneath $500
The most important modifications Samsung made to its new telephone need to do with the digicam. The Galaxy A54 5G has a 50-megapixel major digicam as a substitute of the Galaxy A53’s 64-megapixel fundamental sensor, though each telephones have a 12-megapixel ultrawide digicam and a 5-megapixel macro digicam. Samsung as a substitute appears to be emphasizing nighttime images with the Galaxy A54 5G, though we cannot understand how a lot of an enchancment to anticipate till we’re capable of strive it. The corporate additionally says the pixels within the Galaxy A54 5G’s sensor are bigger than these within the Galaxy A53 5G’s digicam, subsequently requiring fewer megapixels. Like its predecessor, the Galaxy A54 5G additionally has a 32-megapixel entrance digicam, however Samsung removed the rear-facing 5-megapixel depth digicam.
The Galaxy A54 5G will run on an Exynos 1380 processor, which sounds prefer it may be the successor to the Exynos 1280 chip in final yr’s telephone. I am curious to see whether or not this chip makes a distinction, since efficiency was one in every of my few complaints in regards to the Galaxy A53 5G. Like different current Samsung telephones, the Galaxy A54 5G will obtain 4 generations of Android OS updates and 5 years of safety updates.
Watch this:
Galaxy A53 5G Review: Samsung’s $450 Phone Feels More…
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Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S devices and its foldable phones may attract the most attention, but the company’s A-series devices have built a serious following. Two of Samsung’s A-series devices, the Galaxy A13 and Galaxy A03, made it into Counterpoint Research’s rankings of the top-selling phones in 2022, while the Galaxy S series was nowhere to be found.
The launch comes as Google has been competing with Samsung more aggressively on price in recent years. Google has its own A-series devices that offer some features from its flagship Pixel line at a more affordable price. The $450 Pixel 6A, for example, is one of the best-looking phones in its price range and inherits Google’s Tensor processor from the Pixel 6. It also offers a superior camera compared to the Galaxy A53 5G when taking photos in very bright or dim surroundings. Google launched the Pixel 6A last July after announcing it at its developer conference in May, so there’s a chance it could launch a successor in the coming months.
The Galaxy A54 5G has a 50-megapixel main camera.
Samsung
Beyond its A-series phones, Google also sells its flagship Pixel phones for significantly less than the list price of Samsung’s new Galaxy S phones. The Pixel 7, for example, starts at $600, while the Galaxy S23 begins at $800 without a trade-in discount.
Still, Samsung dominates the US market for Android phones, accounting for 20% of shipments in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to Google’s 5%, according to Counterpoint Research.
The Galaxy A54 5G is also another sign that you no longer have to pay close to $1,000 to get features like a multilens camera and a screen with a high refresh rate. It builds on a theme that’s been prevalent throughout the industry in recent years, particularly on Android devices, as once-premium features like 5G, larger screens and advanced cameras have trickled down to cheaper devices.
And while Apple did release a third-generation of the iPhone SE last year for $429 that competes with Samsung and Google’s midrange offerings, the company isn’t expected to refresh its cheaper iPhone in 2023. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that a fourth iPhone SE is in development, but it’s not expected to arrive until 2024.
