If possible, it’s even more conservative than the Galaxy A53, which at least had a design of its own, with its sloping and raised rear camera housing. The Galaxy A54 is more similar to the flagship phones in the Galaxy S23 series than the Galaxy A53 was to the Galaxy S22. Shouldn’t Samsung take and sync the names of their mobiles by the way, so it’s easier to remember what’s new? This year’s high-performance S-series ends at “3” and the cheaper A-series at “4”.
Cheaper, but not cheap
The Galaxy A54 is available with either 128 gigabytes or 256 gigabytes of storage and costs SEK 5,790 and SEK 6,390, respectively. The cheaper of the two has six gigabytes of RAM and the more expensive eight. It is the same option as for the Galaxy A53, but an increase in price by just under a thousand.
Here, the design is directly borrowed from the Galaxy S23 Plus, which is closest to the top models in terms of dimensions and weight. A flat front and back, three individually protruding cameras on the back and a wide, slightly curved frame. There is marginal difference between them in thickness, width and weight. A clear difference to this year’s model is that the back is made of glass instead of plastic.
Durable, but not comfortable
It’s Gorilla Glass 5 both front and back. Not the latest and greatest protection, but approved safe. Just like the Galaxy A53, the Galaxy A54 is ip67 rated and can be submerged to a depth of 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. It is unusual in other than expensive top-of-the-line mobile phones and a clear plus. Despite the glass back, the phone does not feel particularly luxurious, and if I had not read inside that the back was made of glass, I would have guessed the same plastic as in the Galaxy A53. I would have preferred it, as it was matte which made the phone more comfortable to hold.
When I tested the S22 Plus, I never quite got to grips with the format, and I have the same problem here. The edges on the side are sharp and because the phone is wide they cut into the hand and make it less comfortable to hold than it could be. Just a small half-millimeter chamfer of the edges would have done the trick.
Samsung also gets the thumbs up for giving the buyer many color options. You can get your A54 in black or white, or in two more pastel-colored variants. In all cases, the matt surface of the frame matches the glossy back in tone. It is not certain that all stores and operators sell all variants, but you can always order one directly from Samsung.
Trimming already good screen
The screen is very similar to the predecessor, which is not wrong, as it was a superb amoled screen with 1080p resolution, which had nice colors, up to 120 Hz frame rate and high brightness. However, the screen is smaller, but the phone itself is not. Another minus for the Galaxy A54 compared to the Galaxy A53.
Everything else is the same, except for the maximum brightness, which has become even higher. Now it shines with up to 1,000 cd/m2 in point brightness. It provides margins and better readability if you are using it in the sunshine or if you are playing hdr movies or playing games. Then good sound is also important, and you absolutely get that. Clean, rich and detailed with good stereo dispersion.
While this year’s top mobile from Samsung has given up using their own Exynos system chips and switched to Snapdragon, Exynos remains in a lower performance class. The Galaxy A54 has the new Exynos 1380, which gives it a noticeable performance boost from its predecessor. Most things I try to do on the mobile, from surfing heavy sites to taking photos and videos, go smoothly.
The graphics performance in Samsung’s circuit is not impressive, but if you settle for frame rates around 30 fps in games like Pubg Mobile or Genshin Impact, you can get it if you take it easy with the graphics settings. If you don’t play that type of mobile game, it’s enough for everything else without problems. There are slower, but also many clearly faster mobiles in the price range, both for games and other things. So if it’s the most power for the money you’re after, it’s not the phone for you.
Quality in the camera
The Galaxy A54’s camera has a 50-megapixel main sensor that replaces its predecessor’s 64-megapixel sensor. It’s not a downgrade just because the pixel count is reduced. Some of the best mobile camera sensors right now are just 50 megapixels, and the image area is a more important indicator of quality. However, I have no information on how big it is here. In any case, it shoots most things really well.
In daylight, I get detailed images with true-to-life colors and convincing dynamics, where dark parts are allowed to be dark, but still have accurate shades. Possibly bright surfaces get a bit worn out sometimes, but then I’m picky. It also takes convincing pictures at night, both outdoors and indoors, with good color balance and no noise.
The depth sensor that the predecessor had has been removed, apparently it should not be needed for a good bokeh effect if, for example, you take portrait pictures. And I can agree with that, the Galaxy A54 handles edge detection relatively well anyway, without an extra sensor. At least as long as it’s bright enough. Edge detection occasionally fails in dim lighting. The other two lenses are a point-less macro camera and a stable, but not exactly remarkable, wide-angle camera.
A step back
The 5,000 mAh battery lasts about as long as expected. Without a dynamic frame rate in the screen, it doesn’t get as good a battery life as the best mobiles right now, but it should last a whole day without problems. You really have to be stingy with how you use the phone to reach the two-day battery life that Samsung is talking about. That’s a step back from the Galaxy A53, which was surprisingly power efficient.
You have to be patient with the battery, Samsung doesn’t put any importance on this with fast charging. Max power of 25 watts over usb provides charging time of over an hour, and it does not support wireless charging. You also don’t get a charger or even a USB cable.
The Galaxy A54 comes with Android 13. Samsung currently has the best update policy of any Android manufacturer. You get four generations of Android updates and five years of security patches. It is better than many top mobiles and much better than the mid-range competitors. This is a phone you can buy now and should be able to use worry-free for years.
Then the relatively high price might not do much. At least if you don’t mind that it only has half-decent performance. You usually need a lot less of that item than you think. On the other hand, there is tough competition with many good options, and there are many things the Galaxy A54 could have done better. The design is more style than comfort, performance, despite a definite increase, is still only half-decent, and the camera has gone from being pretty good, to still being…pretty good, while battery life takes a small step in the wrong direction.
Specifications
Product name: Galaxy A54 SM-A546B
Tested: Mars 2023
Manufacturer: Samsung
Systemkrets: Samsung Exynos 1380
Processor: 4 st Cortex-A78 2,4 GHz, 4st Cortex-A55 2 GHz
Chart: Mali-G68 MP5
Remind: 6/8 GB
Storage: 128/256 GB, space for micro sd
Screen: 6.4 inch amoled, 1080×2220 pixels, 120 Hz
Cameras: 50 megapixel + 12 megapixel wide angle + 5 megapixel macro with LED, 32 megapixel front
Connections: Usb 2 typ c
Communication: 2g, 3g, 4g, 5g, wifi 6, bluetooth 5.3, gps, galileo, nfc
Operating system: Android 13 with One UI 5.1, 4 years of system updates
Miscellaneous: Dual sim, esim, in-screen fingerprint reader, water resistant (ip67)
Bacteria: 5,000 mAh, approx. 18 hours of online video (wifi, high brightness, 60 Hz), approx. 17 hours of mixed use (4g, low brightness, 120Hz), approx. 32 hours of calls
Battery charging: 25 W usb (qc3), charger not included
Size: 15,8 x 7,7 x 0,8 cm
Weight: 202 gram
Rec. price: DKK 5,790 (6/128 GB), DKK 6,390 (8/256 GB)
Taken: From SEK 5,790 at Samsung
Performance
Geekbench updated in February from version 5 to version 6. Scores between versions are not 100% comparable. Therefore, during a transition period, I report both Geekbench 5 and Geekbench 6 scores, so that you can more easily compare with previously tested mobiles that only Geekbench 5 measurements were made on.
Antutu Benchmark*: 517,949 points
Geekbench 5: 2,730 points
Geekbench 5 a core: 782 points
Gekbench 5 compute: 3,063 points
Geekbench 6: 2,850 points
Geekbench 6 a core: 1,006 points
Geekbench 6 compute: 3,010 points
3dmark Wild Life: 2,833 points
3dmark Wild Life Extreme: 813 points
Storage, reading: 531,3 MB/s
Storage, writing: 508 MB/s
*Only comparable to other Android mobiles, not iPhone
