Samsung Galaxy A53 in the test: Above average

This is an article from our content partner "Nextpit". Here you can find the original article by Rubens Eishima.

Pro

• Good AMOLED display
• Solid performance
• Decent battery life
• Best software support in the mid-range

Cons

• Slow charging
• No headphone jack
• Price not quite competitive

Short summary of the Samsung Galaxy A53

The Galaxy A53 was announced in March 2022 along with the Galaxy A33, replacing the Galaxy A52 lineup for 2022. It features similar specifications to the A52 5G and A52s models. It uses the same 6.5-inch AMOLED screen with 120 Hz refresh rate, and 5G support thanks to Octa-Core SoC, quad camera module with 64 MP main sensor, 12 MP ultra-wide angle and two 5 MP sensors are also the same.

What is new in the Galaxy A53 is a larger 5000 mAh battery compared to the 4500 mAh battery. This is despite the fact that the phone has become thinner from 8.4 to 8.1 mm. In addition, a new Exynos 1280 is used, which was developed and manufactured by Samsung. However, the headphone jack has fallen victim to the new update.

Samsung's Galaxy A53 was launched with an MSRP of 449 Euros, but has already dropped in price by almost 100 Euros.

Design & display: Never change a running system

When comparing the phone side by side with its predecessor, it is really difficult to identify the Galaxy A53. Samsung has kept the design of the A52 models, with the same central punch hole in the bright and fluid 6.5-inch AMOLED panel, as well as a very similar camera hump on the back.

Likes:

• Bright AMOLED display
• Fast refresh rate of 120 Hz
• Beautiful matte finish on the back
• IP67 rating

Dislikes:

• Hardly any changes compared to the predecessor

Samsung's AMOLED displays are a safe bet thanks to excellent contrast ratio, vivid colors and good brightness, even for outdoor use ... This is no different for the A53. Animations on the screen are very smooth thanks to the 120 Hz refresh rate, but the same could be said about the A52 5G's panel.

The build quality is good and on par with the rivals. Samsung has even managed to save 0.3 mm from each dimension of the A52 to the A53 despite a larger battery. Like the A52 models, the Galaxy A53 is also IP67 water and dust resistant.

Performance: Exynos 1280 delivers well

The Galaxy A53 is the first smartphone on the market to feature Samsung's Exynos 1280 mid-range processor. The SoC offers a competent performance level, especially in mobile games. It is on par with its main rivals, the Snapdragon 778 and the Dimensity 900.

Likes:

• More than enough performance for everyday tasks
• Competitive performance in games and benchmarks
• Stable without overheating

Dislikes:

• Multithreaded performance is below the competition
• Samsung lags behind when it comes to a gaming overlay

It's no secret that current mid-range SoCs are more than capable of handling standard apps like YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, WhatsApp and others, and the Exynos 1280 is no different. Apps load quickly, UI animations are smooth, and all without excessive heat.

Gaming performance was competitive even though the SoC only has two high-performance cores compared to the four cores of the Snapdragon 778. Therefore, it also scores much better in Geekbench's multi-core test. Even better: The Galaxy A53 showed a very stable performance in the 3DMark stress test, which simulates a long gaming session and tries to detect overheating or thermal throttling issues, which was not the case with the A53.

In real-world use, such as Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact, the Samsung Galaxy A53 showed stable performance at medium or low graphics settings, as expected - including the ability to increase the frame rate in CoD:M when lowering the visual options. The smartphone cannot keep up with flagships in terms of image quality, but it offers a competitive performance for its market segment. The only thing missing is a better gaming overlay like Oppo / OnePlus and Xiaomi offer.

Familiar camera module

The Galaxy A53's camera module has the same specs as its predecessor: a 64-megapixel main sensor with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and optical image stabilization (OIS), a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with 123° field of view, and dual 5MP sensors for macro shooting and depth detection.

Likes:

• Good image quality in daylight shots.
• Decent night shots
• Optical image stabilization (OIS)
• It manages quite decent macro shots

Dislikes:

• No telephoto lens
• Essentially unchanged from the A52

In general, daytime images were quite good, with the usual color processing Samsung is known for, and increased contrast. Similar to my colleague Ben's review of the Galaxy A52 5G, I noticed some differences in colors between the wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle cameras, the latter with slightly washed-out results.

Without a dedicated telephoto lens, the Galaxy A53 relies on digital zoom for close-ups, with the usual results. Results up to 2x magnification are generally good, but beyond that - as with the 5x zoom photos in the gallery below - the images lack detail.

And having tested a few smartphones with 2MP macro cameras, the 5MP offered by the Galaxy A53 is very welcome. The resulting images were far from stunning, and most shots were too noisy, but a little patience (and a steady hand) can produce appealing images.

As for night performance, the A53 replicates the qualities of the A52, with a bit more detail in the right situations. Personally, I find that in most cases the results are not too different from the standard mode.

Test photos:

When it comes to selfies, the Galaxy A53 does well with its 32-megapixel camera - again with the same specs as the A52 - in both normal and wide-angle modes, with a good level of detail and color reproduction. And portrait mode worked as it should, with good delineation between foreground and background.

In short, the Galaxy A53's camera features are mostly the same as the A52's, which is a shame, especially since Samsung chose not to include a telephoto lens in its 2022 Galaxy A lineup, not even on the A73, which is only offered in a few markets.

Good battery life, slow charging times

The Samsung Galaxy A53 is powered by a 5,000 mAh battery (500 mAh more than the A52), and the increase in capacity was achieved despite the reduction in size. However, Samsung no longer includes the charger in the packaging.

Likes:

• Battery lasts for two days with regular use.
• Battery capacity has been increased compared to the A52, while the overall volume has been reduced.

Disliked:

• Quick-charging with 25 watts too slow.
• No charger in the package
• No wireless charging

I admit that I was rather pessimistic about the Galaxy A53, but the Exynos 1280 proved its worth not only in performance, but also in battery consumption. The A53 lasted about two days on a single charge with some heavy game downloads (14 GB for Genshin Impact!), light social media and messaging use, and a short GPS/camera tour.

On the other hand, Samsung insisted on not improving the midranger's charging capabilities and continues to offer only up to 25 W of "fast" charging. As a user of the Oppo Find X5 Lite/Reno 7 5G, I was not disappointed with the Galaxy A53's speeds, which are almost four times slower. For testing, I used an Anker PowerPort III 65W and a Samsung EP-TA20 charger with 20 watts.

A few more points worth mentioning about the Samsung Galaxy A53: The Galaxy A53 supports NFC and is compatible with Google Pay for contactless payments. After resetting the updated handset, the operating system showed 29.97 GB of used storage space The test device's packaging included a USB-C to USB-C charging cable and a tool to open the SIM drawer The software version during the test was A536BXXU1AVCC (security patch April 2022). Samsung promises four major OneUI/Android updates and five years of security patches.

Final verdict

The Galaxy A53 does not repeat the great development of the A52 generation. As such, it's hard to recommend it as an upgrade to Galaxy A52 or A52s users. But for those who are loyal to Samsung and still use the popular Galaxy A51 or an older model, the 2022 series is a welcome upgrade.

Similar to the iPhone SE 2022, the Galaxy A53 appears to be a processor upgrade over the A52 and A52 5G. This provides better performance and similar battery life, even if it doesn't quite offer the power of the Snapdragon 778 used in the Galaxy A52s.

It is a pity that Samsung does not seem to care about the fierce competition between Chinese brands when it comes to fast charging. But even that can be forgiven considering the differences in update policies. Depending on how long you plan to use the device. That being said, the lack of a charger in the box and the lack of a headphone jack unfortunately seem to be an irreversible trend.

Samsung seems to be aware of the small changes that the Galaxy A lineup will bring in 2022. Therefore, they lowered the market price of the A53 from its original MSRP of 449 Euros to 349 Euros. While I had a hard time recommending the original pricing of the A53, the current price makes the midranger quite competitive. Especially when you consider that no other Android brand promises anywhere near five years of software support, including 4 major version updates.