In 2021, Samsung’sGalaxy A52, A52 5G, and A72combined affordability, an optical image-stabilized 64MP camera system, and a high refresh-rate screen, matched with an affordable price. Unsurprisingly, the phones were well received, distilling some excellent Galaxy S21 features into a more affordable package. A year on and the Galaxy A53 5G is official, and with the same starting price, it’s looking promising for Samsung’s latest mighty midranger.

Launching alongside the Galaxy A33 5G, the Galaxy A53 5G packs the same power and many of the same specs, but features a superior camera system and display. Starting at just £399, roughly $510, while you can get more for less from brands renowned for excellent value like Xiaomi, it’s exciting to see Samsung dial back its normally premium pricing.

Not light on specs, the Galaxy A53 5G packs in an Exynos 5nm chipset, under-display fingerprint scanner tech, a giant 5000mAh battery, and a quad-camera system. With a smooth, 120Hz screen and Samsung’s reliable interface, One UI 4, there’s every chance this could be the new midrange phone to beat.

Samsung Galaxy A53 5G design and screen

With a FullHD+ screen measuring 6.5 inches, the Galaxy A53 5G is larger than the Galaxy S22, but smaller than the S22 Plus. Available in Awesome Black, White, Blue, and Peach, the phones appear to take a leaf out of OPPO’s Find X3 Pro playbook, with a smooth curve rising to meet the flat camera bump.

Both the A33 and A53 are thinner than their predecessors and pack water and dust resistance, rated up to IP67. In addition to weather and water sealing, the A53 5G also features Gorilla Glass 5 on the front, set against a plastic frame and back. That’s versus Gorilla Glass 3 on last year’s A-series phone.

As for the screen, the A53 5G’s boasts Super AMOLED technology. While it A53 might not pack all the screen credentials of the S22 line, in person it still looks vibrant and bold. With a max brightness of 800 nits, the display should be easy to view in all but the sunniest spots, and its silky smooth 120Hz refresh rate also helps the display look and feel more like a flagship than last year’s 90Hz A52 5G.

While there’s no headphone jack, the phone does pack stereo speakers, a USB-C port for wired audio, and of course, Bluetooth so will work with wireless headphones.

Samsung Galaxy A53 5G camera

The Galaxy A53’s quad-camera setup features a 64MP main camera with OIS and an f/1.8 aperture, a 12MP fixed-focus ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 lens, a 5MP depth sensor, and a 5MP fixed-focus macro camera.

The 2022 A-series phones also bring some of Samsung’s Snapchat enhancements introduced in the S22 series, improving the quality of photos taken within the app. This means within Snapchat, you can take advantage of Samsung’s advanced photo processing for higher quality snaps.

Samsung’s midrange phones don’t always include Night Mode – but the Galaxy A53 5G does, and it also features an enhanced portrait mode. This introduces studio lighting effects to the line, including High-key, Low-key, Backdrop changer, and Color pop effects.

Additional specs

With a Exynos 1280 chipset, the A53 is Samsung’s first Exynos-powered phone to feature 5nm tech since the Galaxy S21 5G. For a mid-ranger, all this means it should be a pretty nippy, competent gaming phone, and relatively efficient at that.

With its massive 5000mAh battery, the Galaxy A53 5G packs the same battery capacity as the flagshipGalaxy Note 22 Ultra, and also supports fast-charging up to 25W (fast charger sold separately). While it won’t compete with the Realme 9 Pro+’s 65W fast charging, it does mean you can power the phone up from zero to 50 percent in 30 minutes.

With 6GB RAM as standard and 128GB storage, the A53 5G gets Samsung’s new RAM Plus feature. This uses up storage memory and adds it to your RAM, supporting up to an additional 6GB, which should help with heavy multitasking. Storage shouldn’t be a concern for most, and the fact the phone supports microSD card expansion up to 1TB is an added bonus.

Early verdict

The Galaxy A53 5G looks like a safe bet for anyone who wants a premium smartphone experience but isn’t set on owning the latest, greatest flagship phone. With competition from Realme, Redmi, and Xiaomi getting so fierce in the past couple of years, Samsung has had to up its game when it comes to value. It started on a great footing with the Galaxy A52 5G, and the A53 5G looks set to be another winner.

While we would have loved the secondary cameras to be more specced out – the 5MP macro camera is fixed-focus, while the cheaperRedmi Note 10 Pro’spacks autofocus, and there’s no optical zoom – we’re still impressed by everything Samsung’s managed to squeeze inside the A53 5G.

If you’re in the market for an upgrade, the phone should be available for pre-order now, and will be shipping in April 2022 in select regions, including the UK.