Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G review

We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again: Samsung’s Galaxy A line-up is really good right now. They took their slogan, “Awesome is for everyone,” to heart by making interesting and new designs with good specs for the price. Even better, the Korean giant knows it has a good product and is now putting even more money into making it last even longer. Especially the Galaxy A52, which now comes in a 5G version called the A52s.

Compared to the original A52 and the A52 5G, this is technically the next generation of the product, but there aren’t too many new features. The first two A52 models came out in March. The 5G one swapped the original’s Snapdragon 720G for a 5G-capable Snapdragon 750G and the original’s 90Hz, 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display for a 120Hz one. All the while, the two devices looked exactly the same.

Now, the Galaxy A52s 5G builds on the Galaxy A52 5G by replacing the chipset with an even better Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset. This fixes one of the few problems we had with the original: the chipset wasn’t as powerful as it could be. And that’s all there is to it. The new chipset makes a big performance improvement and adds a few small features, like Wi-Fi 6, but the phone is still the same. With, maybe, fewer changes than going from a regular A52 to an A52 5G.

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G review: Design

The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G takes the design language of the rest of Samsung’s phones and runs with it, but adds its own little touches to make it stand out. Since this is a mid-cycle update, the phone looks almost exactly like the Samsung A52 5G, which isn’t bad.

Think about the back of your phone. The gradual rise of the camera section makes me think of Samsung’s top-of-the-line Galaxy S22 series, and it does a good job of hiding the bulky camera module. The back panel’s all-over matte finish stands out in a sea of glossy, often gradient-filled options. People often think that polycarbonate is not a good material for a phone because, by definition, it is not a premium material.

But that doesn’t always hold true. When done right, like on the Galaxy A52s 5G, polycarbonate can feel surprisingly high-end. The matte white finish on the model I have was much more resistant to scratches, fingerprints, and scuffs than the glass-covered models. You can buy this smartphone from its official website.

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G review: Display

The design of the Samsung A52s isn’t anything to get excited about, but the screen is great. It has a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED Full HD screen that can be as bright as 800 nits and refreshes at 120Hz. It also has Gorilla Glass 5 to protect it. In plain English, this means a bright, colorful, and responsive screen, even when used outside in the sun. Also, the small “waterdrop” at the top of the screen for the front-facing camera doesn’t really mess up the picture.

There is no way to change the refresh rate on the phone, but you can change it from the default 120Hz to 60Hz. Even if you leave it set to 120Hz, the battery can still last for a whole day. The screen is flat instead of curved, and Samsung says that 84.9% of the phone is screen.

That’s not bad for a mid-range phone, and even though the screen isn’t the biggest, it’s great for watching videos. The fingerprint sensor in the screen and face recognition with the front camera didn’t really impress me. Both of them didn’t always work.

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G review: Software

On the other hand, the 6.5-inch Super AMOLED screen stood out to me as a highlight. It’s a typical Samsung panel, with bright, vivid colors and a slight tendency to be too saturated right out of the box. If you want more natural tones, you can easily fix that with a few software switches.

Even though a good panel is almost a given in the premium mid-range segment, the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G’s 120Hz panel stands out because of how bright and clear it is. I didn’t have any trouble at all reading content outside in the sun.

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G review: Hardware and performance

Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 5G Chipset with Adreno 642L GPU makes the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G work. The two of them can pretty much handle anything you throw at them. There was never any lag, slowdown, or stuttering during our test. The performance as a whole is good and smooth. The smartphone is also good at doing more than one thing at once.

During our test, we were able to render a 1080p video while also browsing the web and listening to music. We used the smartphone every day, and Samsung did a pretty good job of making a mid-range phone. This phone can actually win both a marathon and a 100-meter race without breaking a sweat.

In short, the Galaxy A52s 5Ga works well enough to use every day, and it can also handle some heavy-duty tasks. There is more than enough power here for anyone to ever need from a smartphone. When talking about how well the games worked, we played Subway Surfer, Candy Crush Saga, Call of Duty game, and BGMI.

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G review: Camera

The picture on the right is once again just a little bit overexposed. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the camera is bad. In fact, some users might like the fact that the results are good for social media. On the other hand, purists shouldn’t go. The ultrawide camera on the Galaxy A52s 5G isn’t bad, but distortion could have been improved.

The ultrawide camera and the main camera don’t have too many different colors, and the level of detail here is pretty good Since it doesn’t have a telephoto lens, all zoomed-in shots are digital crops. When there is enough light, the 64MP sensor produces results that aren’t too bad, but if you look closely, you can see digital artifacts and jagged edges.

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G review: Battery life

The Galaxy A52s 5G’s battery will last all day, even if you stream and play games for a few hours. If you use it every day, it can last up to a day and a half. Even though the Galaxy A52s 5G supports fast charging at 25W, Samsung only includes a 15W adapter with it. With this charger, it takes almost two hours for the phone to charge all the way up.

One thing that stands out about the Galaxy A52s 5G is how much extra software it comes with. In addition to the Samsung and Google apps that come with the phone, many other apps are already installed, such as Glance for the lockscreen. Setting up the phone is also not easy because Samsung gets in the way too much. Yes, you can get rid of these apps, but doing so can really mess up the user’s experience.

Price and availability

At the time this article was written, the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G wasn’t officially available in the United States. However, you can already buy it on newegg in different colors and with different amounts of storage (6/128GB for $425.99 and 8/256GB for $489.99).

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G review: Verdict

In general, the Galaxy A52s 5G does a good job. But it has to go up against smartphones that cost about the same. Also, the Galaxy A52s 5G seems to be too cheap, since phones like the OnePlus Nord 2 can do the same or even better job. We wouldn’t recommend the Galaxy A52s 5G if you’re looking for a phone that’s worth your money.