The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G stands out as an improved version of the already great A52; with its performance, battery life, brilliant 120Hz AMOLED screen, and camera technology, this phone is an intriguing option.
What is the best part? The Galaxy A52s is now available on Amazon for $379, making it a more affordable option to the high-priced S21 flagship, which can often cost twice as much. I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy A52s as my primary smartphone for the past week, and this is my in-depth review.
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Design and Build Quality
One of the A52s 5G’s most notable qualities is its sleek and simple design, which comes in a number of appealing colors. While the eye-catching mint variant is appealing, it does have a plastic rear that may scratch easily. Fortunately, after a week of rigorous use, it still appears to be in excellent condition, despite sharing pockets with other phones and undergoing some rough treatment.
Furthermore, the lack of a pre-installed screen protector is not a worry, as the display’s Gorilla Glass 5 protection looks to be working well. I couldn’t detect a single, even minuscule scratch on the screen. What’s more, the Galaxy A52s boasts an IP67 rating, making it water and dust resistant. You can confidently give it a dunk in water or accidentally drop it in the sink without any worries. This is a feature that’s not commonly found in this mid-range price category, unlike the disappointing Sony Xperia 10 Mark III. Samsung certainly didn’t cut corners here.
Features and One UI
When it comes to the software on its more affordable smartphones, Samsung has coated both Android 11 and iOS 11 with its own user interface, offering users a familiar experience enriched with a range of features. For those who rely on Samsung services like Smart Things, Samsung Pay, Samsung Health, and even Bixby, you’ll find them all readily available on the A52s.
Furthermore, the device offers extensive theme support and a customizable always-on display, allowing you to tailor the device’s appearance and functionality to match your personal preferences. Samsung’s Knox security suite is also onboard, ensuring the privacy and security of your data. Samsung goes the extra mile by providing a guaranteed four years of security updates in addition to three years of Android OS updates, making this one of the most generous offerings in the market.
Another notable advantage of the Galaxy A52s 5G is its in-display optical fingerprint sensor, which excels at recognizing your fingerprints even in less than ideal conditions. It offers a secure and convenient way to unlock your device. Additionally, the A52s provides face recognition as a backup option, but it’s worth noting that for enhanced security, it may not work if you’re wearing sunglasses or a face mask.
In terms of storage, the device offers a generous 128GB of internal storage, which is quite standard in the mid-range price segment. What’s even better is that it’s expandable via a microSD card by up to an additional one terabyte. This means you have plenty of room to store a plethora of movies, games, and other content for your on-the-go entertainment.
Display and Audio Quality
The Samsung Galaxy A52s boasts a vibrant 6.5-inch AMOLED display, although it lacks HDR streaming support. Nevertheless, this all-LED screen delivers sharp contrast with deep blacks, and the full HD+ resolution ensures that finer details remain vivid. Similar to its more premium Samsung counterparts, the A52s 5G offers vivid and striking visuals that truly pop.
The display impressively features a 120Hz refresh rate, providing a smooth experience across supported apps and even when navigating through your desktop. It’s as smooth as can be, and although it might take a few tries to correctly adjust your settings, it’s worth it for the enhanced visual experience.
As for outdoor visibility, during a particularly sunny week, I had ample opportunities to test the screen’s performance in bright daylight. I’m happy to report that there were no issues; the screen remained easily visible even in strong outdoor light, thanks to its peak brightness of 800 nits.
The Samsung Galaxy A52s is equipped with stereo speakers that are perfectly suitable for watching YouTube or other multimedia content. They provide clear audio, even in noisy environments where you might have family members chatting in the background. However, if you’re looking to fully immerse yourself in Dolby Atmos audio quality, connecting a pair of decent headphones to the convenient headphone jack is the way to go.
For those who prefer wireless audio, Bluetooth streaming works seamlessly on the A52s. It offers robust codec support, ensuring high-quality audio. Even in bustling locations like London Bridge during rush hour, the Bluetooth signal remained uninterrupted.
Performance and Gaming
One of the standout upgrades in the Galaxy A52s is its enhanced performance. Under the hood, it boasts the Snapdragon 778G chipset coupled with six gigabytes of RAM, and I must say, I have no major complaints. Throughout the past week, I didn’t encounter any noticeable slowdowns in day-to-day use. The only minor quibble I had was that the camera app could be a tad sluggish when switching between different modes or taking multiple shots in quick succession. However, apart from that, it handles tasks admirably well.
Gaming enthusiasts will find the A52s to be quite accommodating. Activate priority mode, and you can immerse yourself completely in your chosen game, as if you’re exploring Genshin Impact’s world. The device delivers a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience, even when set to medium detail settings. There are minimal instances of stuttering or other performance hiccups, and you won’t encounter any overheating concerns even during extended gaming sessions.
Battery life
The Galaxy A52s houses a robust 4,500 milliamp-hour battery that easily handles demanding tasks, including intensive usage, extensive camera use, prolonged media streaming, and more. Throughout my usage, I never found myself needing to activate battery saver mode, as the battery consistently held up well.
When it does come time to recharge, the A52s supports 25-watt charging. While it’s not the fastest option available, it gets the job done. It’s worth noting that a charger is included in the box, unlike the more expensive S21 flagship smartphones, which do not come bundled with a 25-watt charger.
Camera Test
The camera tech on the Galaxy A52s remains consistent with the older A52 model, featuring a 64-megapixel primary shooter with optical image stabilization. This setup proved to be ideal for capturing everyday family moments, whether indoors or outdoors. It consistently produced bright, crisp, and detail-packed photos with natural-looking colors and contrast.
The portrait mode adds a pleasing bokeh-style background blur when photographing people, and even when dealing with subjects who won’t stay still for a moment, the camera does a commendable job of avoiding blurry limbs and distractions. It’s worth noting that even in low-light conditions, such as nighttime shots, the camera can still deliver respectable results in auto mode.
Also, a shout out as always to Samsung’s single-take mode, which is a hell of a lot of fun to play around with when you’re snapping kids, pets, and the like. This thing spurts out all manner of filtered picks and random clips, which are usually at the very least entertaining, and yes, you also have Samsung’s fun mode, and boy howdy, let me tell you there’s nothing my dark, hateful soul enjoys more than whatever this is. Samsung’s 12-megapixel ultrawide-angle snapper also did a fine job. The colours aren’t quite as accurately captured with his secondary lens, but I still liked most of the results I saw as long as the lighting wasn’t too dim at night. This lens really struggles with motion and low detail levels, so just give it a pass.
If you enjoy capturing close-ups of insects and other small objects in your backyard, the five-megapixel macro lens on the Galaxy A52s is worth a try. Completing the quad-lens setup on the rear, there’s also a basic five-megapixel depth sensor used for portrait shots.
When it comes to video recording, you can shoot in 4K at 30 frames per second or in full HD at 30 or 60 fps, which I found satisfactory. Even when attempting to record a complex indoor dance routine in moderate lighting conditions, the Samsung A52s managed to capture audio from all directions effectively while minimizing wind and other unwanted noise.
Image stabilization is decent, although low-light results tend to be grainy and less appealing. Lastly, the Galaxy A52s features a 32-megapixel selfie camera, which performs well in well-lit conditions and offers the option to zoom in on your face and apply background blur for Instagram-worthy shots. However, the camera struggles in low-light situations, producing grainy and blurry photos, so it’s best to avoid using it in such conditions.
That's my final full review of the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G, and I've got to say I'm really impressed. The A52s is a brilliant all-rounder; I'd say it's the perfect mid-range mobile that's worth your price if you're looking for a budget-friendly flagship phone.
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Design and Build Quality9
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Software8
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Display8
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Audio7.5
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Performance and Gaming8
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Camera7.5
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Battery8
