The Samsung Galaxy A54 looks like Samsung's value-priced alternative to the Samsung Galaxy S23. And now that the phone is official, you won't have to wait very long to see how it compares to some of the best Android phones out there.
As a successor to last year’s excellent Galaxy A53, Samsung has unveiled a device that’s going to appeal to people who don’t want to have to spend several hundred dollars to enjoy a great phone. Here’s everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy A54 so far, including its release date, price and specs — our Galaxy A54 hands-on also includes some first-hand impressions of the new phone.
Samsung Galaxy A54 release date and price
Samsung has confirmed the Galaxy A54 will be available to pre-order from March 30, ahead of a full release on April 6. That lines up with what we were expecting, especially given the Galaxy A53's mid-March launch last year.
The Galaxy A54 starts at $449 in the U.S., which gets you a model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That's the same price as the Galaxy A53, which means Samsung has followed the Galaxy S23's example and avoided a price hike for American buyers.
U.K. buyers will find prices starting at £449, which buys you 8GB of RAM and the same 128GB of storage, or £499 for 256GB of storage space.
Samsung Galaxy A54 specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Galaxy A54 |
| Starting price | $449/£449 |
| Display | 6.4-inch FHD AMOLED |
| Refresh rate | 120Hz (static) |
| Chipset | Exynos 1380 |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB |
| Expandable? | Yes, up to 1TB via microSD |
| Rear cameras | 50MP main (f/1.8), 12MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 5MP macro (f/2.4) |
| Front camera | 32MP (f/2.2) |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging | 25W wired |
| Size | 6.2 x 3.0 x 0.32 inches (158.2 x 76.7 x 8.2mm) |
| Weight | 7.1 ounces (202 grams) |
| Colors | Awesome Graphite, Awesome White, Awesome Lime, Awesome Violet |
Samsung Galaxy A54 design and display
The Galaxy A54 packs in a 6.1-inch display, offering a FHD display, 1,000 nit peak brightness and a static 120Hz refresh rate. That's slightly smaller than the 6.5-inch screen on the Galaxy A53, and you won't enjoy the power-saving benefits an adaptive refresh rate offers the likes of the Galaxy S23, but there's little to complain about here.
The A54 is very typical of a Samsung smartphone, complete with a flat design and glass panels that are wrapped in an aluminum frame. Similarly the triple-lens rear camera has scrapped the self-contained camera bump of previous models in favor of the same protruding lenses used on the Galaxy S23 series and the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
While the glass backed design does offer a more premium air to the A54, those panels are made of Gorilla Glass 5 — which coming up to its seventh birthday. So it's not going to be as durable as some high-end smartphones, but it should help protect the A54 from some damage. It's also a big step up from the Gorilla Glass 3 used on the Google Pixel 6a.
Other physical attributes to the Galaxy A54 include a microSD slot inside the SIM tray, with support for up to 1TB cards, and eSIM capabilities. Just in case your carrier offers that service, and you'd rather leave physical SIM cards behind.
The Galaxy A54 comes in four colors: Awesome graphite, Awesome lime, Awesome Violet and Awesome White.
Samsung Galaxy A54 cameras
While the Galaxy A53 had a four lens rear camera array, the A54 trims it down to three. There's a 50MP (f/1.8) main lens, a 12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide lens, and a 5MP (f/2.4) macro lens. The front also features a 32MP (f/2.2) selfie camera, using the hole-punch design. (The Galaxy A34, announced concurrently the the Galaxy A54, features a teardrop-sized notch to house its front camera.)
In other words, Samsung has ditched the 5MP depth sensor that came on its predecessor, which we're pretty happy about since the it was a pretty pointless addition. Unfortunately we also said the same about the macro lens, which has apparently stuck around. Hopefully there have been some improvements to justify its continued existence.
The A53 also had a 64MP main camera, so a drop to 50MP might seem like a downgrade. Thankfully that's not the case, as the Galaxy A54 has the same sensor as the one found in the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus. That means you have a large sensor size, pixel size and a wider aperture that should produce better overall photos.
While it's no match for the 200MP sensor in the S23 Ultra, the regular Galaxy S23 still manages to take some decent photos — enough to land it a place on our list of the best camera phones. So here's hoping the A54 can live up to that. it will no doubt depend on the device's computational photography prowess, however.
Samsung has also confirmed that the Galaxy A54 comes with optical image stabilization (OIS), video digital image stabilization (VDIS) and a night mode that broadens the camera's pixel size for better clarity in low light.
Samsung Galaxy A54 performance
Midrange phones invariably have to come with compromises to justify their lower price tag,. One of the Galaxy A54's major downgrades, compared to flagship devices, is in the chipset. While the Galaxy S23 series gets the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, the A54 comes with the Samsung-made Exynos 1380.
We haven't done any benchmarking tests to see just how powerful the Exynos 1380 chipset actually is, but it sounds good on paper. Not Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 good, but still good.
According to Samsung this octa-core processor offers four high performance cores and four energy efficient cores, to better balance speed and multitasking with preserving long battery life. The 5-core Arm Mali-G68 GPU also promised to offer "steady graphics processing performance for an immersive and steady 3D gaming experience."
But until we start seeing some benchmarking scores we won't know for sure just how the chip compares to other products on the market — particularly the A53's Exynos 1280.
The entry-level Galaxy A54 in the U.S. will come packing 6GB of RAM which, while not terrible, is a little disappointing. That's especially the case since Samsung hasn't confirmed whether the 8GB models, which are going on sale in the U.K., will be going on sale there.
Similarly it's not clear if the A54 with 256GB storage will benefit from the same super-speedy UFS 4.0 storage as the Galaxy S23 line-up. The 128GB model definitely won't, since Samsung doesn't produce UFS 4.0 storage below 256GB right now.
Samsung Galaxy A54 battery and charging
The Galaxy A54 comes with the same 5,000 mAh battery and 25W wired charging as its predecessor, though we haven't done any battery testing to see just how long it will actually last.
Samsung claims the Galaxy A54 last more than two days under the right conditions, but how that will play out in practice is another matter entirely.
For reference the A53 lasted 9 hours and 49 minutes in our battery test with its 120Hz refresh rate enabled, and 10 hours 38 minutes at 60Hz. That's not an awful result, but it isn't particularly good either — and well below the entries on our best phone battery life list.
The Galaxy S22 had a pretty weak battery life as well, only for the Galaxy S23 to come along packing an additional two and a half hours of battery life — all while only increasing battery capacity by 200 mAh. Here's hoping that whatever battery optimizations Samsung employed have also made the jump to the A54.
Wireless charging fans should also be aware that the feature is totally absent on the Galaxy A54.
Samsung Galaxy A54 software
The Galaxy A54 runs the same OneUI 5.1 software as the Galaxy S23, which is based on Android 13. Plus, while some features are exclusive to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, that's not the case here. That means the A54 can enjoy all the same features as the S23, including better personalization, modes, routines and more.
The A54 will also get four years of Android software and security updates. While the Galaxy S series gets four years of Android and 5 years of security updates, the A54 still enjoys more long-term support than most Android phones. And that's perfect for future-proofing your device and holding onto it for longer.
Samsung Galaxy A54: Outlook
The Samsung Galaxy A54 looks like it should be a good option for those on a budget, but it remains to be seen if it will land on our best cheap phones list. We're also very curious if Samsung will launch a Galaxy S23 FE and how much that S23 variant may cost. Stay tuned for all the official info and our Galaxy A54 review.
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