Though Samsung’s S series smartphones tend to get the headlines, it’s the company’ A-series devices that often fill best-seller charts worldwide.
That trend looks set to continue with the launch of the long-awaited Samsung Galaxy A54 5G, one of the Korean giant’s main mid-range phone releases for 2023.
We had big hopes for 2022’s Galaxy A53, and it largely delivered, but was hampered by terrible performance. Here’s hoping the A54 doesn’t suffer the same fate.
Samsung has also announced the cheaper Galaxy A34 5G, a phone with slightly shaved-off specs but a design that I think is a little nicer than the A54.
I reckon so because I went hands-on with both phones at Samsung’s fancy flagship store in London earlier this week.
Here’s everything you need to know and some of my first impressions of the phones, including their exceptional software support.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
When is the Samsung Galaxy A54 release date?
Samsung has rather vaguely said that the Galaxy A54 will be available in March in the UK.
Given the phone was announced on 15 March, it should hit shelves within the next couple of weeks.
How much does the Samsung Galaxy A54 cost?
There are two variants of the Samsung Galaxy A54, with specs and cost below:
8GB RAM + 128GB, £449
8GB RAM + 256GB, £499
This is a price increase over the Galaxy A53, which cost £399 with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. At least for £50 more you get 8GB RAM with the A54, plus a newer chipset.
You’ll be able to buy the phone direct from Samsung.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
What features and specs does the Samsung Galaxy A54 have?
The Galaxy A54’s specs look better than the phone’s sub-£500 suggest. Here’s a snapshot:
- 6.4in 120Hz FHD+ AMOLED display
- Samsung Exynos 1380 chipset
- 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
- 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
- 5,000mAh battery
- 25W wired charging
- Cameras:
- 5G
- Wi-Fi 6
- Bluetooth
- IP67
- Gorilla Glass 5 front and back
- 158.2 x 76.7 x 8.2mm
- 202g
- Android 13 with One UI 5.1
- Four years of software updates
- Five years of security updates
Aside from the brand new Exynos chipset, which is an unknown quanitity, the specs here are largely proven. This looks like a high-end spec sheet from a two years ago.
In fact, the 50Mp main camera, 5,000mAh battery, and five years of software support are straight out of flagship territory, and beats many more expensive phones on the market even today. Kudos to Samsung for that.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
A 120Hz display is superb and goes some way to justifying this phone being more expensive than the £399 Google Pixel 6a. You also get a 256GB option with expandable storage up to 1TB.
The camera design is changed too, now aping the three distinct circles from the back of the Galaxy S23 series, the idea being you can’t tell at a glance that this is a cheaper phone.
In person, I was disappointed that the Galaxy A54 has such a glossy finish. The phone comes in graphite, white, lime and violet colours but each collected fingerprints within seconds. If you don’t want to see prints, white is the way to go.
The bezels around the display are noticeable but I don’t tend to get put off by bezels in general, and the flat display was responsive and bright – Samsung claims 1,000 nits is its peak.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
Samsung Galaxy A34: Everything you need to know
So what about the cheaper Galaxy A34? Here’s a quick lowdown.
When is the Samsung Galaxy A34 release date?
The Samsung Galaxy A34 is also due to go on sale in March.
How much does the Samsung Galaxy A34 cost?
The Galaxy A34 also has two variants, even more attractively priced:
6GB + 128GB, £349
8GB RAM + 256GB, £399
You’ll be able to get them direct from Samsung.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
What features and specs does the Samsung Galaxy A34 have?
A glance at the specs shows you how Samsung can shave £100 off the RRP of the A54 to get to the A34, but it’s closer than you might think:
- 6.6in 120Hz FHD+ AMOLED display
- MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset
- 6GB LPDDR4X RAM
- 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
- 5,000mAh battery
- 25W wired charging
- Cameras:
- 5G
- Wi-Fi 6
- Bluetooth
- IP67
- Gorilla Glass 5 front
- ‘Glasstic’ back
- 161.3 x 78.1 x 8.2mm
- 199g
- Android 13 with One UI 5.1
- Four years of software updates
- Five years of security updates
The A34 has a larger display, the same large 5,000mAh battery, a solid mid-range chipset, IP67 dust and water resistance, and a main 48Mp camera that looked very solid to me in my time playing around with it.
Samsung has definitely decided to put three cameras on the A34 to make it look like the S23, and the ultrawide and macro look particularly weak.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
But the Galaxy A34’s secret weapon is its matt glasstic back, which I prefer to the glossy glass A54.
Samsung’s glasstic is plastic that’s meant to feel like glass, but that aside, the A34’s matt finish not only feels nice but on the attractive silver colour, completely hides fingerprints. It should also mean you might confidently use the A34 without a case (though obviously that front screen could still smash).
A clue to the A34’s corner cutting is its less attractive U-shaped front facing camera, which is clumsy and cuts more of the screen out compared to the A54’s circular floating cut out. But when you sacrifice little else, the A34 looks like it might be a bit of a bargain – especially with that killer five years of updates.
We should be reviewing both these phones soon, and I look forward to properly testing out Samsung’s claim that both can do two full days on a single charge. It’s about time Samsung had a couple of truly excellent mid-range phones to rival the Pixel A-series and Xiaomi’s Redmi phones. Fingers crossed these two are those handsets.
