Samsung Galaxy A53 5G Review – Premium Phone at Mid-Range Price

Featuring a large 120Hz display and great performance for the price, the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is the company’s latest mid-range smartphone.

The Galaxy A53 5G makes its debut in the sub-35K price range, just like its predecessor. In comparison to the Galaxy A52s, Samsung’s brand-new Galaxy A53 5G offers a number of improvements.

However, how does the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G perform in the cut-throat competition premium mid-range market in India? I spent a week using the Samsung Galaxy A53 and here is my review.

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The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is priced at Rs. 34,499 in India for the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage option. The top variant costs Rs. 35,999 and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

There are four colour options to choose from: Awesome Black, Awesome Blue, Awesome White and Awesome Peach.

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The all-new Samsung Galaxy A53 5G packs the following items inside the box:

• Handset
• Cable
• Sim Ejection Pin
• User Manual

Before we talk in detail about the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.5 inches Super AMOLED
• Chipset: Samsung Exynos 1280
• RAM & ROM: 6GB RAM 128GB Storage, 8GB RAM 128GB Storage
• Software: Android v12
• Rear camera: 64MP + 12MP + 5MP + 5MP
• Selfie camera: 32 MP
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Weight: 189 grams
• Dimensions: 159.5 x 74.8 x 8.1 mm

When comparing the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G with the Galaxy A52 from 2021, there doesn’t appear to be much of a difference. It has a modern and refreshing look to it.

The A53 5G is available in the following colours: Awesome Blue, Awesome Black, Awesome Peach, and Awesome White. Additionally, the backside of the phone is made of polycarbonate, making it resistant to fingerprints. However, the frame has a glossy finish and attracts fingerprints.

Despite the phone being large, it is not very heavy to carry. The phone fits well in my hand because of its flat edges. The Galaxy A53 5G is just the right weight at 189 grammes and doesn’t feel heavy in hands. Using the phone with just one hand is also possible, thanks to the well-balanced body.

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There is a camera unit on the back that is in the shape of a rectangle and merges with the back panel. Even though the modules barely stick out from the back of the phone, it is easy to lay it flat on a surface. The phone has an IP67 rating, which means it can withstand water immersion of up to 1m for 30 minutes.

The power button and volume rocker are both located on the right side of the smartphone. The left side is completely free of any buttons or slots, giving it a smooth finish. The bottom of the phone has a speaker grille, Type-C charging port and hybrid SIM card slot.

Overall, it has a sleek look and robust build quality. A well-made phone for the price.

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G has a quad-camera layout on the back like its predecessor. The back camera setup includes a 64-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, a 5-megapixel macro sensor, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. Selfies are taken care of by a 32-megapixel front-facing camera.

One of the reasons users will enjoy the Galaxy A53 5G is its primary camera. We got the best photos with ample details, decent exposure, and good colour accuracy when we used the primary camera, especially during the day, when we got the most light.

You can also capture images with the full 64-megapixel mode, which adds slightly more details. Scene Optimizer and Auto HDR can both be used when shooting in 64 MP mode. Portrait mode has good edge detection.

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There is plenty of detail and colour in the macro shots that can be taken with the 5MP camera. We were able to take some good close-up photos.

In the daytime, the ultra-wide-angle camera captured decent shots, but details were distorted and stretched to the edges. As opposed to the main camera, the ultrawide produced noticeably softer images with less details.

A Night Mode is also available on the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, which comes into play automatically when the lighting is less than optimal in an image. Night mode does a good job of recovering highlights that have been overexposed, clearing out noise, and enhancing shadow details. The night mode worked well, however it took some time to shoot photos.

The 32-megapixel front-facing camera on the A53 5G captures selfies that are of high quality, both in terms of detail and clarity. On top of that, it was able to capture natural-looking portrait selfies in great detail. Selfies taken in low light seemed grainy and noisy, even in the Night mode.

When it comes to video, the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G can record 4K videos at 30fps or 1080p videos at 60fps. The front-facing camera can also record 4K videos at 30fps. There is a Super Steady mode, but it can only be used at 1080p with 30fps. The main camera records solid videos with good details overall. The colours are slightly saturated, just like in photos.

I was able to get through a full day of use using the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G’s large 5000mAh battery. You should be able to get roughly six hours of screen time, which is rather good.

Given all of the features that come with the Galaxy A53 5G, the battery performance was very impressive. The 5,000mAh battery was able to keep up with the demands of the device’s high refresh rates, vivid displays, and 5G connectivity without a hitch.

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The phone is capable of fast-charging at 25W and can fully charge from 0 to 100 per cent in around 80 minutes, which is not so bad. However, do note that the phone does not include a charger in the box which adds extra bucks to your shopping list.

To sum it up, I think that the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G has excellent battery life but unimpressive charging capabilities.

Samsung phones are known for having some of the best displays, and the Galaxy A53 5G is no exception. The screen here is nearly identical to that of the A52 5G.

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G features a 6.5-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display. The device has a maximum brightness of 800 nits, making it suitable for outdoor use even on the sunniest days.

In addition, the A53 5G has a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes the UI navigation and Instagram feed scrolling a breeze. The video playback is as smooth as butter, and the contrast levels are great.

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In terms of the Galaxy A53 5G display, the one issue we have is that it doesn’t offer an automatic refresh rate setting. The Settings menu gives you the option to choose between 120Hz and 60Hz. The display is guarded by Gorilla Glass 5.

The display of the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is one of the best in this price range, and it’s great for watching movies, videos, and even photographs. The colours are vibrant and the text is clear.

The borders on the left and right are fairly thin, while the top and chin are substantially thicker. You can also see a hole-punch camera cutout on the top. The display has a built-in fingerprint reader.

There are no issues that arise while viewing the display from an angle, and the colours appear fantastic in both the Natural and Vivid modes, which is not often the case with other smartphones in the same price range.

The display on the Galaxy A53 5G is among the most impressive among other phones in this price range.

Samsung’s Exynos 1280 octa-core processor lies at the heart of the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G. The phone comes with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage space. A microSD card can further expand the internal storage capacity to 1TB. The device delivers smooth and lag-free performance on a daily basis.

The performance is super snappy, and it is easy to observe how quickly applications launch and respond as they are being used. Multitasking was a breeze for the phone, and even simple tasks were handled well. Thanks to the RAM plus feature which adds up to 8GB of extra RAM to help in multitasking.

Although the processor handled everyday things like email, surfing the web, and social media scrolling without a hitch, I noticed minor lagging when I pushed the phone too hard.

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It handled casual gaming well, but let me clear this out, it’s not a phone for serious gamers. I tried a few games on the device, including Call of Duty: Mobile, BGMI, and Asphalt 9: Legends.

Call of Duty: Mobile graphics quality was capped at ‘Medium’ with a ‘Max’ frame rate. The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G was able to run the game at these settings, however, it lagged occasionally during the match. I had to lower down the settings to get a more smooth gaming experience. Asphalt 9: Legends ran flawlessly at medium graphics settings.

The phone didn’t have a significant heating problem, but it did get a little warm after playing BGMI and COD Mobile for a while.

One UI is one of the primary reasons why so many people prefer Samsung smartphones. The One UI 4.1 based on Android 12 drives the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G. One UI 4.1 is without a doubt among the most feature-packed third-party skins available. The UI is easy to understand.

The Galaxy A53 5G features an Edge panel, which we’ve seen on other devices. There’s an option for an always-on display. You can choose from a variety of clock designs, or go with an Image Clock.

In One UI 4, Colour Palettes are among our favourite features. Using this new feature, you can now sync the colour scheme of your wallpaper with the icons, text, and everything else that appears on your screen.

One UI has a lot of things going for it, but what stands out the most is the fact that it will receive major Android updates for a duration of four years. This is longer than the majority of Android flagships.

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Unfortunately, this phone comes pre-installed with a large amount of bloatware, which includes a big number of apps developed by Samsung, as well as some applications developed by Microsoft and others developed by third parties. Most of them, thankfully, can be removed.

Overall, the UI is buttery smooth and my favourite in the Android ecosystem.

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G delivers an impressively high-quality audio experience from its speakers. The audio was well-balanced, and the speakers were able to get pretty loud. The Galaxy A53 5G also misses the headphone jack found on its predecessor, requiring the use of USB-C earphones or a reliable Bluetooth pair.

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G offers Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 5 and of course 5G connectivity. It supports the following 5G bands: N1(2100), N3(1800), N5(850), N7(2600), N8(900), N28(700), N66(AWS-3), N40(2300), N41(2500), and N78(3500). On top of this, the phone supports NFC and you can use Samsung Pay with ease.

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The in-display fingerprint reader on the Galaxy A53 5G is both speedy and reliable, making it possible for me to rely on it at any given moment in time. Alternatively, you can use facial recognition to unlock your phone, however, it struggles in low-light.