Samsung has just updated its Galaxy A-series 2022 lineup by introducing a total of 5 devices; the Samsung Galaxy A13, Galaxy A23, Galaxy A33 5G, A53 5G, and Galaxy A73 5G.

Thanks to the folk from Samsung Malaysia for sending over a unit of Samsung Galaxy A53 5G for us to review.

Last year, the Samsung Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A52s are the most popular Galaxy device and Samsung probably would want to continue that with the new Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.

Design

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – There aren’t many changes in terms of design and display. It’s a matte finish plastic cover on the back with some curves to the body frame. It’s pretty comfortable to hold, lightweight, and solid build which doesn’t feel cheap at all.

The camera’s curvy bump design flush together with the back cover, made the entire design look clean and minimalist. Pastels color were used on the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G including Awesome Blue that we have here, Awesome White, and Awesome Peach. There’s also a black color option, which you guessed it right; it’s Awesome Black.

Coming to protection, it’s IP67 dust and water-resistant and the display is guarded with Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

The overall design of the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is “KonMari”

Display

Sporting the same 6.5-inch SuperAMOLED Full HD+ Infinity-O display and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The bezels are decent with slightly wider at the bottom. Boasts up to 800 nits of max peak brightness, which should make it viewable under harsh sunlight.

Feature optical in-display fingerprint scanner that’s fast and accurate.

Processor

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is one of the first Galaxy A-series to be powered with the new 5nm Samsung Exynos 1280 processor with 5G connectivity. Offered in one configuration; 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage with a microSD card slot (shared with SIM2). More about the performance of this new chipset in my full review.

Camera

It has a quad-camera setup on the rear with a 64-megapixels f/1.8 main camera joined by a 12-megapixels f/2.2 ultrawide, a 5-megapixels macro lens for close up snaps, and a depth sensor. Meanwhile, the Infinity-O display houses a 32-megapixels selfie camera.

There’s plenty going on in the camera including Snapchat filters baked into the app, advanced portrait mode, and improved image processing. More camera performance and photo samples on my full review.

Battery

One hardware upgrade from the Galaxy A52 is the battery, the Galaxy A53 5G is now packed with a 5,000 mAh battery, which Samsung claims will provide up to two days of use. There’s fast-charging support of up to 25W and 30 minutes is able to replenish 50% battery.

There’s no power brick included in the box and it only comes with a USB C to USB C cable. You may check my short unboxing #Shorts video on my YouTube:

OneUI 4.1

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is shipped with the latest Android 12 overlay Samsung OneUI 4.1 It’s also one of the first Galaxy A-series smartphones that receive 5 years of security updates and 4 years of major OS updates similar to what Samsung offered to its flagship device; the Samsung Galaxy S22 series.

Preliminary Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G certainly stands out in the midrange segment. But for the price of RM 1,849, it’s still questionable whether it is best bang-for-buck, especially in this overly crowded market.

Currently, Samsung Malaysia is accepting trade-in and offering a free Protective Standing cover worth RM 99 when you purchase the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G on Samsung’s E-Store. Or you can purchase from SenQ and receive a FREE Samsung Galaxy Buds Live worth RM 549.