Samsung Galaxy A54 5G Has Flagship Features at a Midrange Price

Samsung today announced the Galaxy A54 5G, a midrange smartphone that slots in below the Galaxy S23 family. It starts at $449.99 but has features we often expect to see on more expensive phones. For example, there’s a large and fast screen, rapid charging, four generations of operating system upgrades, and five years of security updates. These are all found on the $799 base Galaxy S23, but the Galaxy A54 is a fraction of the price.

The display is the standout feature of the Galaxy A54 5G. It’s a 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Generally, we see 60 or 90Hz displays on midrange phones, but last year’s Galaxy A53 also included a 120Hz screen. The faster the screen, the smoother the experience. While the company didn’t cite exact brightness numbers, it did say that the A54 is brighter than its predecessor and allows for outdoor visibility even under bright sunlight.

For photography, there’s a 50MP primary camera at f/1.8 with optical image stabilization and video digital image stabilization. That’s a drop in resolution compared to the 64MP camera of the A53. Secondary cameras include a 12MP ultra-wide shooter, and a 5MP macro camera for close-ups. The front of the phone features a 32MP selfie camera, which appears to be carried over from the A53. Samsung also called out its Nightography and Night Mode features, as well as advanced editing tools within the Samsung Gallery app.

(Credit: Samsung)

Samsung didn’t reveal what chip it is using in the Galaxy A54 5G. It mentions that the processor has eight cores, but that does little to narrow down which chip it might be. For reference, the 2022 Galaxy A53 relies on the octa-core Samsung Exynos 1280 processor. The A54 will have 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, expandable to 1TB with a microSD card. We’ll have to sit down with the phone to get a real feel for the performance, but based on the general specs, it should be decent for a midrange device.

The phone ships with a 5,000mAh battery and supports 25W wired charging. That’s not the fastest charging speed, but it’s good enough for a phone at this price point. The chassis is rated IP67 for protection against dust and water.

Android 13 is installed out-of-the-box, and Samsung is bringing its fantastic upgrade policy to the phone. That means you get four generations of OS upgrades (to Android 17) and five years of security updates, which vastly exceeds what most other companies offer on their midrange phones. The phone ships with One UI 5.1, which is the latest version of Samsung’s Android skin. It includes the Security and Privacy Dashboard, as well as updated Samsung Knox security for data such as banking and logins.

The phone will be available for preorder starting March 30, with general availability on April 6 at Samsung.com, the Samsung Experience Store, AT&T, T-Mobile, USCellular, Verizon, and other major retailers. It comes in two colors: Awesome Violet and Awesome Graphite. Samsung will provide discounts of up to $250 with select trade-ins, as well as offer the Galaxy Buds Live for $49.99.