Samsung Galaxy A54 5G: Good but there are cheaper alternatives available in UAE

Samsung’s Galaxy A series smartphones are among the most widely sold mid-range smartphone variants worldwide and often feature in our guides for the best affordable phones. One year after the Galaxy A53, Samsung has expectedly launched the follow-up Samsung Galaxy A54 5G. It comes with an Exynos 1380 (5 nm) chipset and just one configuration of RAM, which is 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. You also get a beautiful Super AMOLED display with a maximum brightness of 1000 nits and a screen refresh rate of 120Hz.

Pricing and availability

The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is available in two storage options — 128GB and 256GB, but both use 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. The base variant with 128GB costs AED 1,559 in the UAE and ₹39,990 in India, while the 256GB variant costs AED 1,699 in the UAE and ₹40,999 in India.

Here is how the Galaxy A54 5G compares in pricing to its predecessor

	Galaxy A54 UAE / India	Galaxy A53 UAE / India
128GB (6GB RAM)	–	AED 1,549 / ₹31,999
128GB (8GB RAM)	AED 1,559 / ₹39,990	₹33,499
256GB (8GB RAM)	AED 1,699 / ₹40,999	AED 1,749 / ₹36,499

Depending on your bank cards and the running offers in India, you can grab an A54 for anywhere around ₹35,999. In the UAE, Amazon has already discounted the price by a few hundred Dirhams on each storage variant. When writing this, the 128GB model sells for AED 1,287 and the 256GB for AED 1,385.

Specs you should know

Design and display

The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G design is similar to the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, but its camera housing layout has changed a bit, and it looks much cleaner now.

Also, compared to previous models, Samsung upped its game with the Galaxy A54 5G, using glass and plastic to make it look more premium. The phone’s back panel is made of glass, and the chassis is made of plastic. This change alone makes this phone look a little plush, making many bystanders wonder if you’re using a Galaxy S series smartphone.

The Galaxy A54 is also IP67 dust/water resistant certified, which means you can take a dip in a pool up to 1 meter deep for 30 minutes, and your phone will stay protected.

Now coming to the display, the Galaxy A54 has a 6.4-inch display compared to the A53’s 6.5-inch display. It uses the same Super AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 1000 nits (200 nits higher than the A53).

The display has a refresh rate of 120Hz, but it does not have an adaptive refresh rate like you would see on Samsung flagship phones, and the only major drawback from all of this is that the Galaxy A54 is not HDR10+ or Dolby Vision certified.

The Samsung Galaxy A54 comes in four colours: White, Violet, Graphite, and Lime. My personal favourites are Lime and Violet!

Features and performance

The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G uses its in-house processor, the Exynos 1380, manufactured on a 5nm process with 8GB of RAM, regardless of which storage variant you pick, 128GB or 256GB.

However, you can increase your phone’s storage capacity by inserting a Micro SD card of up to 1 TB.

On the wireless side, the Galaxy A54 now supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC. You also get dual SIM support with 5G.

The Galaxy A54 5G comes with Android 13 and the One UI 5.1 skin version out of the box and promises four OS upgrades (till Android 17) and five years of security updates, which no phone in this price segment offers.

Camera

The Galaxy A54 ditches the depth camera this time around and makes the back of the phone look much cleaner by putting all three cameras in vertical order.

But unlike the A53, which had a 64MP primary shooter, the Galaxy A54 uses a 50MP sensor for its primary shooter. Besides that, everything else is the same, even the selfie camera.

Like the Galaxy A53, the A54 also records videos up to 4K at 30FPS and 1080P videos at 60FPS and 30FPS. It even has OIS and VDIS for smoother recording.

The Galaxy A54 has most features found on other phone cameras, such as portrait mode, slow-motion and super slow motion, hyper lapse, and more.

Battery & Charging

The Samsung Galaxy A54 uses a 5,000 mAh Li-Po battery, but it supports fast charging of only up to 25W, and when you compare it to other Chinese mobile makers, they’re offering faster charging speeds in smartphones in the same price range.

There is no support for wireless charging, which is a letdown.

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G Reviews

Lim Reviews thinks the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G impresses with its sleek design, improved display, and performance, as well as its three-camera setup and affordable price point. He considers it a solid mid-range device from Samsung.

The Vivo v27 Pro has a kinetic wallpaper, a 4600mAh battery, 66W fast charging, necessary sensors, and seven bands of 5G. TechWiser believes that if the phone is priced under INR 40,000 (AED 1,800 / US$ 500), it would be a good purchase as it has a premium design and decent camera specs.

Ranjit from GeekyRanjit says the Samsung Galaxy A54 is a durable, powerful mid-range smartphone with a triple camera setup, in-display fingerprint scanner, and high-quality AMOLED screen. He likes the Exynos 1380 chipset, a good octa-core chipset based on 5 nanometers with powerful quad-core Cortex A78 cores, as shown by its high Geekbench scores and minimal heating during benchmarking. He feels the phone comes at a slightly higher price point than other mid-range Android smartphones.

Alternatives to Samsung Galaxy A54 5G – How does it stack up against competitors?

Nothing Phone 1 is an exceptional phone that keeps improving with time. Priced at under AED 1,200 now, it’s a great phone if you’re looking for an alternative to the Samsung Galaxy A54. It has a great design with glyphs that make it stand out in a sea of smartphones and a clean Android UI that makes everything feel fast and fluid.

FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions