There are several reasons that Samsung sells tens of millions of phones across the globe. The South Korean phone maker, which, with its Galaxy line of flagships, was, at one time, akin to ‘Android’, has amassed a lot of experience in the smartphone space. It has refined its phones over the years, and even its current budget devices feel ‘complete,’ for lack of a better word. Its software is better and more mature (although it needs some cosmetic overhauls), it has an excellent and superior update policy that comes second to none, and for me, the Samsung ecosystem just works. I have been lucky enough to use a couple of Samsung devices over the last couple of years, and anytime I switch, I have access to my data (call history, SMS, and other key backups). The last point is perhaps why I like Samsung phones, and I can only guess that they will get better in the coming days.
That aside, today’s assessment concerns the Samsung Galaxy A54 (specs here), which I used extensively over June 2023. To be honest, I was skeptical when Samsung sent the device to me. See, I assumed it hadn’t done much to improve from its predecessor, the A53, which is still a great buy if you can find one. I felt that the Exynos chip wasn’t up to par, and I was expecting a Qualcomm silicon this time. That’s not all: Samsung decided to forego the A74, meaning that the A7* has been discontinued. I managed to play around with the A73 from last year and loved it for its sheer speed and camera performance, for the price. Ideally, I focused on its successor, but Samsung’s rationale for dropping actually makes sense. I don’t see any meaningful features that they would have packed in the A74 that do not exist already in the A54. Samsung also has other plans because there are rumours that it will launch the Galaxy S23 FE to succeed the excellent S21 FE. The S23 FE should also effectively cover for the A74, so we can live with that.





With this brief introduction, let me sum up what I love about the A54.
It is a fast phone
As said, I am not the biggest fan of Samsung’s in-house Exynos chips because they have always underperformed compared to Qualcomm counterparts. This is a known issue that Samsung has been unable to address, which is why its latest flagships have fully gone the Snapdragon way. The A54 ships with the Exynos 1380, which is based on the 5nm manufacturing process, a nm less than the current 4nm industry standard. I had no performance issues with the A54. It performed well, executed tasks as commanded. It snapped pictures when I hit the shutter button, even in the dark, and launched games snappily. The performance basics are done well here, because the overall UI is fluid, accelerated by the fast 120Hz 6.4” screen. I had the 6GB RAM model, and my educated guess is that the 8GB model is even better at multitasking with the extra two gigs of RAM. This is a quick phone, so to speak.
The speakers are glorious
At least for the last three or so years, my motto is that if you sell a phone for over KES 40,000, then make sure it has dual or stereo speakers. Samsung has been true to this goal and has always shipped its higher-end A-series devices with dual speakers. The pair tucked in the A54 sound great, with some nice bass too (I can say the same thing about the A34 5G, which I am also testing – so stay tuned). When I am in the house, and there is no one around to annoy, I find no use in plugging in my earbuds just to play a tune or watch a video. I can even go ahead and say that they sound better than dual speakers from stereo speakers by other phone brands, and that is aying a lot. Keep up the good work, Samsung.
Cameras are excellent
During day time, the A54 snaps some great-looking shots. The rear camera, which picks its design cues from the S23 series (each camera sensor has its bump). The triple-cam system has a 50 MP main sensor with OIS, a 12 MP ultrawide and a 5MP for macro shots. I would have loved to see a telephoto lens here, but that is reserved for the S lineup. Nonetheless, the system works fine, and I don’t remember taking a bad day-light snap. The night mode allows the sensor to soak in as much light as possible in dimly lit conditions, and the resulting images are above average. Samsung has also improved the selfie shooter, served by a 32 MP sensor. This is to say that you are not going to be disappointed by the A54 in terms of photography, and creative photographers can actually squeeze some class-leading images from this system.















Satisfactory battery performance
I don’t remember the last time I had battery issues with an A-series from Samsung. The 5000mAh cells can get you an entire day of use. However, if you use the phone heavily, especially if you shoot many pics, you might want to juice it up before the day ends. Otherwise, it has solid battery endurance and is only let down by slow charging at 25W in a world where competitors, such as the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ charge at 120W. The A54’s package is also lean, because it only ships with a C-C cable without a charging brick. This means you will need to spend an extra KES 4,000 for a new charger in case you don’t have one. It is a common practice in the current world, and I am certain that other manufacturers will take this trend.
The screen, as always, packs AMOLED gorgeousness
First, the screen is quite ‘compact’ at 6.4 inches. It also has all the features you could ask for in a modern smartphone display. It is plenty bright and can go up to 1000 nits. It refreshes fast at 120Hz, is protected by Gorilla Glass 5, and looks darn good at 1080 by 2340 px. We have, in the past, talked about the benefits of AMOLED, and we are not going to underscore that discussion here because let’s face it, no one makes better screens than Samsung. At some point, I feel that Samsung has peaked in terms of display technology because there is nothing more they can do to improve their screens other than boosting brightness and tuning up the refresh rate. However, this could change, so, fingers crossed…
The refinements
At the start of this post, I mentioned that Samsung has gotten really good at making smartphones. Of course, it has a decade and a half of experience in the Android game, so, there is that. For instance, the OneUI is stable with few, if any, bugs. The software is also packed to the brim with features that you can’t find on other phones. The Edge panel, on the software case, comes in handy. Say you want to copy text from a website that doesn’t allow copying – the Edge panel can help you with that. Wanna back up your phone? Samsung Cloud handles backups so well; when you want to restore them, they will be replicated as you had them previously – including apps, home screen set-up and even Wi-Fi credentials. I am also yet to see a manufacturer that does Always On Display like Samsung does (without overloading the same with a lot of features that can be overwhelming). I mean, I can go on and on about awesome software features in OneUI 5.1 but that is another post for another day. Don’t even get me started on the update policy by Samsung that will see the A54 receive major Android updates in the next four years and security updates for the next five…
Conclusion
Based on the assessment above, you can tell that I am a big fan of the A54. It is fast and does phone things well. The screen could have thinner bezels, and OneUI needs a retouch, especially on the quick settings panel. It also could be cheaper (if you are lucky, you can get it for about KES 50,000, but with the current smartphone shortage in Kenya thanks to KRA’s new tax policy for electronic device and the tanking KES against the USD, be prepared to pay KES 60K or more for this device). Other than that, I have come to like the A54 and is great device, and as said, I don’t see what the A74 could have done different to guarantee a higher asking price than what the A54 is already costing.
Cheers!