It’s finally here! We are checking out the new Samsung Galaxy A52. This is of course the successor to last year’s crazy popular A51 which was one of my favorite devices, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of this new A52, I know you guys have as well, so I won’t waste anymore time, let’s just get right into it, unbox this thing and see what this phone has to offer.
Samsung A52 (Samsung website): https://techdaily.deals/A52
Samsung A52 on Amazon: https://geni.us/KIB0ein
Samsung A52 5G on Amazon: https://geni.us/WN6f6IV
Now right off the bat, I do want to mention that this device right here is the international version of this phone, and it is the 4G variant, not the 5G variant, – I’ll do a separate video on the A52 5G when I have it and Ill also explain some of the differences with this phone too of course, but first things first sliding off the lid of the box here we are immediately greeted by the A52 itself. Obviously I got mine in this black color, but its also available in white, violet and blue, all colors we’ve seen before but still a nice selection of options. Digging a little deeper inside the box you’ll see just a couple of accessories included. Theres a regular old USB A to USB C cable and actually the old style USB A wall plug as well even though this A52 does support the faster 25w charging standard. Also, inside the lid of the box is where you’ll find one more little packet of things. The SIM ejector tool is fashioned to the outside there if you need it, and inside there’s just your usual stack of paperwork, instructions and information, unfortunately at least with this international version of the A52, we didn’t get an included clear case for the phone.
So with all that stuff out of the way, here is the new Samsung Galaxy A52 once again, and I have to say, I really like what Samsung did with this phone. For those of you who had the A51 or at least may be familiar with it, you can probably tell we did get a fairly fresh new design which I think makes this phone look even more premium, there’s a bunch of new features and upgraded specs as well, and honestly I think this device will once again be one of the best midrange smartphones on the market this year.
This new A52 is a 6.5 inch smartphone, that’s the screen size, its the same as last year, and at least up front, things do look somewhat familiar. You’ve got that hole punch camera cutout up top, which looks to be a bit smaller in size, there’s fairly slim bezels all around and a slight bottom chin, though it isnt too noticeable. If you want to get nitpicky, it does appear to me at least that the bezels and borders along the entire display are a tiny bit thicker than last year, but a lot of what you see is actually just the product of a thicker, beefier housing and frame as well. This phone is thicker, chunkier, more squared off and boxy, its heavier as well, it just feels great in the hand, and the metal frame with the polished finish I think gives the phone a super premium vibe. Around back, the A52 gets that matte plastic rear cover that pretty much all Samsung phones have nowadays, at this point, I really don’t mind the plastic, its exactly the same as the S21, the Note series, and in my opinion, although I did like the glossy rainbow A series designs of years past, this new design makes it look way more like a flagship phone than ever before.
Also one new physical feature of the A52 is water and dust resistance – you get an IP67 rating now, that’s actually not something ever offered on the A series before, so durability wise, this phone should be able to handle some accidental splashes.
Taking a closer look at everything else, there’s nothing on the left side of the phone, but on the right you’ll find the usual power and volume buttons. Across the top there’s the SIM and SD card tray, this International version of the A52 has the combo Dual SIM or 1 SIM and 1 SD card setup there. Down below, the headphone jack remains, as well as the USB C port for charging and downward facing speaker. The earpiece on this A52 does double as the secondary speaker, so dual stereo speakers on this phone, something I know Ive asked for before and Im super happy to see. The outlouad listening experience here is awesome, here’s a quick sound sample so you can get an idea.
And around back, we get quite the upgraded cameras here. A quad lens setup which I’ll go more in depth with in just a minute. But the camera bump actually isnt too bad, the module isnt all that tall our thick, its the same matte plastic as the rest of the back, just with silver colored accent rings around the lenses.
As far as unlocking, we do get the in display fingerprint reader once again, and this to me feels pretty quick, definitely an improvement over last year, not quite the instant tap of the flagship S21 but seemingly very accurate and certainly quick enough in my initial tests here so that’s great to see. You also get face unlock of course, that too is very fast, so any which way you want to unlock with this phone, I think the biometrics are very snappy and certainly upgraded. I do also want to mention that there is a pre-installed screen protector on this device, its really hard to see but its there, and while last year’s screen protect I felt was maybe a little lower quality, this one seems way nicer and plays a lot friendlier with that in display fingerprint reader as well, so all in all lots of great impvrorments here.
Now in regards to the display itself, we do get one more really awesome sort of upgrade or new feature for this phone, and that’s a 90hz high refresh rate mode. This super smooth and snappy screen feel has come to a lot of other devices in this price range, and Im really glad Samsung brought this option to the A52. And in fact, while this 4G version of the A52 has the 90hz option, the 5G version of this phone has the 120hz mode which is even better. Sill, I think the 90hz refresh rate on this phone is great, I think most people can see and feel the difference between 60 and 90hz, or motion smoothness as Samsung dubs it in settings, and all in all this is a great addition to this phone that I know a ,lot of people will enjoy – its certainly something I appreciate to say the least.
The actual screen itself is solid too – its a 6.5 inch Super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2400 by 1080 packing in around 407 pixels per inch, and this is the same whether you get the 4g or 5g version of this device, so that’s great. And to me, this A52 looks bolder, brighter and seems to offer and even better viewing experience over last year. At 800 nits of max brightness, I think that’s plenty to enjoy outdoors with no issues. The screen itself is covered in Gorilla Glass 5 this time around, there’;s no off axis angle issues, this is a fantastic screen setup and its exactly what Samsung is known for both on their flagships phones and particularly on these A series devices. I don’t see any compromises whatsoever with the viewing experience here and that’s great, In fact, I think this is a benchmark in the midrange smartphone space – the display really is that good.
Inside, this new A52 also gets some upgraded internals as well like you might expect. The 4G version of this phone, the one I have here, is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset – the 5G A52 gets the slightly more powerful 750G and, you have the option to configure 4, 6 or 8 gigs of Ram with 128 or 256 gigs of internal storage. Out of the box, the A52 ships with all the latest updates – Android 11, Samsung’s One UI 3.1, and that means this phone of course feels fast and fluid. All in all, I actually think this combination of specs is great for this phone. Its a lot of bang for your buck. Snapdragon’s 700 series processors in general are really solid, I know this phone is going to be able to handle anything and everything I throw at it, and actually given Samsung’s commitment to software updates and support, I suspect this phone will be a solid 3 or 4 year investment, maybe even longer. Also, powering this phone now is a larger 4500 mah battery, so as good as the battery life was on my A51 last year, there’s a chance things are even better this year with the increased capacity. Obviously, the high refresh rate display will eat into your battery life a bit more, but I think the increase capacity helps combat that, and battery conscious users who maybe aren’t as interested in 90hz will really get a lot of life out of this phone, and I’m existed to put everything to the test to see what this thing is capable of. Like I mentioned already, the downside is that you don’t get the fastest charger included in the box which is a bit of a bummer, there’s also no wireless charging either on this phone though I can look past that, but collectively, 99% of the internal specs with this new A52 are solid upgrades over the A51, and Im really excited about that.
Finally, lets talk cameras – obviously, that crazy rear setup is one of the defining physical features of the phone, and like almost everything else, we get some nice upgrades and new additions here too. First off, with the specs, the main lens is now a 64mp f1.8 aperture shooter. Theres a 12mp ultra wide lens, 5mp macro lens and the 5mp depth sensor all positioned near the LED flash. And up front, the selfie camera seems to be the familiar 32mp f2.2 aperture lens. Obviously, the camera capabilities are plentiful, and I would say that while its not the over the top flagship setup of the S21 Ultra, there’s still a ton of great stuff here. Interestingly enough, the very first camera mode now is this fun filters mode, I’m not sure Ive seen that so prominently potioned in the app before, but there you go, beyond that you can see up to 10x zoom which is super useful. All the rest of Samsung’s fsmilaiy of camera modes inlaced pro controls, night mode, pro video super slow mo, portrait, various other filters and inside the settings you van see even more great stuff – video stabilization, HDR, 4k video recording is here, you can utilize the 64mp shooting mode and snapping some quick sample pics here, I really like what I see. Although the sleigh camera appears to be the same setup as before, I think results look even better – more natural with more detail, less pale than before, and the rear camera really produces some nice look shots too. Again, not quite flagship caliber, but honestly it was the camera capabilities that I thought were some of the most underrated features of last year’s high end A series phones, and this year once again Samsung is just bringing a lot with their A52 – this might be one of the most capable camera setups on a device in this price range and Im super exited to put it to the test and see what it can do.
If you couldn’t already tell, Im obviously super excited for this phone. The A51 and A71 were both 2 of my favorite devices last year, and it seems to me at least with the new A52 that Samsung brought all the right upgrades and changes – and even a bit more. I think this is absolutely once again one of the best value smartphones on the market – and Im really interested to try it out over the next few days and see what all it can do. But what do you guys think? Is this the phone you’ve been waiting for? Are you going to be buying the A52 when you have the chance? Let me know what you think about this phone in the comments down below id love to know your thoughts of course.
