There's a question many Samsung fans have been asking for a few years: Why do its mid-range phones not come with a glass back when some phones from the competition do, often at a lower price? Samsung used to have metal backs for its Galaxy A series phones for some time, before it eventually switched to plastic.
The Galaxy A50 and all of its successors have featured plastic backs, but finally, with the Galaxy A54 5G, Samsung has opted for a glass back. The A54 features Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back, and let me tell you that it makes a huge difference as far as how premium it feels is concerned.
But we all know the premiumness of glass is almost always followed by a major issue: slipperiness. And that's also true for the Galaxy A54 5G, and I hate it. The slipperiness stuck out like a sore thumb mere seconds after I unboxed the phone.
In fact, I almost dropped it within five minutes of unboxing it, but thankfully, it didn't actually fall (thanks to my superhuman-like reflexes, as I like to tell myself). What it did do is make me instantly realize that the glass back is the worst upgrade Samsung could have implemented and I ordered a Galaxy A54 case just five minutes later.
Glass on the back might be an important upgrade for many, but I hate it
Now, I realize that the glass back is one of the important upgrades Samsung thought would justify the Galaxy A54's higher price tags in most markets. But is it really an important upgrade? I mean, the Galaxy S Fan Edition phones are all more or less flagships and have a plastic back, and I don't see a lot of complaints about that.
You could argue that being a mid-range phone, the Galaxy A54 5G requires more attractive features than the Galaxy S FE smartphones to capture the hearts of consumers, and a glass back makes sense as one of those features (and the fact that many Samsung fans have long been asking why its mid-range phones don't have glass backs). Still, compared to all of its predecessors, the Galaxy A54 5G adds a reliability issue that I wish wasn't there.
Perhaps Samsung could have spent the money required for a glass back on something else on the bill of materials. For example, I would have loved to see a Snapdragon processor instead of the Exynos 1380. Granted, I say that after being extremely impressed by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 on the Galaxy S23 series. The Exynos 1280 chipset works fine on last year's Galaxy A53, at least after a few updates, but at this point you can't really blame someone not wanting to buy any phone using an Exynos chip.
Or, Samsung could have just saved on the bill of materials by sticking to a plastic back like before. In any case, I started seeing the phone in a negative light soon after I unboxed it, which isn't a good thing. But hey, if this phone is anything like the Galaxy A53 5G, I will probably be singing its praises in the near future.
While you wait for more of our Galaxy A54 5G opinions, also keep an eye out for the SamMobile review by my colleague Abhijeet. I should warn you: he isn't a fan of the glass on the back, either, even if his opinion about it isn't as strong or pessimistic as mine (and he puts all phones in cases anyway).
Also check out our list of the best Galaxy A54 features, which could help you decide if it's a phone that deserves your hard-earned money or not. If you would rather save some cash, the Galaxy A34 5G also brings some nice upgrades, a list of which can be found here.
