Samsung quietly announced the Galaxy A52s today, and it's pretty much what we expected. The Galaxy A52s is inspired heavily by the standard Galaxy A52 5G, as it's essentially the same device with one major upgrade to the internal hardware. This will be one easy side-by-side comparison.
The Galaxy A52s is shipping with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G SoC. It's newer, faster, more efficient, and it's going to give Galaxy A52s rivals a run for their money. Competition aside, let's take a closer look at Samsung's own backyard and how the refresh compares to the original model.
Galaxy A52s vs Galaxy A52 5G: All about the new Qualcomm chipset
As you can tell by checking our device comparison widget below, the Galaxy A52s and Galaxy A52 5G have the same design, camera setup, IP67 build, and memory options. The main and only hardware difference is the Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset, which replaces the Snapdragon 750G 5G solution adopted by the Galaxy A52.
The Snapdragon 778G 5G SoC is superior in virtually every way. It was built a couple of quarters later using smaller 6nm (vs 8nm) transistors, which is partly why it delivers better single and multi-core performance while maintaining higher efficiency.
The chipset comprises a single Kryo 670 Prime (Cortex-A78) high-performance CPU Core clocked at 2.4GHz, three Kryo 670 Gold cores operating at up to 2.2GHz, and four efficiency Kryo 670 Silver cores clocked at up to 1.9GHz.
The only other notable difference between the Galaxy A52s 5G and the Galaxy A52 5G is that the former has replaced the blue color with Awesome Mint.
Galaxy A52s vs Galaxy A52 5G: Conclusion
The Galaxy A52s isn't a massive yearly upgrade, but it does help Samsung keep its status in the mid-range segment. For existing Galaxy A52 5G owners, the new A52s model won't represent much of an upgrade. More accurately, we suspect that not many people will be willing to trade in the Galaxy A52 5G for the A52s and pay extra. But that's not what the Galaxy A52s is about.
Smartphone users who don't own the Galaxy A52 5G and are looking to buy a new mid-range phone will get more value out of the Galaxy A52s than the previous model. You can pick the Galaxy A52s over the Galaxy A52 5G if given the choice, but at the end of the day, you can't really go wrong with either. Just know that the A52s is slightly more futureproof.
Then again, Samsung has yet to reveal launch prices for the Galaxy A52s, so it is possible that the standard Galaxy A52 will remain relevant as long as it's offered for a low-enough price.
Galaxy A52 (LTE) review
Why the Galaxy A52 5G was THE mid-range phone to buy
General Information
-
Model Name
Galaxy A52s 5G
Galaxy A52 5G
-
Model type
Bar
Bar
-
Colors
Mint (Awesome Mint)Violet (Awesome Violet)Black (Awesome Black)White (Awesome White)
Black ()White ()Violet ()Blue ()
-
Announced
2021, August
2021, March
-
Released
2021, August
2021, April
Physical specifications
-
Dimensions
Bar: 159.9 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm
Bar: 159.9 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm
-
Weights
189g
189g
-
IP rating
IP67
IP67
Operating system
-
Operating system
Android 11
Android 11
-
One UI version
3.1
3.1
Networks
-
SIM
Dual SIM model
Dual SIM model
-
SIM card sizes
Nano-SIM (4FF)
Nano-SIM (4FF)
-
Networks
2G3G4G5G
2G3G4G5G
-
eSIM support
No
No
Display
-
Kind
Main Display
-
Name
Infinity-O Display
Infinity-O Display
-
Technology
Super AMOLED Display
Super AMOLED Display
-
Size
6.5 inch / 165.10 mm
6.5 inch / 165.10 mm
-
Resolution
FHD+ / 2400x1080 pixels
FHD+ / 2400x1080 pixels
-
Pixel density
407 PPI
407 PPI
-
Screen to body ratio
~84.9%
~84.9%
-
Refresh rate
120Hz
120Hz