Introduction
The lovely Galaxy A52 also comes in 5G flavor, but unlike the cheaper Galaxy A32 duo, where LTE and 5G versions cost the same and comes with downgraded screen and camera, this A52 5G actually brings upgrades and a price hike. Samsung has chosen the Snapdragon 750 5G chip for the Galaxy A52 5G and it has also equipped it with a 120Hz refresh rate Super AMOLED screen, in addition to the headline 5G connectivity.
That's pretty much where the differences end with the rest of the specs sheet shared between the A52 duo. This means the Galaxy A52 5G offers waterproofed body and an attractive matte back. The Super AMOLED has HDR10+ support, while the camera setup is looking solid on paper. The 64MP primary camera has optical image stabilization and it can do 2x lossless zoom, while the 12MP ultrawide camera has a larger sensor than most in this price range.
Wrapping up the highlights are the stereo speakers, the large battery with relatively fast charging, the under-screen fingerprint scanner, the 3.5mm jack and the rich connectivity options. Not a bad package at all then.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G specs at a glance:
- Body: 159.9x75.1x8.4mm, 189g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 5), plastic back; IP67 dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 mins).
- Display: 6.50" Super AMOLED, 120Hz, 800 nits (HBM), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 407ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM7225 Snapdragon 750G 5G (8 nm): Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 570 & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 570); Adreno 619.
- Memory: 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot).
- OS/Software: Android 11, One UI 3.1.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.7", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 123˚, 1.12µm; Macro: 5 MP, f/2.4; Depth: 5 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8", 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps; gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4500mAh; Fast charging 25W, 50% in 30 min (advertised).
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); 3.5mm jack; Virtual proximity sensing.
The Galaxy A52 5G seems like a nice mid-ranger with some flagship goodies sprlingkled on top like the primary camera with OIS, the IP67-rated body and the 120Hz AMOLED. The chipset raises a question mark though - Snapdragon 750 5G is no slouch, but there are far speedier options in this price range and we are not sure it will handle the pressure of a 1080p 120Hz perfectly.
We'll find out by the time we finish this review. Now let's waste no more time and get it started!
Unboxing the Galaxy A52 5G
The Galaxy A52 5G ships in a regular paper box and the bundle is quite basic - a 15W charger and a USB cable. That's it - no case, no protector.
The box contents are the same as the vanilla Galaxy A52's and a bunch of other, lower-standing models. The A52 and A52 5G support 25W fast charging, but if you want speedier charging, you'd have to pay extra for it. Only the Galaxy A72 and gets a 25W adapter in the box. Then again the S21 series don't even get that, so it could be worse too.
Design, build quality, handling
Standout design is in the Galaxy A series' DNA, but this generation might be the best one yet. Waterproofing and HRR AMOLEDs are lovely, but a lot of customers will be drawn in by the sheer looks of the phone. Just like the Galaxy A32, A52, and A72, this Galaxy A52 5G in Awesome Violet look nothing short of beautiful.
The Galaxy A52 5G is a mid-range smartphone, but its body has several premium elements. The front Gorilla Glass 5 sheet is much appreciated, the plastic frame looks nice with the glossy finish, while the plastic back has this incredible matte layer that is really mesmerizing. Samsung calls the colors options Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Violet, Awesome Blue and we are inclined to agree.
Samsung is among the few makers to offers official IP ratings for its midrange series and the Galaxy A52 5G, giving it an edge against more aggressively priced Chinese competiros. The phone is IP67-rated for dust and water resistance, and it can survive in a meter deep water for up to 30 minutes. To put things in perspective, most of Xiaomi's phones come with basic IP53 splash resistance while other makers' have nothing at all.
Let's do some closeups now. The front is a home to the 6.5" Super AMOLED screen. It is of top quality with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and wide color gamut coverage. The panel has nicely thin bezels for this class. The punch-hole is as tiny as they get these days, so we can't complain either.
Above the screen is this razor-thin grille hiding the earpiece that also works as the second speaker in the stereo setup. The main speaker is at the bottom of the phone, and we were delighted to find that both are of equal loudness (bass included), and nicely balanced.
Another praiseworthy bit of hardware is the under-display fingerprint scanner. It is of the optical type, works fast and is reliable. For the week we used the Galaxy A52 5G we had only a couple of misreads, which is great.
The AMOLED screen is protected by a flat piece of Gorilla Glass 5. The glass is known for its good shatter resistance, though it isn't as great as far as scratches are concerned. This being a flat panel you can easily get a glass screen protector on top if you want extra peace of mind. Note that if you put a glass shield, you will also need to re-register your fingerprints for better accuracy.
Flipping the phone brings us once again to the beautiful Awesome Violet rear. It is flat, too, with 2.5D finish around the edge. It is all matte, including the camera island. And while we are looking at the quad-camera - it is jutting out of the back just a tiny bit and not sharply, but more like a tiny hill. It makes the phone wobble a bit on a desk or table, but certainly not as much as, say, a Galaxy S21 Ultra.
There are five holes on the island - the first column has the 12MP ultrawide shooter, the 64MP primarycamera , and the 5MP depth sensor. Next are the 5MP macro snapper and the single LED flash. Just like the Galaxy A52, the Galaxy A52 5G offers optical image stabilization on its main shooter.
The back panel is really resistant to fingerprints and smudge. Well, those probably do stick, but you just can't see them. It is not as grippy as it looks, though.
The plastic frame actually provides more grip than the back even if it is all glossy. We guess the thicker plastic and different paint are the reasons for that.
Moving on to the top of the A52 5G we see the hybrid SIM slot and one of the mics.
There is nothing on the left side. The volume control and the power/lock key are on the right.
The 3.5mm jack, the mouthpiece, the USB-C port, and the second speaker grille are all at the bottom. The audio jack is a rare occurrence these days, let alone on a waterproofed smartphone.
The Galaxy A52 5G measures 159.9 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm and weighs 189 g - exactly as much as the LTE A52 model. It is one of the more reasonably sized smartphones in its price bracket, given many of the phones are boasting 6.67-inch screens or larger.
The Galaxy A52 5G feels great when handled, grippy and secure enough so it's tempting to advise usage with a protective case. However the clumsier types may want to proceed as usual.
The only gripe we have with the build is that while the back looks nice, it feels somewhat hollow. It's likely because of the material, but it does feel kind of unsupported when we knock on it. We can't be sure how tough is the back unless we break it, but we do hope it is tougher than this highly unscientific test suggests and knowing Samsung's expertise in the area there's probably little to worry about.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G packs a superior 120Hz AMOLED panel compared the A52 4G's 90Hz display of the same 6.5-inch diagonal and 2,400 x 1,080 px resolution. The support for HDR10+ is another feature exclusive to the 5G model, but that comes with a catch we'll get back to in a bit. A flat sheet of Gorilla Glass 5 is tasked with protecting the screen in both phones though.
We completed our traditional brightness measurements. The display maxes out at 378 nits when brightness is adjusted manually. Samsung advertises a sunlight-mode brightness of 800 nits and indeed, when we exposed the A52 5G display to bright light, its screen lit up as high as 787 nits.
The minimum brightness at point white we measured was 1.7 nits, so no issues with usage in a dark room either.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 378 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 787 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 386 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 794 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 395 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 570 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 438 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 633 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 404 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 823 | ∞ | |
| 0.327 | 458 | 1401:1 | |
| 0.4 | 534 | 1335:1 | |
| 0 | 511 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 716 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 443 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 650 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 396 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 825 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 393 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 814 | ∞ | |
| 0.286 | 426 | 1490:1 | |
| 0.338 | 497 | 1470:1 | |
The screen is tuned to comply with the DCI-P3 (Vivid mode) or sRGB (Natural mode) color spaces. The accuracy is great for the Vivid profile - the colors are not too saturated, but the white and gray hues are a bit bluish. The Natural mode yields perfect colors accuracy with an average deltaE of 1.8.
The Galaxy A52 5G offers two options for refresh rate - 60Hz (Standard) and 120Hz (High) Motion Smoothness. In either case it's a fixed frame rate with no adaptive adjustments, which may end up hurting battery life.
When using the 120Hz mode all apps work at 120Hz, including YouTube, Netflix, benchmarks, games, social networks. This doesn't mean all games can reach 120fps, in fact, with the Adreno 619 GPU most can barely hit 60fps.
There are apps that specifically mandate 60Hz operation for one reason or another and those would of course run at the lower refresh rate, but they are the exceptions to the rule. Notable examples include Google Maps and the Camera app, as well as apps that use a Maps UI component or call up a camera viewfinder.
Finally, let's talk about the HDR capabilities. The screen is recognized as HDR10 and HDR10+ capable by all hardware-reading apps. YouTube streams HDR10 content easily, but Netflix and Prime Video consider the Galaxy A52 5G as not supporting HDR even though it has Widevine L1 DRM. Usually, we'd say Samsung and the third-party developers will sort this out soon, but since the Galaxy A52 5G isn't advertised as having and HDR10 screen, we'd say that's highly unlikely and the HDR10+ support will remain dormant.
Battery life
The Galaxy A52 5G has the same battery as the A52 - a 4,500 mAh cell. This is fairly standard capacity for the mid-range and it delivered some good battery life scores.
The 5G Galaxy A52 posted impressive scores throughout our battery life test. It posted a 111h endurance rating, a bit more than the Galaxy A52's. The 5G version clocked north of 32 hours of 3G calls, nearly 13 hours on web browsing, and 19 hours when playing videos. The Galaxy A52 5G also demonstrated some good standby performance.
We always carry our video playback test at 60Hz as almost all HRR-capable phones display videos at 60Hz no matter the selected refresh rate. Well, that's not the case with the Galaxy A52 5G - if 120Hz is selected, videos will be shown at 120Hz. This mode lowers the video score down to 14:42h and the total endurance rating falls to 105h, which is still a great achievement.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage - check out our all-time battery test results chart.
Charging speed
The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G supports 25W Adaptive Fast Charging, but the phone ships with a 15W Charger (5V/2A or 9V/1.67A). If you want to recharge your A52 5G faster, you'd need to buy the 25W Samsung power or a different 25W+ Power Delivery adapter separately.
Using the bundled charger, you can refill 34% of the depleted battery in 30 minutes. Definaely among the lower scores out there even in the mid-range.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
98% - Realme 8 Pro
88% - Poco F3
67% - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (25W)
57% - Samsung Galaxy A52 (25W)
52% - Poco X3 Pro
50% - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
50% - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (15W)
37% - Samsung Galaxy A52
34% - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
34% - Realme 8 5G
29% - Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
27%
A full charge requires 1 hour and 39 minutes, which is speedier than the regular Galaxy A52 and an overall decent achievement. The full charge times of the Galaxies are all over the place though, so it appears there's room for tuning with firmware updates.
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
0:31h - Realme 8 Pro
0:38h - Poco F3
0:56h - Poco X3 Pro
1:08h - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (25W)
1:10h - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
1:21h - Samsung Galaxy A52 (25W)
1:30h - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (15W)
1:35h - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
1:39h - Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
2:01h - Samsung Galaxy A52
2:03h - Realme 8 5G
2:20h
Neither of the charging scores is impressive in absolute terms, but let's not forget we are charging a rather large 4,500mAh battery.
Speakers
The Galaxy A52 5G just like many of the recent Galaxy A phones offers stereo speakers. There is only one dedicated bottom-firing speaker on the A52 5G, while the earpiece handles the role of the second speaker. Impressively, from what we can hear - both pieces sound very well balanced and offer equal loudness, which is not always the case with earpiece speakers.
The A52 5G's setup is not the cleanest, nor the loudest around. It achieved a "good" loudness score with Dolby Atmos turned off and the Equalizer set to normal. Turning Dolby Atmos on expectedly lowers the volume a bit.
We'd describe the sound quality as "good', too. It offers well-presented mid-tones, the high notes are okay, while the bass is barely there. Far from the best sounding speakers on a phone, obviously, but we've heard a lot worse, so we'd say we are happy with what we experience on the A52 5G.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
The Galaxy A52 5G offers a lot of customizations when it comes to audio. The Dolby Atmos implementation includes presets for movies, music and voice, as well as an automatic option. As a nifty bonus on top of that - Dolby Atmos for gaming specifically picks up and optimizes certain sounds, like footsteps in-game, for a slight competitive advantage.
Dolby Atmos, equalizers and Adapt sound on the Galaxy A72
Rounding off the audio section, the Galaxy A52 5G also has an advanced equalizer, as well as Samsung's Adapt sound system, which can tune the audio profile to your specific personal needs and preferences.
Android 11 with One UI 3.1
A lot of the appeal with Samsung devices lies in the software. Sure, it has its detractors, but there is a reason why One UI is one of the most popular custom Android implementations out there and has been so for quite some time. In keeping with its new "Awesome is for everyone" slogan, the Korean giant is significantly stepping up its software game with the Galaxy A family of devices.
The Galaxy A52 5G comes with the latest One UI 3.1 and Android 11 setup out-of-the-box. More important still - Samsung has committed to delivering 3 major OS updates and 4 years of security patches, which is essentially unheard of in this price range.
The default lock screen shortcuts - dialer and camera, are monochrome in OneUI 3.1. Oddly enough, if you pick different apps, they will keep their colors - it's not a first-party vs. third-party type of differentiation either.
As more of a functional change - the lock screen has a wellbeing widget - you can now keep track of how much time you've spent on your phone without even unlocking it. Meanwhile, the always-on display settings have been simplified.
Lock screen, shortcuts and widgets
The under-display fingerprint reader will likely be the primary method of unlocking for most, but you can still use face unlock either instead or alongside it. It can be more convenient in certain situations, but it generally is less secure since it's just using the selfie camera, meaning tricking it isn't too hard.
Biometrics and security
In One UI 3.1 pulling the notification shade covers the entire screen underneath, even if there's just one notification card or none at all. That's in contrast to a previous implementation where the unused portion of the screen below the notifications still remained visible if darkened.
While we're here, the quick toggles can now be edited directly from the plus button at the end of the list instead of going into the menu.
Android 11 includes the nifty Notification history feature. It's accessed from the Settings menu, so it's not within immediate reach, but it's there for those occasions when you dismissed a notification too quickly and didn't really see what it was about. Just make sure to enable it because it's Off by default.
Notifications, quick toggles and notification history
All of the standard layout adjustments and toggles for the quick panel and taskbar are accounted for. Android 11 has a new way of handling notifications for instant messenger apps called Bubbles, and One UI 3 adopts it, too. That's in addition to a previously available similar feature offered by Samsung by the name of Smart pop-up view. You'll find these settings under the 'Floating notifications' submenu, where you can alternatively turn both of them off and opt for the old-school cards only interface.
Bubbles is an extension of the Conversations feature, another new development. You tap on an icon in the initial incoming message notification. It turns into a conversation that you can then minimize to a bubble, or what was known as a 'chat head' - originally Facebook Messenger's default way of dealing with chats.
Smart pop-up view is one of One UI's lesser-known proprietary features. In the pre-Bubbles days, it used to add the chat head functionality to any application of your choosing. Tapping the hovering 'head' icon opens the app in a floating window, which you can then maximize to fullscreen or minimize back to an icon.
Floating notifications
Android 11's refined multimedia controls have made their way on to One UI. You get a stack of the active audio playback apps right below the quick toggles and swiping to the side switches between the apps.
The Media screen was already available on One UI pre-Android 11, and it offers similar functionality for picking the output device or using Samsung's Music share feature. The volume control panel has gotten a makeover too, and now the four sliders are vertical instead of the horizontal ones of One UI's past.
Media controls
Samsung's Music Share is just one example of a fairly advanced software feature that originally launched as a flagship one and is now bringing a lot of added value to the mid-range. The feature allows you to play music through Bluetooth accessories connected to a friend's Samsung phone. It is pretty nifty.
Samsung Music Share
Yet another of the native Android 11 improvements that Samsung also includes in One UI 3 is the ability to pin apps to the top of the sheet with Share options. It's one of those things that make you wonder how come it had to wait until v11 for us to get there. Things are much better now, but still, we'd like to be able to remove some of the options, too, because that list could sure use some decluttering.
One more thing that Google tweaked in this year's release is the permission handling, and Samsung's implemented it in One UI 3. With this version, you will see a new prompt for permissions every time an app requests it, letting you deny permission, allow it only while using the app, or just for this one time. If an app requires constant access to permission, you also get a fourth option that takes you to a setting page where you can provide it. This is done to prevent the user from accidentally selecting this option while blazing through the permission dialogs.
Share options pinning and permissions handling
The settings menu has seen a subtle but meaningful makeover. Subcategories are made more legible by using a dot separator and extra intervals, while recent searches are now shown as bubbles instead of a list. Additionally, there's a newly added feature to search settings by hashtags - for conceptually related things found in different places in the menu.
One UI settings
The One UI dialer app lends itself to plenty of customization. There are two different layouts for the in-call screen to choose from. You can also set up a background image or video for that screen, though it's going to be all the same for all of your calls - you can't have a different one on a per-person basis.
Samsung dialer
There are plenty of other smaller visual changes scattered all throughout One UI 3.1. Samsung's excellent theme support and rich online selection are present, as well. The same goes for the system navigation options, with a few tweaks and layouts available for gestures, as well as old-school button controls, even the really-old original style, with the back button on the right side.
One UI 3.1 and navigation options
There is also the Edge panels interface, Bixby and full integration of the SmartThings platform. The Game launcher is the hub for all your games, alsong with options for limiting distraction while playing.
Additional software features
One notable omission from the A52 5G feature set is Samsung Dex. We get it - some things still need to be flagship exclusives. Even in its absence, though, you can still get a lot of its functionality through the Link to Windows feature that has been implemented in cooperation with Microsoft.
Performance, benchmarks, cooling
The Galaxy A52 5G employs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G (8nm) SoC - the 5G counterpart to the Snapdragon 720G that powered the 4G model of the Galaxy A52 and the Snapdragon 730G and 732G. It packs an octa-core CPU separated into two clusters - 2x Kryo 570 cores (Cortex-A77 derivative) clocked at 2.2 GHz and 6x Kryo 570 cores (Cortex-A55 derivative) ticking at 1.8 GHz.
The Adreno 619 takes care of the graphics. It now supports 120Hz refresh rate (vs. 90Hz Adreno 618 inside the Galaxy A52), hence the 120Hz HRR support by the Galaxy A52 5G.
The chip is paired with either 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and you can choose between 128GB or 256GB UFS 2.1 storage. It's nice to see 128GB being the base memory configuration on a mid-ranger.
The highlight of the Snapdragon 750G chip is, of course, the X52 5G/LTE modem, which is the most distinctive difference between the regular A52 and the 5G model.
Now, let's run some benchmarks.
The Snapdragon 750G 5G doesn't offer a significant performance jump over the A52's SD720, but it's still a capable processor and does an excellent job for the mid-range bracket.
However the Galaxy A52 5G is priced closely to some more powerful phones, which easily best it in terms of CPU performance.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
3296 - OnePlus Nord 2
2792 - Poco X3 Pro
2574 - Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
1910 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
1820 - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
1812 - Realme 8 5G
1784 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
1780 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
1673 - Samsung Galaxy A52
1577 - Samsung Galaxy A32
1277
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
906 - OnePlus Nord 2
814 - Poco X3 Pro
735 - Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
643 - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
641 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
636 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
569 - Realme 8 5G
569 - Samsung Galaxy A52
525 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
505 - Samsung Galaxy A32
361
The Adreno 619 GPU is as powerful as the Adreno 618 inside the LTE Galaxy A52 model handles gaming adequately. The majority of intensive games can't really pass the 60fps mark, but it easily handles navigating One UI at 120fps for that extra smoothness.
Once again, phones like the Galaxy S20 FE, Poco X3 Pro and the recently launched Nord 2 and its Dimensity 1200 chipset are much better at graphics than the A52 5G.
The Galaxy A42 5G uses the same SD750 chip but it's paired with a far less demanding 720p display, hence the better scores.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
77 - Poco X3 Pro
67 - OnePlus Nord 2
57 - Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
56 - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
30 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
28 - Samsung Galaxy A52
26 - Realme 8 5G
22 - Samsung Galaxy A32
13
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
45 - Poco X3 Pro
38 - OnePlus Nord 2
38 - Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
33 - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
17 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
16 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
16 - Samsung Galaxy A52
15 - Realme 8 5G
13 - Samsung Galaxy A32
8.1
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
4224 - Poco X3 Pro
3401 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
1185 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
1107 - Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
1105 - Realme 8 5G
1104 - Samsung Galaxy A52
1040 - Samsung Galaxy A32
686 - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
113
Finally, AnTuTu rates the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G highly, although obvioualy not quite as high as the likes of the Galaxy S20 FE and the OnePlus Nord 2, that are closely priced.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
543986 - OnePlus Nord 2
512164 - Poco X3 Pro
453223 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
334981 - Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
324686 - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
318672 - Realme 8 5G
302059 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
295442 - Samsung Galaxy A52
261282 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
226561 - Samsung Galaxy A32
174332
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
598022 - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
391770 - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
386474 - Realme 8 5G
361505 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
222125
The Snapdragon 750G 5G chipset is a good fit for the Galaxy A52 5G and it delivers adequate performance for both everyday tasks and popular well-optimized games. It's just that the Galaxy A52 5G price premium pushes it too close to some phones with flagship-grade chipsets and it doesn't stand a chance against them.
Finally, we ran our usual stability tests and it turned out the Galaxy A52 5G has excellent thermal performance. When using the GPU at 100% the Galaxy A52 5G managed to keep a stable performance with a total score of 96.7%. That's a negligible drop.
Then the CPU throttle test shows the A52 52G manages to keep 71% of its maximum performance over the course an hour of 100% peak CPU usage. That's an excellent number for a mid-range non-gaming phone.
3D Mark Stress • 3D Mark Stress • CPU Throttle
Overall, the Galaxy A52 5G is a good performance. It offers buttery-smooth Android experience thanks to its 120Hz AMOLED screen and solid performance in apps - we never saw stutter or lag. Same goes for games, they run well and steady and with the right settings, you can have long and satisfying gameplay. Note that even if the A52 5G does support high refresh rate gaming, few games will be able to go beyond 60fps as the GPU is nowhere near flagship-grade.
Lastly, the Galaxy A52 5G even when used at peak performance, never gets hot, just slightly warm. There are no hot spots or issues with handling due to them either.
Your typical quad-camera setup
The Galaxy A52 5G offers the same setup as the Galaxy A52. There is a 64MP primary camera with, a 12MP ultrawide unit, a 5MP macro snapper with fixed focus and a 5MP depth sensor. The selfie camera at the front has a 32MP sensor.
The primary camera uses a 64MP Sony IMX682 1/1.7" sensor with 0.8µm pixels and 24mm f/1.8 optically stabilized lens. It is quite rare to see OIS in this mid-range class and we appreciate it. The camera has a Quad Bayer color filter, which means this camera normally does 16MP photos with 4-in-1 binning, though a high-res 64MP shooting mode is available. Phase-detect autofocus is supported.
The ultrawide camera uses a 13MP 1/3" imager with 1.12µm pixel pitch. The sensor is behind a 13mm f/2.2 lens and the focus is fixed. Note that this camera is advertised as 12MP and it saves 12MP photos. We suspect some cropping is needed for the automatic distortion correction.
The macro camera uses a 5MP GalaxyCore GC5035 sensor with f/2.4 aperture and focus fixed at about 4cm.
The depth senor uses the same 5MP GalaxyCore GC5035 module with f/2.4 aperture and focus fixed at infinity.
The selfie camera is the same as on the Galaxy A52 - it uses the 32MP Sony IMX616 1/2.8" sensor with 0.8µm pixels and Quad-Bayer filter. Hence, it is meant to produce 8MP stills (in its default mode it does 3264 x 2448 pixel stills). There is a 32MP mode available if you need it though.
The camera app is the same you'd find on every Samsung phone these days. Swiping left and right will switch between all available modes, and there's an option to re-arrange or remove some of the modes from the viewfinder. Vertical swipes in either direction will switch between front and rear cameras.
The settings icon is located in the upper left corner of the screen and gives you fine control over the cameras. You don't get separate setting screens for photo and video since the options aren't that many in total. Like grid lines, location data, etc., the usual stuff can be found there. You can also turn on and off the Scene optimizer. Once on, you still have to toggle it on a second time from the main UI, though. Keep that in mind.
The primary and the ultrawide snappers support Night Mode.
There's a Pro mode, too. You get granular exposure controls and manual focus with peaking, up to 10s shutter speed control, but no live histogram or the option to operate anything but the main cam.
The full resolution modes on the primary and the selfie camera are triggered from the aspect options, which is a rather unintuitive bit.
Photo quality
Samsung's Scene optimizer doesn't really make a huge difference in most shots - whether it was on or off, we still got the same photo. While at times a bit sluggish, its detection never actually tripped up and ruined a shot for us, so there is no benefit in turning it off. Maybe it can make a difference in very specific shots, but more often than not its presence is unfelt.
In contrast, the Auto HDR mode is very trigger happy and it used HDR in ALL shots. We snapped a couple without, too, but we will talk about these in a bit.
So, the default 16MP samples were shot with Auto HDR and scene optimizer, as intended by Samsung. And these are some solid photos with enough detail, excellent contrast, accurate colors and wide dynamic range (thanks, HDR!).
There is noticeable noise in areas of uniform colors, but it's not too distracting.
We've seen sharper images from this class, sure, but we suspect the HDR processing might be responsible for the lower-than-expected sharpness and possible loss of intricate detail.
Main camera, 16MP
The non-HDR samples are indeed sharper althuogh that comes from more agressive processing rather than having too much extra detail. The only other difference is the less developed tonal extremes, which is expected.
Auto HDR • no HDR
The Galaxy A52 5G offers lossless 2x zoom thanks to its high-res 64MP sensor. The images we shot at 2x magnifications were solid with excellent detail and all the benefits from the regular non-zoomed photos - lively and accurate colors, superb contrast and dynamic range.
Each 2x zoomed photo takes about a second or two to shoot. We'd guess it's done by shooting a couple of 64MP images, stacking them, and then cropping the center. We suspect that's the case because the 2x photos offer much more detail and sharpness than the default 64MP photos. Also, if your hand isn't particularly steady, you may get a blurry photo on occassion despite the presence of OIS.
Main camera 2x zoom, 16MP
And here are a bunch of full res 64MP photos. There don't have that much extra detail, but do excel in everything else as the default 16MP photos.
We tried downscaling the 64MP down to 16MP and it turned out there are no gains when compared to the regular 16MP stills. The default images weren't outdone even in areas of higher complexity. And given you can do great 2x zoom by using the 2x toggle, we see no reason whatsoever of shooting in the full 64MP resolution.
Main camera, 64MP
The 12MP photos saved by the ultrawide camera are some of the best you can get from a mid-range smartphone. They offer good detail levels and the gentler noise reduction surely helped for that. The colors and contrast are commendable, the dynamic range, too, thanks to the Auto HDR.
The automatic distortion correction seems proficient, too, but the price you are paying is noticeable corner softness. That's common with this type of cameras. For now, only the flagship-grade UW snappers with freeform lens can do better.
Ultrawide camera, 12MP
Contrary on what we observed with the main camera, shooting without HDR with the ultrawide camera won't be yielding sharper images.
Auto HDR • no HDR
The 5MP macro camera has its focus fixed at 4cm, and shooting a sharp picture involves a lot of trial and error. Eventually, you will learn how to hit the sweet spot - you will begin to recognize when your subject is on focus. It takes a bunch of tries and a ton of ruined photos, of course.
When you hit the sweet spot the 5MP macro shots on the Galaxy A52 5G are quite good - they are sharp and detailed, colorful and with high contrast. They are ideal for your Instagram or Facebook for sure, but given the tough learning curve and limited capabilities, we can imagine only a handful of users shooting with this camera.
Macro camera, 5MP
The Galaxy A52 5G has a dedicated 5MP depth sensor, which assists the main camera when taking portrait photos. The portrait photos we took are good, but not ideal.
The subjects are detailed and well exposed, while the blur is rather convincing. The subject separation is a mixed bag. It works well when the backgrounds and the haircuts are simpler. But when dealing with busier backgrounds or messy haircuts it immediately starts to falter.
Portraits, 16MP
Now, let's move to some low-light samples. The main camera produces great photos at night. They are nicely detailed, with satisfyingly low noise levels, excellent color saturation and contrast. The exposure and dynamic range are also praise-worthy for images that were taking without Night Mode.
The Auto HDR helped where necessary, while the optical image stabilization allowed for slower shutter speeds and blur-free photos.
Main camera, 16MP
Night Mode is available on the Galaxy A52 5G, of course. When used on the main camera, it saves a cropped 12MP photo for some reason.
Those 12MP images aren't a major improvement over the regular ones. We noticed it reveals a bit more detail in foliage and some shadows, restores minor parts of blown highlights, and cleans noise, although the cleaning costs fine detail at times.
We see no point in using the Night Mode on the main camera until it is really necessary. The camera is equipped well to handle low-light photography on the go, Samsung's processing is proficient, too, and yields natural-looking images.
Main camera Night mode, 12MP
There is no lossless zoom at night though. If you shoot 2x photo, you will get the simple digital zoom done by crop and upscale.
Main camera 2x zoom, 16MP
The 12MP ultrawide photos are okay - you can see what's on them, the detail isn't half bad as on most mid-range snappers of this type, and the colors retain good saturation. The exposure is actually better than we expected.
Ultrawide camera, 12MP
Night Mode makes a big difference here and we suggest using for the majority of your ultrawide photos at night. You would get better exposure, less noise and even better colors. Just don't expect sharpness gains and you would be happy.
Ultrawide Nigh Mode, 12MP
And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G. Here's how it stacks up against the competition. Feel free to browse around and pit it against other phones from our extensive database.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G against the Poco X3 GT and the OnePlus Nord 2 5G in our Photo compare tool
Like many other Samsung phones, the selfie on the A52 5G has a toggle to determine how wide the frame will be. This setting annoyingly defaults to the narrower option and hence - an 8MP crop. When shooting in the wider aspect, selfies come out in 12MP.
The 12MP selfies with took with the Galaxy A52 5G may not be the sharpest around, but they do excel in contrast, colors, and dynamic range. You should know that when the light is not ideal, the resolved detail is going to deteriorate dramatically.
Selfie camera, 12MP
And here are two 32MP selfie shots - they are soft and lack the benefits of HDR and Scene Optimizer. But if you want to get the maximum detail from this sensor for whatever reason, you can try shooting in 32MP and then downscale the images to 8MP.
Selfie camera, 32MP
The portraits taken with the selfie camera and pretty nice - the subject separation good, and so is the background blur.
Portrait selfies
Video recording
The Galaxy A52 5G captures 4K@30fps videos with its primary and ultrawide cameras. The mainstream 1080p mode at 30fps is available for both, while 1080p at 60fps works only on the main camera.
Electronic stabilization is available for the primary and ultrawide cameras, but it can be used only at 1080p resolution.
The video bitrate is generous at 48Mbps in 4K. Audio is captured stereo with a 256Kbps bitrate.
The 4K clips from the main camera are excellent for the class - the detail is plenty, and noise is low. Overall, the Galaxy A52 5G handles the scene very well - the colors are accurate, the contrast is great, and the dynamic range is plenty enough for a great picture.
The 4K videos from the ultrawide camera are quite nice, too. The footage is noisier than the one from the main camera and there is noticeable corner softness, but other than that, the center is incredibly detailed, and the clips present natural look, accurate colors, great contrast and outstanding dynamic range.
The Galaxy A52 5G supports hyperlapse, as well as night mode hyperlapse. The NMHL captures 1s of footage for each 45s in real time. Meaning 30s clips you are about to see took nearly an hour to make. NMHL are shot in 1080p resolution and are stunning! If you find the right scene and you have enough juice in the phone, you will have a video you can really show off with and rightfully so.
Finally, here is the Galaxy A52 5G in our video comparison database.
2160p: Samsung Galaxy A52 5G against the Poco X3 GT and the OnePlus Nord 2 5G in our Video compare tool
The competition
The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G is a phone with many cool traits and it does make sense over the Galaxy A52 if you appreciate the smoother 120Hz UI and 5G connectivity. But you'd be paying dearly for those.
The Galaxy A52 5G costs about €460 in Europe, which is €120 over the regular Galaxy A52. That's a lot of money for a smoother UI and 5G, particularly in the current state of 5G networks.
The Galaxy A42 5G runs on the same Snapdragon 750 5G but offers a more basic Super AMOLED screen of 720p resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. Its main camera isn't as impressive either, but it does excel in gaming and offers jaw-dropping battery life. Plus, the A42 5G is about €160 cheaper than the A52 5G. If gaming and 5G are important to you, maybe you should consider this one instead.
Finally, the 5G-enabled Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is just €60 more expensive than the A52 5G and it has a lot to justify this kind of premium. It has a similar 120Hz AMOLED but offers much better performance thanks to the flagship-grade Snapdragon 865 5G chip. The S20 FE has a better camera on the back, too - there is a 12MP primary with OIS, a dedicated 8MP tele camera with OIS and 3x optical zoom, while the 12MP ultrawide shooter is a match to the A52's. And if these aren't good enough reasons to spend more, then there is fast wireless and reverse wireless charging, too.
Samsung Galaxy A52 • Samsung Galaxy A42 5G • Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
Outside the Galaxy world, things aren't looking good for the Galaxy A52 5G either. The recently launched OnePlus Nord 2 5G costs €399 or €60 cheaper than the Galaxy and it offers much snappier performance thanks to its Dimensity 1200 SoC. Its 50MP main camera also features OIS, so mobile photographers should be happy with that. The Fluid AMOLED is "just" 90Hz, but these are 90Hz you can fully utilize given the proper content thanks to the potent hardware. Oh, and the 65W bundled charger brings the battery from 0% to 100% in 30 minutes, which is amazing!
There is also the €200 Poco X3 Pro and the €300 Poco F3. Both phones feature 120Hz displays and powerful Snapdragon 860 5G and Snapdragon 870 5G flagship-grade chips. Their cameras aren't as impressive and the Pocos are only splash-resistant, but they sure outdo the A52 5G when it comes to performance and fast charging.
Last, but not least important - you should explore the Realme GT, which costs €499. With a 120Hz AMOLED screen and a Snapdragon 888 chip, and it can recharge its 4,500mAh blazingly-fast with the bundled 65W SuperDart charger. The Realme has no ingress protection and its ultrawide camera isn't as impressive, but for everything else - it is better than the A52 5G.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G • Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro • Xiaomi Poco F3
Our verdict
The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G is a good smartphone with a thoughtful pick of features - few mid-range phones can offer an attractive design, a 120Hz AMOLED, a decent chipset, and such a capable bunch of cameras. We also liked the battery life and speaker performance, as well as how smooth One UI was.
Indeed, the Galaxy A52 5G is a solid 5G phone and nobody can take that from it.
Unfortunately, the Galaxy A52 5G is just priced unfavorably. There are many better or faster 5G phones at a similar or even cheaper price out there and while the promises of very long software support may be boosting the A52 5G's value proposition it still feels your are not getting the best bang for your buck. Not least because the regular A52 with the same kind of support and largely the same feature set is that much cheaper.
Samsung can make the Galaxy A52 5G an attractive offer by applying a price cut, but until then you are probably better off spending your money elsewhere.
Pros
- Beautiful design, IP67-rated body.
- Great AMOLED screen of 120Hz refresh rate.
- Impressive battery life.
- Balanced stereo speakers, loud enough.
- Great all-round camera experience, photo and video.
- 5G, microSD, 3.5mm jack, Android 11, One UI 3.5.
Cons
- Priced too close to phones with flagship-grade chipsets
- 15W bundled charger not maximizing charging potential.
- The GPU performance is uninspiring.
- The selfie experience could have been better.
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