Last year, Samsung found immense success with the Galaxy A51. Featuring a new design choice and a compelling set of cameras, the phone managed to rank among the best-selling Android phones for all of 2020. Now that’s a tough act to follow through. And here with me is its successor, the Galaxy A52. Just like the Galaxy A32 that Samsung launched recently, this phone gets a separate 4G/5G treatment as well. Allow me to discuss my early impressions of the Samsung Galaxy A52.

Samsung Galaxy A52 Specifications:

• Body: 75.1 x 159.9 x 8.4mm, 189 gm, IP67 dust/water resistant
• Display: 6.5-inches “Infinity-O” Super AMOLED panel, 90Hz refresh rate, 407 PPI
• Resolution: Full-HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G (8nm)
• CPU: Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver)
• GPU: Adreno 618
• Memory: 4/6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB storage (expandable)
• Software & UI: Android 11 with Samsung’s One UI 3.1 on top
• Rear Camera: Quad-camera;– 64MP f/1.8 primary lens, AF, OIS– 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens, 123º FOV– 5MP f/2.4 macro sensor– 5MP f/2.4 depth sensor
• Front Camera: 32MP f/2.2 sensor (punch-hole cutout)
• Audio: Stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos audio, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Security: Optical in-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Galileo / Beidou, NFC, USB Type-C, 4G LTE
• Battery: 4500mAh with 25W fast charging (15W adapter provided)
• Color options: Awesome – Black, Blue, White, Violet (No white color in Nepal)
• Price in Nepal: Rs. 41,999 (6/128GB)
• Buy here (Samsung Plaza)

Samsung Galaxy A52 Impressions:

Here, its 5G model powered by Snapdragon 750G is reserved for the western market whereas our unit is the standard Galaxy A52 with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 720G inside. Apart from their network capability, these phones are basically the same. I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy A52 for the past day and here are my early impressions of the device.

Coming from A51, the biggest change that the company’s made can be seen in the design language itself. Instead of a prismatic back with an L-shaped camera layout, Samsung has gone with a smooth matte finish and a reworked camera module. In its bid to offer a premium look, A52’s camera layout screams inspiration from the Galaxy S21 series. So it’s fair to say that the phone makes a unique statement for itself in terms of visual flair.

Loving the pastel color choices so far

Add the gorgeous pastel color options into the mix, then you’re looking at one attractive phone. I’m also digging the lightweight build quality of this device. But, the bigger design win of the Galaxy A52 has to be its IP67 dust/water resistance, which is something of a rarity on similarly priced smartphones. Overall, Samsung has really nailed the design side of things here—especially considering the phone’s target demographics.

The display sees a healthy upgrade as well. A52’s 6.47” FHD Super AMOLED panel now hosts a 90Hz refresh rate. As a result, browsing the web or scrolling through the UI has been a treat so far. Still and all, while Samsung has been hoarding the praise for its AMOLED screen even on mid-range phones for some time now, the competition has caught up.

Xiaomi’s latest Redmi Note 10 series boasts a similar setup including options for an even higher 120Hz refresh rate which shrouds Samsung’s jump to the smooth display technology. All of this at a fraction of what the South Korean company is asking for A52. Also, unlike the variable refresh rate found in its flagship phones, this phone can’t dynamically adjust the screen refresh rate based on the content.

Great display, as always

Anyway, from what I can tell, this is an excellent display to look at. With up to 800 nits of brightness, outdoor visibility is no issue for the Galaxy A52. On the contrary, its SGS-certified eye comfort feature makes looking at the phone at night a non-fatiguing experience.

Additionally, it’s a content consumption juggernaut too. Thanks to the Widevine L1 certification, I can enjoy HD content from different streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. On top of this, A52’s stereo speaker setup makes watching shows and movies all the more enjoyable. Moreover, because of the phone’s AMOLED heritage, you also get features like Always On Display and an optical in-display fingerprint sensor.

Like always, Samsung’s implementation of the latter leaves things to be desired. It’s quite slow and requires a rather firm pressure to work. Instead of this historically mediocre biometric option, I would’ve preferred a side-mounted fingerprint scanner instead, like on the Galaxy M12. On a related note, the face-unlock alternative is equally unimpressive too.

How does A52 hold up in terms of performance?

Moving on. As I mentioned earlier, the Galaxy A52 4G comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 720G SoC. Compared to the notorious Exynos 9611 in its predecessor, this chipset offers a major jump in performance. Having said that, Samsung isn’t really known for including best-in-class silicons in its non-flagship phones, and this one’s no exception. The same silicon can be found in much cheaper phones like the new Redmi Note 10 Pro series. But I digress.

Benchmarks:

• AnTuTu v8: 261198
• Geekbench 5:
  • (CPU) Single Core: 532, Multi-Core: 1544
  • (Compute) OpenCL: 1196

In terms of memory, you can choose from either 4, 6, or 8 GB of RAM while all of them share 128GB of internal storage. The phone runs on One UI 3.1 based on Android 11 out-of-the-box and you might already know how much I adore this Android skin.

From its dark mode implementation, customization options, to the Google-feed embedded home screen, it’s good to see Samsung do so well in the software department. Besides, the company’s commitment to providing 3 generations of OS and up to 4 years of security upgrades is an incredibly welcome move.

Like I said in the beginning, it’s only been a day since I’ve started using the Galaxy A52. So, keeping in mind that I’ll be reserving my final thought regarding its performance for the full review, what I can say for now is that things look pretty promising here. Juggling through a couple of apps like Facebook, Chrome, Spotify, and camera, the multitasking experience hasn’t let me down.

What about gaming?

I also tried playing a couple of demanding games and the results were pretty satisfactory. Keep in mind, a price-deserving chipset would’ve made the gameplay even better. Regardless, Call of Duty Mobile plays smoothly at High graphics and Max frame rate.

With my limited time with the phone, I haven’t gotten to extensively test out its gaming capabilities, so there’s that. On the other hand, PUBG Mobile is also playable at Smooth graphics and Ultra frame rate.

Do the cameras see any improvement?

With that out of the way, let’s talk cameras. Galaxy A52 features a similar quad-camera setup but with an upgraded 64MP sensor. Apart from this, Samsung has been generous enough to include OIS on the rear camera this time around. You can shoot up to 4K/30fps videos from both front and back camera but as aforementioned, the former lacks any sort of stabilization.

Images from the primary camera are classic Samsung stuff. They are punchy with plenty of details. The photos from 12MP ultrawide cameras share the same story.

Here, the portrait shots from its 5MP depth sensor are similar to the ones from Galaxy A72 that doesn't have a dedicated portrait lens.

Completing the setup is a 5MP macro lens. On the front, the 32MP selfie shooter remains unchanged.

And what about the battery life?

Getting to the battery, Galaxy A52 comes with a bigger 4500mAh cell with support for 25W fast charging. Now, I haven’t been able to complete a full charge cycle so stay tuned for our full review to know about the battery endurance and basically everything else about this phone at length. But with a day's worth of heavy usage, the phone has kept up fine.

Conclusion

So that was it for my early impressions of the new Samsung Galaxy A52. With its revamped design and upgraded internals, the phone is a healthy upgrade over the A51 and definitely a phone to consider if you are thinking of getting a premium midrange phone this summer.

Watch our video impressions of the Samsung Galaxy A52.