Introduction
Click here for our full and extensive review of the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, which the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G is based on.
We've said it before, and we'll say it again - Samsung currently has a really strong Galaxy A lineup. They took their "Awesome is for everyone" slogan to heart with interesting and fresh designs, as well as good value specs. Better still, the Korean giant definitely recognizes it has a good product on its hands and is now investing even further in extending its life. Particularly the Galaxy A52, which now has a new A52s 5G variant.
Technically, it can be considered another generation of the product, compared to the vanilla A52 and the A52 5G, though there aren't too many new changes here. The first two A52 models came out back in March, with the 5G one swapping the original's Snapdragon 720G for a 5G-capable Snapdragon 750G and the 90Hz, 6.5 Super AMOLED display for a 120Hz one. All the while keeping the two devices physically identical.
Now the Galaxy A52s 5G takes the Galaxy A52 5G and builds on top of it even further, swapping the chipset once again with an even better Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset, effectively addressing one of the few issues we had with the original - a slightly underpowered chipset.
And that's about it - a significant leap forward in performance and a few other minor specs additions that the new chipset affords, like Wi-Fi 6 compatibility, but still the exact same phone. Arguably, with less changes than going from the vanilla A52 to the A52 5G.
Samsung Galaxy A52s 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, 405ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM7325 Snapdragon 778G 5G (6 nm): Octa-core (4x2.4 GHz Kryo 670 & 4x1.9 GHz Kryo 670); Adreno 642L.
- Memory: 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 6GB 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-degree, 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.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); 3.5mm jack.
That's definitely not us complaining, though, since the price tag on the Galaxy A52s 5G is practically unchanged either. Plus, you are still getting an excellent device, with some highlights like that 120Hz, 6.5-inch, Super AMOLED panel we just mentioned, a solid quad camera setup - the same as before, a gorgeous and youthful, playful exterior, with a rubber-like finish, pastel colors and an IP67 rating.
Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
Once again, you physically get the exact same 159.9 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm phone, with a plastic yet sturdy frame and a Gorilla Glass 5 front. It even weighs the same at 189 grams, which makes sense since the battery is the same 4,500 mAh one. It can be charged at a rate of up to 25W, like before, but this time around, you get a 25W charger in the box, as well, which is even more added value on the Galaxy A52s 5G.
So, we have our work cut out for us. Since we have already reviewed both the original Galaxy A52 and the A52 5G in detail, you can refer to those articles for commentary on design, software and any other aspect that has been carried forward unchanged on to the A52s 5G.
Since the chipset has been swapped, we will go ahead and re-test everything related to that, including performance, battery endurance and charging. We'll test the camera performance as well, since a new chipset does also mean a new and potentially different DSP, even though the cameras remain the same.
Unboxing
Before we get to all that, let's go through the new box and its contents really quick. There is nothing particularly special about the box itself - it is a simple, two-piece cardboard affair, but is strong and does its protective job as intended.
The accessory package hasn't changed drastically, with the important exception of the included charger. The Galaxy A52s 5G comes with a 25W charger in some markets instead of the lesser 15W unit the A52 and the A52 5G came with. You do need to check your particular retailer, though. So, that's a nice little potential value-add bonus.
Beyond that and a relatively short USB cable, there is nothing extra inside the retail box. No case or anything like that, which you might get with budget offers from other manufacturers. Even so, it's all about perspective, since with something like the significantly more expensive Galaxy S21 series, you don't even get a charger at all.
Familiar 6.5-inch AMOLED display
Even though Samsung hasn't mentioned any changes to the display of the Galaxy A52s 5G, we still had to make sure. On paper the panel is identical to the one in the Galaxy A52 5G - 6.5 inches, 1080 x 2400-pixel resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.
Indeed, after running our standard set of tests, we can conclude that the panel hasn't been changed. That's a good thing too, since it is a solid one, all around.
The Max Brightness, as achieved with the main slider, isn't all that impressive and just reaches a maximum of 383 nits. However, automatic brightness adjustment works great and managed to boost our unit all the way up to 800 nits - perfectly usable outdoors.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, | White, | ||
| 0 | 1023 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 846 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 825 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 823 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 814 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 800 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 794 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 787 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 725 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 716 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 682 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 634 | ∞ | |
| 0.38 | 537 | 1413:1 | |
| 0.4 | 534 | 1335:1 | |
| 0 | 514 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 511 | ∞ | |
| 0.338 | 497 | 1470:1 | |
| 0.4 | 477 | 1193:1 | |
| 0 | 475 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 458 | ∞ | |
| 0.327 | 458 | 1401:1 | |
| 0 | 457 | ∞ | |
| 0.277 | 439 | 1585:1 | |
| 0 | 437 | ∞ | |
| 0.301 | 429 | 1425:1 | |
| 0.286 | 426 | 1490:1 | |
| 0 | 404 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 396 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 396 | 1494:1 | |
| 0.252 | 395 | 1567:1 | |
| 0 | 393 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 386 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 383 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 378 | ∞ | |
This are pretty much the same numbers we got from the original Galaxy A52 and the A52 5G, or within the margin of error.
In typical Samsung fashion, there are two color profiles to choose from. Natural is what you want for the best possible sRGB color accuracy. The accuracy is not exactly perfect, but pretty close to what we would consider great.
The default vivid profile aims to cover the DCI-P3 space. Color accuracy isn't as good as sRGB, but we are still looking at very low deltaE values.
There is a color temperature slider available in vivid mode, as well as custom whitepoint adjustment, but neither managed to give us better results in terms of color accuracy.
Speaking of colors, the Galaxy A52s 5G reports quite extensive HDR support in software, which includes HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG. Combined with the highest L1 Widevine certification, you should get access to HD+ and HDR content on streaming services like Netflix. However, at the time of writing, Netflix offers FullHD streaming, as it should with Widevine L1, but does not acknowledge any HDR support.
HDR and Widevine capabilities
The Galaxy A52s 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.
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.
We made sure to test the behavior in a well-lit room, as well, since that is sometimes a condition for any automatic switching to kick in. No such system seems to be in place on the A52s 5G. While not perfect for getting the optimal battery endurance, it does provide certain simplicity. The refresh rate switch is basically just that - a simple switch, you either get 60Hz or 120Hz all of the time, with very few exceptions in the latter mode, which we already mentioned.
Battery life
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G borrows its 4,500 mAh battery, straight from its A52 5G sibling. Yet another part that is carried over. Still, with the chipset swap in mind, we made sure to re-test the battery endurance as well. We ended up with almost identical numbers to the older Galaxy A52 5G.
In fact, the newer model and its more modern modem did slightly better in both our standby and 3G call tests. An hour or so more in the video test all add up to a couple of extra hours of total endurance rating for the A52s 5G.
Definitely nothing earth-shattering, but it is still great to see that the switch over to the Snapdragon 778G chipset has not negatively affected battery life.
Compared to some other recent devices with the same chipset in our battery endurance database, the A52s 5G holds up well, even if there are potentially a few more hours of endurance to be squeezed out. The Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE, in particular, seems to be getting markedly better standby numbers from the same chipset and a smaller 4,250 mAh battery. Then again, the A52s 5G stacks up well against the Realme GT Master and its 114 hours of endurance from a 4,300 mAh battery.
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.
SamsungGalaxy A52s 5G
4500 mAh
SamsungGalaxy A52 5G
4500 mAh
Xiaomi11 Lite 5G NE
4250 mAh
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 patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.
Charging
Charging capabilities haven't changed much from the original Galaxy A52, through the A52 5G and now to the new A52s 5G. All three can accept a peak of 25W via Power Delivery. With the new Galaxy A52s 5G, however, Samsung is now bundling a "full-fat" 25W charger in the box in some markets, instead of the weaker 15W one. It is a nice quality PPS PD unit too. That saves you the potential hustle of buying a charger separately or, alternatively, the FOMO involved with using a slower charger.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
That's not to say, though, that Samsung's 25W charging is going to be setting charging records any time soon. It manages to hold its own well against competitors without going to any extremes and potentially harming the battery's long-term health. We think it strikes a good balance between that and pure speed. If you want to be extra careful with your battery, you can also disable fast charging altogether.
Speakers
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G unsurprisingly carries over the same speaker setup from its siblings and predecessors, as well. It is a stereo one, but just the bottom-firing speaker is dedicated. The second channel is handled by the amplified earpiece. Samsung has managed a surprisingly well-balanced hybrid setup here, which is not always the case.
In terms of loudness, the A52s 5G managed -27.5 LUFS, earning it a respectable "good" grade on our scale. That's with Dolby Atmos turned off, since enabling it lowers the max volume slightly. 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 A52s 5G.
SamsungGalaxy A52s 5G-27.5 LUFSGOODLOUDNESS SCORE
SamsungGalaxy A52 5G-27.5 LUFSGOODLOUDNESS SCORE❌︎
SamsungGalaxy S20 FE 5G-26.3 LUFSGOODLOUDNESS SCORE❌︎
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 A52s 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 A52s 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.
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