Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A54: how will Samsung improve its $450 mid-ranger?

Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy A54: how will Samsung improve its $450 mid-ranger?،

Introduction

Samsung's flagship Galaxy S24 range may be the one making all the noise and hype in the smartphone market, but the fact is that the company's mid-range Galaxy A5x series is not so far behind in popularity and units sold.

This year we get the Galaxy A55, replacing last year's Galaxy A54 which brought a new design, a more powerful chipset and, above all, a new main camera. The question now is how the A55 will improve on its predecessor. So far it looks like it won't be a major upgrade, but some intriguing tweaks could be noteworthy.

So let's see what you'll get from the next one Galaxy A55 for the modest price of $450, that is, if Samsung doesn't decide to raise that price to $500.

Galaxy A55 against Galaxy A54 differences explained:

Galaxy A55	Galaxy A54
Mid-range Exynos 1480 (4nm) chipset	Previous generation, Exynos 1380 (5nm)
Maybe 7 years of software updates	4 years of software updates
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus	Corning Gorilla Glass 5
A new design element — Key Island	Same look, but without Key Island
Samsung AI Features (Maybe)	No focus on AI

Design and display quality

A new design element that could prove controversial

Over the past few years, the Galaxy A5x series has had a very similar design to Samsung's flagship lineup, with the latest example being the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy S23 series. This similarity made it a little difficult to tell them apart visually, but this year things will likely be different.

THE Galaxy A55 is supposed to feature a new design element in the form of a small bump where the volume and power keys are located, which leakers are calling “Key Island.” Here's a leaked rendering featuring what's called Key Island on the A55.

A render of the Galaxy A55 in two of its possible colors, showcasing the new Key Island on its right side.

You'll probably notice that there's a steep slope on both ends of this Key Island, which blends into the rest of the aluminum frame.

Now take a look at the 2023 Galaxy A54 and see if you can imagine looking at the same phone, but with a bump where the two buttons are.

We think this new look will elicit mixed opinions from Samsung fans and others, but we appreciate the manufacturer's attempt to break the formula, if only a little.

That being said, the Galaxy A55 wouldn't be the first Samsung phone to look like this. The more budget-friendly Galaxy A15 and Galaxy A25 were the first to rock the new Key Island. However, given their much lower price, the seemingly controversial design choice hasn't caused much of a stir online, so let's see how people will react once it appears on the company's popular mid-ranger.

The Galaxy A54 is IP67 rated and will withstand submersion in water up to 1 meter for 30 minutes, and we expect the Galaxy A55 to maintain the same level of water and dust resistance as its predecessor.

As for the displays, the A54 comes with a fairly large 6.4-inch display that has a 120Hz screen refresh rate (meaning it's very smooth to slide), with support for HDR10+ content. The A55, on the other hand, is said to have a slightly larger 6.5-inch screen in comparison, and we also expect it to be noticeably brighter than the A54's 1,000 nits.

Finally, the Galaxy A55 could feature slightly better protection for its glass, tipping the Gorilla Glass Victus over the A54's Gorilla Glass 5.

Performance and software

Moving from 5nm to 4nm

The Galaxy A54 came with Samsung's in-house Exynos 1380 manufactured using the 5nm process. One of the main, and so far one of the few, improvements that the A55 would bring is the next generation of this chipset, namely the Exynos 1480, built using the 4nm process.

The Exynos 1480 is somewhere in the same ballpark as Qualcomm's mid-range silicon, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, found in phones like the Motorola Razr 40, for example. It is not yet clear to what extent the new chip will provide a performance improvement.

No matter how much better the Exynos 1480 is, it will likely still be a mid-range processor that isn't terribly impressive compared to the competition.

As for storage, both devices come with 128GB with the base version, which is a standard mid-range amount these days. We do, however, expect the A55 to feature a bit more RAM, up from 8GB to the A54's 6GB.

Camera

Macro camera persists

One of the biggest rumors about Samsung's upcoming A5x series is that it still uses a third macro camera, meaning you'll still have to go higher and buy at least a Galaxy S23FE to get a dedicated telephoto lens.

Apart from this news, there hasn't been any information about the new camera hardware yet, so we expect to see the same 50 MP main camera (which first arrived with the Galaxy A54 last year) and a 32 MP ultra-wide. , as well as a 32 MP front camera. All of these worked pretty well for the phone's price range, but the new Exynos 1480 silicon could enable some improvements and new software features.

Audio and haptic quality

The Galaxy A54's speakers and the audio quality they produce left us a little disappointed in 2023, as they seemed to have very distorted low frequencies at higher volumes. And speaking of volume, it wasn't that high to begin with, with several other competing models from Samsung being much better in this segment.

We hope for some adjustments from Samsung for this purpose, so that the Galaxy A55 catches up with the recently released OnePlus 12R, or Google's Pixel 7a and the upcoming Pixel 8a.

Haptic feedback was decent on the Galaxy A54, and we don't expect any changes to this part of the phone with the A55.

Battery life and charging

Keep it strong

The Galaxy A54 had solid battery life thanks to its massive 5,000mAh battery and the power-efficient Exynos 1380. Galaxy A55 is supposed to come with the same battery size, so the hope here is that the new 4nm Exynos 1480 will be even more power efficient and allow the Samsung mid-ranger to last even longer.

For some context, the A54 lasted about 16 hours during our web browsing test, 7 hours and 45 minutes during our video streaming test, and 5 hours and 45 minutes for our gaming test.

Charging will likely remain the same as the Galaxy A54, at 25W maximum speed via cable. We don't expect Samsung to introduce wireless charging in the A5x series.

Summary and final verdict

So, at first glance, the Galaxy A55 is shaping up to be a rather minor upgrade over last year's Galaxy A54, so if you're using that 2023 model, there seems to be little potential reason for an upgrade.

Truth be told, it would be a bit disappointing if that's all there was to come with the Galaxy A55. What would really make the phone stand out and make it a little more interesting is if some of the Galaxy S24AI features are reflected in this. Of course, the possible 7 years of software updates is also a big win. can be a valid reason to choose the A55 over something like the OnePlus 12R, or even upgrade from the A54.