Samsung Galaxy A54 first look – What’s new with their midrange marvel for Malaysia?

The new Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is their latest phone to join their midrange Galaxy A series line-up alongside the Galaxy A34 5G in Malaysia.

Intended as the more upscale sibling of the Galaxy A34 that we previewed a few days ago, the new Galaxy A54 5G, also designated as the Galaxy A54 uses more premium materials in its design along with a few other special features too. Here’s our Galaxy A54 first look where we give it a quick whirl around the block ahead of a full in-depth review. You can also check out our full Galaxy A54 review here.

@hitechcentury A quick hands-on of the new Galaxy A34 5G and Galaxy A54 5G that’s coming to Malaysia soon. The new midrange phones are IP67 dust and water resistant, have 5G connectivity, 120Hz Super AMOLED displays, microSD card slots and an OIS stabilised primary rear camera. They’re all coming soon to Malaysia! @samsungmalaysia #galaxyA54 #galaxya34 #samsung ♬ In Love With You – BLVKSHP

Samsung Galaxy A54 First Look – Build and Design

Our Galaxy A54 first look sample comes in a shade they refer to as Awesome Violet which works out to a bluish purple with a shiny reflective finish. Alternatively, you can acquire it in a greenish pastel shade of Awesome Lime or a whitish shade of Awesome White as well as a shade of Awesome Graphite.

In terms of design, the Samsung Galaxy A54 looks unabashedly like a Galaxy S23 Plus on account of its flat display, rounded edges and similar looking rear triple camera array with each camera housed in a chrome metal ring. 

At a casual glance, it would be hard to tell apart especially if you acquire the Awesome Graphite version that’s finished in a shade of matte black though the differences are apparent on closer inspection and especially when held in your hands as the phone is primarily made of polycarbonate on its sides and backplate that feel quite different compared to the cool, tactile sensation of metal like that used in the Galaxy S23 series. 

Of note is the fact that unlike the cheaper Galaxy A34, the Galaxy A54 uses Gorilla Glass 5 to protect both its front display and the backplate too which lends it a slightly higher measure of resistance against scratches and drops; the Galaxy A34 only uses Gorilla Glass 5 for the front display. Unfortunately, the shiny finish across the backplate makes the phone a fingerprint magnet along with a tendency to be slippery when held.

Belying its midrange status, the Galaxy A54 enjoys an IP67 dust and water resistance rating which means that it’s able to survive in fresh or pool water up to a metre deep for 30 minutes.

The sides of the phone have a shiny somewhat plasticky finish with the top hosting a triple card tray that allows users to add in two nano SIM cards and a microSD card up to 1TB in size. The right sports the customary volume rocker and power button while the base has a USB-C 2.0 port for charger and data transfers along with a grille for the bottom-firing speaker that pairs up with the other one near the display. 

The rear triple camera array of the Galaxy A54 consists of a primary 50MP F/1.8 camera which has optical image stabilisation (OIS); a rarity especially for midrange phones.

This is paired with a 12MP F/2.2 ultra wide camera and a 5MP F/2.4 macro camera. Combined, the rear triple camera array is capable of stills at up to 10x digital zoom and up to 4K@30fps video. Up front, the Galaxy A54 has a huge 32MP F/2.2 selfie camera for mugshots and video calls that can take up to 4K@30fps video too. 

Up front, our Galaxy A54 first look sample features a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate and a small punch hole for the aforementioned 32MP selfie camera.

The lower quadrant also hosts an in-display fingerprint reader for biometrics while the top has a tiny cutout for a speaker and the earpiece that forms a stereo pair with the downward firing speaker in the base of the phone.

Samsung Galaxy A54 First Look – Specifications

In terms of hardware, our Galaxy A54 first look sample comes with Samsung’s own in-house Exynos 1380 processor which is a midrange octacore processor built on a 5nm process that’s approximately equivalent to a Snapdragon 778G in terms of performance while featuring 5G connectivity, fast WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 too. 

Running under the hood is the latest Android 13 with their own OneUI 5.1 overlay with Samsung committed to offering 4 years of Android updates, 5 years of security updates and 2 years worth of warranty which is an impressive service life for a midrange phone.

In Malaysia, the Galaxy A54 only ships in one RAM and storage configuration which consists of 8GB RAM and 256GB of expandable storage though other regions may get additional permutations of 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.

Our Galaxy A54 first look sample also benefits from the option to augment the RAM with additional virtual RAM (referred to as RAM Plus by Samsung) off the built-in storage in 2GB increments up to 6GB in total.

Keeping the phone powered is a 5,000mAh battery that has 25W wired fast charging. The Galaxy A54 lacks wireless charging and reverse wireless charging functionality  and the packaging only ships with the phone itself and a charging cable to keep costs down.

Samsung hasn’t officially mentioned how much the Galaxy A54 will cost in Malaysia save that it will arrive in the near future with four colourways and one RAM/storage configuration that consists of 8GB RAM/256GB storage.

Once we’ve put the Galaxy A54 through its paces, we’ll share our full review.  You can also follow Samsung’s official Galaxy A54 page at https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-a/galaxy-a34-5g-awesome-violet-256gb-sm-a346elvexme/