Galaxy A54 and A34 hands-on: Samsung is relaunching popular mid-range smartphones

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Samsung's Galaxy A series smartphones are among the most popular smartphones in price comparisons. With the Galaxy A54 and A34, the manufacturer is now relaunching the series and, like the Galaxy S series, relies on high-quality displays and improved cameras. Market launch from 389 and 489 euros at the end of March.

Table of contents

  1. 120 Hz fast OLED displays with 1,000 cd /m²
  2. Larger pixels and better image stabilization
  3. Exynos 1380 and Dimensity 1080
    1. Memory can be expanded
  4. Four major Android updates promised
  5. Price, colors and availability
  6. Galaxy A54 and A34 specifications
  7. Galaxy A14 is also coming

120 Hz fast OLED displays with 1,000 cd/m²

Galaxy A54 and A34 both use Samsung's own Super AMOLED displays, but differ in size and visual implementation. The Galaxy A34 uses a so-called Infinity-U panel, which hides the 13 MP selfie camera in a teardrop notch that protrudes into the screen from above. The Galaxy A54, on the other hand, uses an Infinity-O panel, which uses a circular recess in the panel for the 32 MP front camera. The displays are 6.4 inches on the Galaxy A54 and 6.6 inches on the Galaxy A34, resolution and maximum refresh rate are again identical at 1,080 × 2,340 pixels and up to 120 Hz. The older Galaxy A53 also offered 120 Hz, while the Galaxy A33 still had a maximum of 90 Hz. In high-brightness automatic mode, both screens are said to achieve up to 1,000 cd/m².

Bigger pixels and better image stabilization

On paper, the Galaxy A54 initially appears to be a supposed downgrade of the primary camera, but the 50 MP instead of the previous 64 MP go with a larger sensor of 1/1.56" instead of 1/1.7" so that the pixel size increases from 0.8 to 1.0 μm. The initial aperture remains the same at f/1.8, and Samsung now specifies a compensation of up to 1.5 degrees for the optical image stabilizer (OIS) – a value that also applied to the manufacturer’s more expensive models up to the Galaxy S22. According to Samsung, this is an improvement by a factor of 1.6 compared to the Galaxy A53. Samsung specifies a factor of 4.2 for electronic image stabilization.

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Galaxy A54
Galaxy A54
Galaxy A14, A34, A54
Galaxy A14, A34, A54
Galaxy A34
Galaxy A34

The Galaxy A34 sticks to the 48 MP known from its predecessor, both smartphones also shoot 4K video with the primary and selfie camera and offer two additional cameras for ultra wide-angle and macro photos. The Galaxy A34 also offers an OIS with 1.6x stabilization, which should have a supportive effect at night or in low light. The EIS is said to offer stabilization with a factor of 2.5 improvement.

Exynos 1380 and Dimensity 1080

After Samsung switched completely from its own Exynos to Qualcomm processors for the Galaxy S23 series, the in-house chips are used again, at least in the Galaxy A54. Samsung's chip division presented the Exynos 1380 in February and is now using it with four Cortex-A78 and A55 cores paired with a Mali-G68-MP5 graphics unit in the Galaxy A54. The Exynos 1280 was still in the Galaxy A53 and A33, but the cheaper version is now switching to the MediaTek Dimensity 1080, which comes with two Cortex-A78 and six Cortex-A55 CPU cores. With the Mali G68 MP4, there is a weaker GPU in the chip, which is manufactured at TSMC in 6 nm. The Exynos 1380 rolls off the production line at Samsung in 5 nm.

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Galaxy A34 (Image: Samsung)

Memory can be extended

Both smartphones start with 128 GB of storage, which can be expanded by a maximum of 1 TB using a microSD card. A configuration with 256 GB is available for a surcharge, which is accompanied by 8 instead of 6 GB of RAM in the Galaxy A34, while 8 GB is always installed in the Galaxy A54. If you use a memory card, you have to do without the second SIM card, but the Galaxy A54 now also supports eSIM cards for the first time.

Four major Android updates promised

Similar to the Galaxy S23 family, Samsung delivers the devices with Android 13 and its own extension One UI 5.1, and the software support is also identical to the three flagships with four main Android versions up to and including Android 17 and five years of security patches from the market launch ( Test).

Price, colors and availability

Priced at €489 (128GB) and €539 (256GB), the Samsung Galaxy A54 will be available in Awesome Lime, Awesome Graphite, Awesome Violet and Awesome White colors in late March in Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. At the same time, the Galaxy A34 starts in Awesome Lime, Awesome Graphite, Awesome Violet and Awesome Silver at prices of 389 euros (128 GB) and 459 euros (256 GB).

Technical data of Galaxy A54 and A34

Samsung Galaxy A54 Samsung Galaxy A32 5GSamsung Galaxy A33 5GSamsung Galaxy A34 ✔Samsung Galaxy A52Samsung Galaxy A52 5GSamsung Galaxy A53 5GSamsung Galaxy A54 ✔ Samsung Galaxy A34 Samsung Galaxy A32 5GSamsung Galaxy A33 5GSamsung Galaxy A34 ✔Samsung Galaxy A52Samsung Galaxy A52 5GS A53amsung Galaxy ✔5GS A53amsung Galaxy 5GS4 Software:
(at release) Android 13.0 Display: 6.40″, 1080×2340
403ppi, 120Hz
Super AMOLED, HDR, Gorilla Glass 5 6.60″, 1080×2340
390 ppi, 120 Hz
Super AMOLED, HDR, Gorilla Glass 5 Operation: touch, fingerprint sensor, face scanner SoC: Samsung Exynos 1380
4 × Cortex-A78, 2.40 GHz
4 × Cortex-A55, 2.00GHz
5nm, 64-bit MediaTek Dimensity 1080
2 × Cortex-A78, 2.60GHz
6 × Cortex-A55, 2.00GHz
6 nm, 64-bit GPU: Mali-G68 MP5 Mali-G68 MC4 RAM: 8,192 MB
LPDDR5 6,144 MB
LPDDR5 variant 8,192 MB
LPDDR5 memory: 128/256 GB (expandable) 128/256 GB (expandable) 1.Camera: 50.0MP, 2160p
LED, f/1.8, AF, OIS 48.0MP, 2160p
LED, f/1.8, AF, OIS 2nd Camera: 12.0MP, f/2.2 8.0MP, f/2.2 3rd Camera: 5.0MP, f/2.4 4th .Camera: No 5th Camera: No 1st Front Camera: 32.0 MP 2160p
Display Flash f/2.2 13.0 MP 2160p
Display Flash f/2.2 2nd . Front camera: No GSM: GPRS + EDGE UMTS: HSPA+
↓42.2 ↑5.76 Mbit/s LTE: Advanced Pro 5G: NSA/SA WLAN: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax< br>Wi-Fi Direct 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Wi-Fi Direct Bluetooth: 5.3 Location: A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS Other standards: USB 2.0 Type C, NFC SIM Card: Nano SIM, Dual SIM Battery: 5,000 mAh, 25.0 W
Permanently installed Size (W×H×D): 76.7 × 158.2 × 8.20 mm 78.1 × 161.3 × 8.20 mm Protection class: IP67 Weight: 202 g 199 g Price: 489 €/539 € 389 €/459 €

Galaxy A14 is also coming

In addition to the Galaxy A54 and A34, it will be coming soon The Galaxy A14, which was already shown at CES in January, will also be launched in Germany – a price is still pending. This smartphone goes from 6.5 to 6.6 inches with FHD+ instead of HD+ and 90 instead of 60 Hz on a PLS LCD. The front camera changes from 5 to 13 MP, the rear triple camera consists of primarily 50 MP and two 2 MP for macro and bokeh effect.

ComputerBase has information received for this article from Samsung under NDA at an event held by the manufacturer in Schwalbach am Taunus. The costs for arrival and departure were borne by Samsung. There was no influence on the part of the manufacturer or an obligation to report. The only requirement was the earliest possible publication date.