Samsung Galaxy A54 vs Galaxy S23: Which smartphone to buy in 2023? (2023)

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  Samsung Galaxy A54 5G

  $200 $450 Save $250

  The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is a great mid-range phone. It offers a sleek design, a beautiful 120Hz display, plenty of power under the hood, and a triple camera setup on the back.

  Pros

  • Reliable day-to-day performance
  • Long-lasting battery

  Cons

  • Macro sensor is average at best
  • No charger in the box

  $200 at Samsung

• 

  Samsung Galaxy S23

  $700 $800 Save $100

  The regular Galaxy S23 is a great option if you're in the market for a smaller smartphone thanks to its 6.1-inch display. But despite the size, it's not lacking any features that the larger S23+ has. It has a 120Hz AMOLED display, a 50MP camera, and more.

  Pros

  • Compact form factor
  • Beautiful display

  Cons

  • No charger in the box
  • Base variant comes with UFS 3.1 storage

  $800 at Samsung $700 at Best Buy

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is the newest mid-ranger on the block that refines last year's Galaxy A-series entry with an updated design and some internal changes. The new phone feels like it's a cut above the rest in the mid-range segment, and it even looks very similar to Samsung's 2023 Galaxy S series flagships. But is design the only thing the Galaxy A54 shares with the Galaxy S23 flagship, or is there more to it than what meets the eye? We have all the details about these new phones from Samsung, so here's a quick Galaxy A54 vs Galaxy S23 comparison to show you how these two phones stack up against each other.

Samsung Galaxy A54 vs Galaxy S23: Pricing and availability

The Galaxy A54 5G goes on sale on April 6, 2023, but you can pre-order it right now to reserve your unit. The pre-orders for it went live on March 30 with some solid deals. You can pre-order now and save some money on a $450 purchase by bringing an eligible phone for a trade-in. Samsung is also offering a $100 discount on a pair of Galaxy Buds Live earbuds for those who bundle them with the phone. The Galaxy S23 flagship, on the other hand, has been out for a few weeks now. It's readily available to purchase for a starting price of $800 from a bunch of retailers in the U.S.

Samsung is only selling the 6GB + 128GB configuration of the Galaxy A54 5G in the U.S., and you can grab it in 'Awesome Black' and 'Awesome Violet' colors. The flagship Galaxy S23 comes with up to 256GB of storage, and it's also available in as many as six colors, including the two exclusive colors that are available on Samsung's web store. You can stop by our collection of the best Galaxy A54 deals, and the best Galaxy S23 deals to find out the best places offering these phones at a discounted price.

Samsung Galaxy A54 vs Galaxy S23: Specifications

• 	Samsung Galaxy A54 5G	Samsung Galaxy S23
  Brand	Samsung	Samsung
  SoC	Samsung Exynos 1380	Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
  Display	6.4" FHD+ AMOLED @ 120Hz	6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display, FHD+ resolution (2,340 x 1,080), 120Hz adaptive refresh rate,
  RAM	6GB	8GB
  Storage	128GB + microSD up to 1TB	256GB, 512GB
  Battery	5,000mAh	3,900mAh
  Operating System	Android 13 with One UI 5.1	Android 13 / One UI 5.1
  Camera (Rear, Front)	50MP main + 12MP ultra-wide + 5MP macro, 32MP selfie	50MP f/1.8 main, 10MP f/2.4 3x telephoto, 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, 12MP f/2.2 selfie
  Dimensions	158.2 x 76.7 x 8.2mm (6.22 x 3.01 x 0.32 inches)	5.76 x 2.79 x 0.30 inches (146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6mm)
  Colors	Awesome Graphite, Awesome Violet	Phantom Black, Cream, Green, Lavender, Graphite, Lime
  Weight	202g (7.12 ounces)	5.93 ounces (168g)
  Charging	25W wired charging	25W wired, 15W wireless, and 4.5 reverse wireless
  IP Rating	IP67	IP68
  Price	$450	Starting at $799

Design and build quality: The Galaxy S23 is compact and more durable

Both phones in this comparison, as you can see, look very similar to each other. Samsung decided to switch things up and make the Galaxy A54 5G look similar to the phones in its flagship range. The result is a more cohesive design that makes these phones look like they belong to the same family. Both Galaxy A54 and the Galaxy S23 now have individual cutouts at the back for the camera lenses. It's a minimal design with nothing but the three cutouts and Samsung branding at the back. You can, however, distinguish these two phones in particular because one is smaller than the other. You can also tell them apart by looking at the front, as the Galaxy A54 has slightly thicker bezels around its display compared to Galaxy S23.

The Galaxy S23 is a compact phone that's both shorter and slightly thinner than the Galaxy A54 5G. It's also a few grams lighter than the Galaxy A54 and is available in more color options. The dimensions are an instant giveaway, so you won't have a hard time distinguishing these phones. The Galaxy A54 5G is only available in two colors, but they both look very good, and the overall fit and finish are quite good compared to other phones in its price range. They're both quite durable, but the Galaxy S23 flagship has a slight edge with a better IP rating and a newer version of Gorilla Glass.

The Galaxy S23 carries an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, and it features Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both the front and back. The Galaxy A54 5G comes with an IP67 rating and Gorilla Glass 5 panels instead. The Galaxy S23 being the more expensive flagship, is naturally a bit better when it comes to overall durability, but we still recommend picking one of the best cases and the best screen protectors for it to maintain its pristine condition. One thing to note about the Galaxy A54 5G is that it comes with a hybrid SIM slot on the top that can accept a microSD card for storage expansion. This is something that's missing on the Galaxy S23, so keep that in mind.

Display: Similar 120Hz, FHD+ displays, but the Galaxy S23 gets brighter

Moving over to the front, the Galaxy A54 5G sports a 6.4-inch FHD+ display which is bigger than the Galaxy S23's 6.1-inch panel. They're both OLED displays with support for up to 120Hz refresh rate, so you're not going to notice a lot of difference between the two. Both phones have HDR10+ panels with the same display resolution, but the Galaxy S23's panel can get significantly brighter. It peaks at 1,750 nits as opposed to the 1,000 nits on the Galaxy A54.

Both phones have good-looking OLED panels, but the one on the Galaxy S23 can get significantly brighter and has a slightly higher pixel density. The Super AMOLED panel on the Galaxy A54 5G isn't bad by any means, and it's still better than the display you get on most phones in its price range. Both phones also have a good in-display fingerprint scanner for authentication, but the ultrasonic sensor on the Galaxy S23 is a touch faster than the optical sensor on the mid-range phone.

Internal hardware and performance: Flagship Snapdragon vs mid-range Exynos chip

The Galaxy S23 is the flagship phone in this comparison, and it has powerful internals to back it up. We're looking at the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for Galaxy, which is currently one of the best mobile chips in 2023. Pair that with up to 12GB of RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, and you have one of the fastest mobile phones on the market. Meanwhile, the mid-range Galaxy A54 is powered by Samsung's in-house Exynos 1380 SoC which is an upgraded version of the Exynos 1280 found inside its predecessor. We're looking at an octacore chipset inside both phones in this comparison, but they have vastly different core configurations, and we're also looking at different GPUs. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is also a 4nm chip, so it's more power efficient than the 5nm Exynos 1380.

It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, as we're looking at a flagship chipset versus a relatively less powerful mid-range chip. You can easily plot the difference in benchmarks in which the Galaxy S23 handily beats the Galaxy A54. You're not going to notice a significant difference in performance when it comes to real-world usage, though. We did encounter occasional hiccups while using the Galaxy A54, but it wasn't unusable by any means. The Exynos 1380 delivers reliable performance when it comes to day-to-day usage, and it runs almost as well as the regular Galaxy S23 for all practical purposes. You can only buy it with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage in the U.S., though, so keep that in mind. It's not necessarily a deal-breaker, as you can add more storage via a microSD card slot, but it's something to keep in mind while comparing these two phones. The UFS 4.0 storage on the Galaxy S23 will also pay huge dividends in the performance department, but it's limited to the 256GB variant of the phone.

The Galaxy A54 5G packs a bigger battery compared to the Galaxy S23. We are looking at a 5,000mAh battery inside the A54's bigger chassis versus a 3,900mAh unit inside the Galaxy S23. The bigger capacity also translates to better battery life and more screen on time (SoT) on the Galaxy A54 compared to the Galaxy S23. That's not to say the Galaxy S23 is weak in the battery department though because it should comfortably last you through an entire day without any issues. The Galaxy A54 5G, however, can last you more than a day on a single charge which is why it's better here. Both phones top out at 25W wired charging, but the Galaxy S23 supports wireless charging.

Both phones in this comparison run the latest One UI 5.1 software that's based on Android 13 out of the box. The flagship Galaxy S23 has more premium features like an always-on display, but you're looking at the same software experience overall. Samsung is also promising four platform updates and up to five years of security updates for both phones, so you're getting the same software support. Great software support is one of the highlights of Samsung phones, and it's good to see a mid-range phone like Galaxy A54 get the same treatment as a flagship.

Cameras: Triple cameras on both, but the S23 is better

You get a triple-camera setup on both phones, but they both use different sensors to obtain vastly different results overall. The Galaxy A54 features a 50MP f/1.8 main sensor along with a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide and a 5MP f/2.4 macro lens. The flagship Galaxy S23 comes with a 50MP f/1.8 main sensor along with a 10 MP f/2.4 telephoto with 3x optical zoom and a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens. The selfies are handled by a 32 MP f/2.2 and a 12MP f/2.2 shooter on the Galaxy A54 5G and the Galaxy S23, respectively.

Both phones can capture some good photos with the main camera, especially during the day or in scenes with enough lighting. The 12MP ultrawide and the 10MP telephoto combo on the Galaxy S23 is better and more usable than the Galaxy A54's ultrawide and macro combo. The 5MP macro lens you get on the Galaxy A54 isn't as bad as the ones you get on many other budget phones, but it's not as useful in day-to-day usage compared to a telephoto lens. The Galaxy S23's camera sensors are more forgiving in low light, as you can see from the camera samples attached below. We were able to capture the same scene on both phones in low light, and you can clearly see the differences in results.

Samsung Galaxy A54 camera samples:

8 Images

Samsung Galaxy S23 camera samples:

8 Images

It's worth making a note that the Galaxy A54 also tops out at 4K 30fps videos, whereas the Galaxy S23 can record 8K videos at up to 30fps. Similarly, the Galaxy A54's front camera also tops out at 30fps when it comes to 4K videos, whereas you can capture 60fps videos while recording at 4K resolution using Galaxy S23's front camera.

Samsung Galaxy A54 vs Galaxy S23: Which is right for you?

All things considered, it's safe to say that the Galaxy S23 is the best phone overall in this particular comparison. You are paying a premium for the Galaxy S23, but the expensive price tag also gets you superior hardware with better and more durable build materials and powerful internals. The Galaxy S23 comes with the newer Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and you also get an IP68 rating as opposed to IP67 on the Galaxy A54 5G. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset powering the Galaxy S23 can also output better raw performance, with which it can handle pretty much any task you throw at it with ease. Lastly, you also get a better set of optics on the Galaxy S23, and you can comfortably rely on those sensors to churn out great photos. The Galaxy S23 is one of the best premium compact flagships you can buy on the market, and it's also an easy pick in this comparison if your budget allows for it.

Samsung Galaxy S23

Editor's Choice

$700 $800 Save $100

The Samsung Galaxy S23 is the better phone in this comparison as it goes head-to-head with the Galaxy A54 with better internals, cameras, and more. It's hard to go wrong with the Galaxy S23 if you are in the market to buy a premium compact flagship.

$800 at Samsung $700 at Best Buy

The Galaxy A54 5G falls a bit short going against a flagship, but it's still a solid phone for those who don't want mind giving up on some premium features in exchange for a cheaper price tag. Samsung has made a lot of improvements this time around to make the Galaxy A54 5G stand out from the rest in its price range. Not only does it look and feels like a flagship phone, but it also has other traits of a flagship, including a great 120Hz OLED display, reliable One UI software with all the latest features, and also Samsung's excellent software support that makes it better than most other mid-range phones on the market. It's hard to go wrong with the Galaxy A54 5G in the budget space, so it stands as one of the best alternatives to the Galaxy S23 if you are working with a relatively small budget.

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G

A good alternative

$200 $450 Save $250

The Samsung Galaxy A54 is a great mid-range phone that shares a lot of similarities with the Galaxy S23. It may not be as powerful as Samsung's flagship phones in 2023, but it's hard to beat in the mid-range segment.

$200 at Samsung