Samsung has refreshed its Galaxy A-line of smartphones with the A52, A52 5G and the larger A72, three midrangers that squeeze in a host of flagship features in, despite costing significantly less than the Galaxy S21 family.
The Samsung Galaxy A-series sits below the Galaxy S flagship range, and was the best selling line of Android smartphones in 2020. While historically, they’ve sported a host of compromises, especially on the imaging front, this year, Samsung’s boosted its affordable phones with highlights you seldom find at under $600/£500.
Take the cameras: all three of Samsung’s 2021 A-series feature a quad-camera, with a primary 64MP resolution sensor. More than just megapixels, the phone’s lenses are stabilized with OIS, for sharper, steadier shots and improved low light performance.
The three A-series’ main cameras combine four pixels into one for improved performance in challenging scenes, and Samsung’s also brought over its 4K picture snap feature from the Galaxy S21, which supports in-video player 8MP stills from a video mid-playback.
Able to recognize 30 scenes, optimizing pictures accordingly, the A52, A52 5G, and A72 now feature Pro Video mode, in addition to Pro Mode for photos. Interestingly, the A72 betters the S21 and S21 Plus when it comes to optical zoom with a three times magnification at 8MP (f/2.4). Meanwhile, all three phones sport a 12MP ultra-wide camera (f/2.2), and a 5MP macro camera.
The Galaxy As are more youth-focused than higher-end Galaxy phones, so it’s little wonder fun features like enhanced emojis have also tricked down to them, and there’s even a Snapchat tie-in for good measure.
The A-series can be picked up in Awesome Violet, Black, White, and Blue, all featuring a soft-haze finish, not too dissimilar to that found on the back of the S21 and S21 Plus. Good looking on the front too, the screen experience across all three is powered by Super AMOLED tech, with the A52 and A72 packing a 90Hz screen, while the A52 5G bumps up the refresh rate to 120Hz. All also shine at up to 800 nits brightness.
The high-end features keep coming, with stereo speakers and Dolby Atmos sound across all three phones, and thanks to OneUI 3, the interface that won us over on the Galaxy S21 Ultra loaded up out of the box, you can expect a premium software experience too. With an ample power supply, the A52 and A52 5G sport 4,500mAh batteries, while the A72 bumps that up to 5,000mAh. Sadly, one feature that didn’t make it over to the midrange was wireless charging, but if you can live without that, the phones look set to be three of the best budget camera phones we’ve seen to date.
Prices start at €349 / AU$599 (around $420, £300) for the A52, €429 / £399 / AU$649 (around $550) for the A52 5G, and €449 / £419 / AU$749 ($580) for the A72, with prices varying by country, and the phones are set to launch in April 2021.
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