Samsung Galaxy A54

At Rs. 140,999, the Samsung Galaxy A54 is hard to call great value. It does many things well, but its chip is modest for the price.

• Strengths: premium glass design with IP67 protection, a bright 120Hz HDR10+ AMOLED screen, flagship-like haptics, natural photos, good video, microSD support and long software support.
• Weaknesses: the Exynos 1380 struggles with games and heavy multitasking, the ultrawide camera is weak, there is no charger in the box and no wireless charging.

In our listings the newer Samsung Galaxy A56 costs less, at Rs. 129,999, and brings a faster chip, faster charging and two more Android upgrades. Choose the A54 only if you specifically want microSD storage or find it well below the A56's price; otherwise the A56 is the smarter buy.

The flat 6.4-inch Super AMOLED panel has a 1080 x 2340 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support and a 1000 nits high-brightness mode. Colours and contrast are excellent, it stays readable outdoors, and GSMArena measured auto brightness close to the rated peak, though the manual slider is much dimmer.

In adaptive mode the screen runs at 120Hz while you touch it and drops to 60 hertz when idle, which saves some battery. HDR plays on YouTube and Prime Video, while Netflix streams in full HD through Widevine L1.

The compromises are thick bezels and chin, a bluish shift at angles, and a shiny ring around the punch-hole camera that can catch sunlight. Gorilla Glass 5 protects the front, and the always-on display is included.

The Exynos 1380 (5 nm) with up to 8GB RAM handles email, social media and browsing smoothly, helped by the 120Hz screen. Push it with several heavy apps at once, such as navigation, music streaming and a large website, and the slowdown becomes noticeable. Software updates have improved performance somewhat since launch.

Gaming is the clear weakness:

• No tested game reached 60 FPS, even at the lowest settings.
• PUBG Mobile held only about 30 FPS, and Genshin Impact averaged about 25 FPS with stutters.
• The chip heats up quickly while gaming.

The cheaper Galaxy A34, with its Dimensity 1080, delivers steadier gaming. The A54 suits light users rather than gamers or heavy multitaskers.

The 50 MP main camera with optical stabilisation takes sharp, detailed photos with good contrast and natural colours, so most shots are ready to share. It can overexpose bright scenes and white balance sometimes leans cool.

• Night and portraits: night shots have noticeable shutter lag, and portraits can struggle with background exposure.
• Close-ups: opinions differ; some find close-up detail excellent, while others report trouble locking focus on subjects like flowers.
• Ultrawide: the 12 MP ultrawide is soft, especially in low light, with a colour shift and weaker dynamic range.
• Zoom: a 5 MP macro camera replaces a telephoto, so zoomed shots lose sharpness.
• Selfies: the 32 MP front camera handles HDR well in portraits but smooths skin.
• Video: a strength, with 4K at 30fps from the main, ultrawide and front cameras, natural colours and the option to switch lenses while recording. There is no 4K at 60fps.

The Galaxy A54 has a 5000 mAh battery. Reports differ on endurance: heavier use gives about 5 to 5.5 hours of screen-on time, while lighter use goes much further. GSMArena measured a 119-hour endurance rating, with close to 18 hours of web browsing and about 20 hours of video. Standby drain is higher than on Samsung's flagships, and the Galaxy A34 lasts longer.

Charging tops out at 25W, and there is no charger in the box, so you need to buy one separately. GSMArena reached 56% in 30 minutes and a full charge in about 63 minutes, though other tests took 1 hour 20 minutes or longer. There is no wireless charging, despite the glass back.

The Galaxy A54 launched with Android 13 and One UI 5.1. Samsung promised four Android upgrades and five years of security updates. It started receiving Android 16 with One UI 8 in October 2025, so Android 17 should be its final major upgrade.

One UI on the A54 offers almost every setting found on Samsung's flagships:

• Secure Folder and Knox security for private apps and files.
• Full display colour controls and an always-on display.
• Good call quality with reliable 5G and Wi-Fi reception.

Samsung DeX is not available on this model, and the software cannot fully hide the chip's limits during heavy multitasking.