Samsung Galaxy A52 Review: A pocket rocket at an affordable price

When it comes to Smartphones, we all lust after the flagship iconic brands and devices, but in reality what we use is ten fifths of bugger all of the actual features of those phones, meaning realistically we only need phones like the Samsung Galaxy A52.

At $599 it’s a cracking phone, $749 for the 5G version seems a price to pay just to be a show off about your data speeds to your mates. So let’s consider this a $599 phone, and ignore the fact that Samsung continue to throw 5G into everything making them a clear 5G leader.

The full body screen on this is a stunner, the tiny little dotch carved out at the top for the front-facing camera is hardly noticeable in daily use.

Around the back the non-shiny simplistic design is my favourite part of this whole thing. Rather than adding glitz and glamour, they’ve just made it simple and elegant and it’s also very nice in the hand. Something refreshing about not feeling like you’re holding something that could send you broke if you drop it.

Now I mentioned the screen. That is another reason to stump up for the 5G model which features a smoother 120Hz refresh rate, though, as I’ve said many times, I don’t personally notice the jump from 90Hz to 120Hz – perhaps it’s my old man eyes.

Battery life for days – well, a full day in a breeze is what I mean and that’s what you want from a go-getter phone like this.

Other’s may benchmark the performance here, and complain that the processor used is a step down from the flagship S21 models etc, but hello – it’s a more affordable phone. Not once did I feel like I was being held back by the processor.

What really matters is the camera. So let’s have a look.

We took some shots in Sydney

And honestly, just look at these, raw and unedited from the phone.

They’re fantastic. As you can see, the choice of wide angle, standard and 2x zoom is what you’re getting in the flagships, but also here in a sub $600 phone.

I find it hard to fault. Sure, the camera could be better – if you want to spend 2-3 times the price.

Sure performance could be better, again – what you spend.

Will you notice those things? Not at all.

Is the Samsung Galaxy A52 worthy of your coin – hell yeah.

With Huawei gone from contention, you’re left with Google, TCL, Oppo and a few more in this space, and Samsung has the power of being Samsung on their side, for good reason, they make bloody good phones.

Going against Samsung is the fact there are so many phones in this price point, and the 5G version is probably a touch overpriced.