Galaxy A53 5G and A33 5G go official with mid-range specs, familiar design

Samsung has begun the annual refresh of its mid-range Galaxy A-series with a double bang: both the Galaxy A53 5G and Galaxy A55 5G have been just announced. Building on the strong foundation that made phones like the Galaxy A52 so popular, Samsung has still found a way to shake things up. Some fan favorite features are missing, which certainly has the potential to ruffle a few feathers, but overall, Samsung's new mid-range darlings seem like the logical evolutionary step.

Galaxy A53 WAS $449.99 NOW $349.99 SAVE $100 with trade-in

One of the best deals on the budget-friendly phone is a trade-in offer on Samsung.com. The South Korean company is offering $100 in instant credit when you trade in an eligible phone. The deal is available for the unlocked Galaxy A53, as well as for the carrier-locked variants. Additionally, you can get free Galaxy Buds Live as a gift.The Galaxy Buds Live usually cost $169, so this is a great addition to the already good deal that the Galaxy A53 presents.

$100 off (22%) Trade-in Gift

$349 ⁹⁹

$449 ⁹⁹

Buy at Samsung

From a design standpoint, the two devices are nearly identical, with the Galaxy A53 being just a smidgen larger and heavier than the Galaxy A33. The Galaxy A33 features a V-shaped notch whereas the Galaxy A53 5G goes for a more space-saving punch-hole selfie camera. Both phones have the distinct rear camera setups of the preceding Galaxy A-series, employing the sloped and slightly protruding rectangular shape.

There aren't much surprises in the build, with both phones utilizing 'glasstic' matte backs that don't diverge too much from the looks of their predecessors,. Both devices have IP67 water and dust resistance, which allows them to remain submerged in up to a meter of water for up to 30 minutes.

The Galaxy A53 and Galaxy A33 also have stereo speakers and on-screen fingerprint sensors, with no headphone jacks to be found on any phone. There's also no charger in the box, so you will have to either use an older charging brick or buy one separately.

But what's making the Galaxy A53 and Galaxy A33 click and tick? Let's explore the hardware specs of the two new Samsung juggernauts:

Samsung's latest Exynos chipset, dubbed the Exynos 1280, this one is an octa-core, 5nm endeavor that features two ARM Cortex-A78 cores running at 2.4GHz and six ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2GHz. Reportedly, the ARM Mali-G68 GPU that debuted with the MediaTek Dimensity 900 is taking care of the graphics inside both the Galaxy A33 5G and A53 5G.

Samsung is seemingly trying to become less reliant on Qualcomm and MediaTek in the near future and seemingly use more of its own Exynos chipsets on its phones. We should probably expect most upcoming Galaxy A-series phones to feature an Exynos chipset as well. As a refresher, the Galaxy A52 used an 8nm Snapdragon 720G chipset while the Galaxy A32 came with a 12nm Helio MediaTek G80, so the Exynos 1280 seems like a solid improvement on all fronts.

Memory-wise, Samsung is simplifying things. You can have Samsung's upcoming mid-rangers with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of native storage. Samsung has also kept the microSD slot around, allowing memory cards of up to a terabyte to fit inside either phone.

In terms of cameras, Samsung has equipped the two phones with slightly different setups. The more premium Galaxy A53 comes along with a 64MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide sidekick, while the more affordable Galaxy A33 has to get by with a 48MP main camera and an 8MP ultra-wide. The rest of the cameras are common on both phones - a depth-sensing one and a dedicated macro lens, which have more limited use cases in comparison with the main snappers.

What about the price?

The Galaxy A53 5G will sell for $449.99 in the US and £399 in the UK. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A33 5G won't be sold west of the Atlantic.

Galaxy A53 5G will hit the market on April 1, while the Galaxy A33 5G arrives April 22.

In terms of availability, we expect the Galaxy A53 to be available through all the usual channels, namely the bi three carriers and various other retailers and outlets.