In 2020, Oppo made the bold decision to launch in South Africa during the pandemic. This meant it staggered bringing its devices into the market. Most of these devices have been budget-to-mid-range — and continuing that trend, we’ve now got the Oppo A54s to look forward to.

The budget slab comes in at just R5,000, and it’s complete with decent specs crammed into a good-looking glass sandwich.

Oppo don’t stoppo

It’s powered by the MediaTek Helio G35 chipset, backed up by 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (with an SD slot for further expansion) — it should perform decently considering the price. Up front, it’s got a 6.52in HD LCD display with a teardrop notch up top. All of these check out at this price.

Around back, it’s fitted with a three-cam array, including 50MP main sensor, a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro shooter. While not the best around, you should get good pics out of this setup, even if it’s just in good natural light.

One of the standout features on the A54s is the 5,000mAh battery. You’ll easily get a full day of active usage out of this one with its capacity. There’s no fast-charger present though, which is a bummer.

Unlike another Chinese smartphone brand, Oppo is fully kit out with Google’s suite of apps. This is in addition to the brand’s own ColorUI, which has historically been a hit or a miss depending on the version.

You can grab the A54s from MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom for a cash price of R5,000 or on contract from R230p/m.