We haven’t even reached the halfway point of 2023 yet and Samsung has already announced and launched its next round of devices. Following its Unpacked event in February where it launched its Galaxy S23 devices– and possibly the best smartphone of the year with the Galaxy S23 Ultra – the South Korean smartphone manufacturer has now brought its Galaxy Adevices to South Africa’s shelves.
This time ‘round, the trio of mid-rangers includes the Galaxy A54, Galaxy A34, and Galaxy A14. If you’re familiar with Samsung’s stable, you’ll notice the absence of an A74 device which used to be the company’s price-gap filler between its flagship S-series and the A-series. There’s little chance the company will leave that gap open for competitors to fill, so we’d wager it’ll fill it with the Galaxy S23 FE later this year.
Samsung’s A-team is back
If you follow the mobile news cycle you probably already know what to expect inside these new devices, as leaks started sprouting all the way back in November last year. If you’re just here for local prices, scroll to the bottom.
The new A-series topper, the A54, features a Samsung-made Exynos 1380 chipset, roughly equivalent to the Snapdragon 778G found in last year’s Galaxy A73. The A34 sports a slightly weaker Dimensity 1080 chipset which should offer similar performance to the Exynos chip.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G review – Is it time to join the A-team?
As with last year’s devices, the A54 and A34 both offer 5G connectivity. Unfortunately, the A14 misses out on the increased connection speed, meaning the Galaxy A33 is now the cheapest 5G-capable Samsung phone following a price cut.
The locally available A-series models will offer 8GB of RAM and 256GB of ROM, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of ROM, and 4GB of RAM and 64GB of ROM for the A54, A34, and A14 devices respectively. All three support storage expansion via microSDXC card up to 1TB.
All three Galaxy A devices have a 5,000mAh battery packed in, with the A54 and A34 supporting 25W wired charging. That’s reduced to 15W in the A14.
The (almost) flagship experience
Turning to the front, the A54 comes with a 6.4in 1,080 x 2,340 Super AMOLED display complete with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and a claimed 1,000 nits peak brightness.
Curiously, that’s smaller than the 6.6in display in the A34 and A14. The A34’s display shares a lot of specs with that of the A54, only dropping HDR10+ support. Whereas the A14 foregoes Super AMOLED tech for a PLS LCD display, presumably to keep the price down.
The front is where you’ll also find the selfie cam. You get a 32 MP sensor in the A54 and a 13 MP in the A34 and A14. All three devices feature three camera sensors in their rear array.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Samsung Galaxy S22 – Is it worth upgrading again?
In the A54, those are a 50 MP main shooter with auto-focus and OIS (optical image stabilisation), a 12 MP ultrawide, and a 5 MP macro sensor.
The A34’s sensors include a 48 MP module (also with auto-focus and OIS), 8 MP ultrawide, and 5 MP macro sensor.
The three new A-team members all run on Samsung’s One UI platform, based on Android 13. You’re guaranteed four generations of OS upgrades and five years of security updates with the A54 and A34.
If you’re itching to pick up one of the three for yourself, you can do that already with all three available in Samsung’s online store (as well as other places, probably), though you’ll have to pick between varying shades of grey or green.
Galaxy A-series prices
Galaxy A54 8GB/256GB – R10,000
Galaxy A34 6GB/128GB – R7,400
Galaxy A14 4GB/64GB – R3,800