Samsung Galaxy A52 5G Review

Samsung's flagships get the reviews and the A series pays the bills, and in 2021 the A52 5G was the model that did it. The spec sheet reads like a list of things mid-range phones usually lacked: a 6.5-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED at 120Hz, IP67 water resistance, optical stabilisation on the 64 megapixel main camera, stereo speakers, a headphone jack, a microSD slot and a 4500 mAh battery. At $499.99 it undercut a Pixel 5 by two hundred dollars and shipped with more of everything except the camera software.

The Snapdragon 750G is the honest compromise. It is a mid-range chip and it feels like one: apps open a beat late, One UI 3.1 stutters when the 120Hz panel asks more than 6GB of RAM can give, and games run on medium. It is never slow enough to matter and never fast enough to forget. The main camera is good in daylight and the OIS makes evening shots usable; the 12 megapixel ultrawide is soft, and the 5 megapixel macro and depth cameras exist for the number on the box. Battery life is the strongest thing about it: a day and a half at 120Hz, two days at 60Hz, with 25 watt charging supported and a 15 watt brick in the box.

Reliability is where it quietly beats phones costing twice as much. The back and frame are plastic, which scuffs rather than shatters, the IP67 seal survived pockets and rain for years, and there is no known failure mode. Samsung promised three Android versions and four years of security patches and delivered Android 12, 13 and 14, so a phone bought in April 2021 was still patched in 2025, longer than almost any other $500 Android phone of that year. Motorola's Moto G phones of 2021 got one update.

It is not exciting and it introduced nothing. It is the phone you recommend to a relative and never hear about again, which is the highest compliment a mid-range phone gets.