The Galaxy A55, which Samsung revealed earlier this week, has a high bar to clear. Last year’s version, the Galaxy A54, was one of the greatest low-cost phones available, offering midrange features at a reasonable price. So, a comparison of the Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A54 is very important if we want to see what has changed year after year.
Along with the typical chipset upgrade, the Galaxy A55 introduces several significant design modifications over the Galaxy A54. However, other parts of the two phones look to be fairly comparable, such as the camera configuration and battery size. More testing may uncover additional differences, but for now, all we can do is compare the A55 and A54 stats to see how the new phones stack up.
SAMSUNG GALAXY A55 5G AND GALAXY A54 5G: SPECS COMPARISON
Samsung has introduced the A55 5G, the successor to the A54 5G, although some may find it difficult to see it as a significant upgrade. We’re looking at a little different design, a speedier chipset, and some display upgrades, but that’s it. Of course, we should look at the specifics before drawing any judgments, so let’s get started.
However, given Samsung has yet to declare a price for the A55 in the United States, we can only speculate. And it may never happen, since reports say that the A55 will not be available in this country, with the Galaxy A35 serving as Samsung’s midrange alternative instead. That would be a considerable departure from how Samsung handled the A54 — and a bit of a letdown for US smartphone buyers who have grown to appreciate the quality of Samsung’s Galaxy A5x phones in previous years.
CAMERA
On the surface, the Galaxy A55’s triple-lens camera system appears to be identical to that of the Galaxy A54. Both phones include a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 5MP macro lens. Both phones include a 32MP front-facing selfie camera.
Again, the camera hardware appears to have remained unchanged, but the variations could be attributed to Samsung’s new superior AI image signal processing (ISP). With this upgraded ISP, Samsung believes that the A55 will be able to capture superior low-light photographs. There’s also a new Night Portrait option and Super HDR video support.
These are bold claims from Samsung, so we’ll have to wait and see if the Galaxy A55 genuinely takes better images than its predecessor when we get our hands on one.
DESIGN AND DISPLAY
The Galaxy A55 and A54 are around the same size, with the A55 being 0.1 inch higher and somewhat wider, although not substantially so. The added height allows the A55 to have a slightly larger display at 6.6 inches, as opposed to the A54’s 6.4-inch LCD. Both phones support 120Hz refresh rates and a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits.
When you look closer at how the two phones are designed, the true differences become apparent. The Galaxy A55 features a Key Island, with the power and volume buttons located on the elevated side rail. Samsung also created the rail from metal after utilizing matte plastic for the A54’s frame.
That is not the only change in materials. After employing Gorilla Glass 5 on the Galaxy A54, Samsung has switched to the more premium Gorilla Glass Victus Plus for the A55’s display. This should make the newer phone more durable.
While Samsung maintained the color naming convention for its Galaxy A5x phones, the available color selections changed. Instead of Awesome Graphite, Awesome White, Awesome Lime, and Awesome Violet, the Galaxy A55 offers Awesome Ice Blue, Awesome Lemon, Awesome Lilac, or Awesome Navy.
HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?
Samsung has used an Exynos 1480 system-on-chip for this year’s model, which we’ll assume is an advance from the Galaxy A54’s Exynos 1380 silicon. The base variant of the Galaxy A55 has 8GB of RAM, up from 6GB on the A54 we tested last year. This should make switching between apps a little smoother.
While we expect the Galaxy A55 to outperform the Galaxy A54 in terms of performance, we’re not sure if that will address one of the most significant concerns we’ve encountered with Samsung’s Galaxy A phones: they struggle to stay up with comparable handsets in this price bracket. The Galaxy A54 fell behind the Pixel 7a, which is not a speed monster in its own right. Maybe the Galaxy A55 bridges the gap, but it’s difficult to picture Samsung’s next phone keeping up with the Pixel 8a when it launches later this year. However, further testing will reveal the truth.
GET THE SAMSUNG GALAXY A55 FOR:
- The more upscale design.
- The battery has a longer life.
- The charging speed is slightly faster.
- The nicer speakers.
- Better performance.
- The best ultrawide camera for video recording.
GET THE SAMSUNG GALAXY A54 FOR:
- The slightly faster chipset.
- The better camera image quality.
- The faster charging to 100%.
- The auto screen refresh rate switching and HDR10+ support.
- The more modern-looking punch-hole selfie cam.
