The mid-range world of phones might normally be the place where Google, Apple, and Oppo play for keeps, but with Samsung’s 2023 A-series, there might be something of interest.
Finding a phone isn’t exactly hard these days, and neither is finding one to match a budget. There are lots of choices, most of which sit on the Android side, and plenty of price points.
You probably already know what’s in the high-end, and if you want to spend over a thousand dollars, you will find lots of features.
But you don’t need to spend quite that much, with companies trickling down the tech and bringing it to lower price points. That’s more or less what the mid-range is for and where Samsung’s Galaxy A-series has played a part in previously.
Unsurprisingly, Samsung is bringing that series back for another round, readying the 2023 edition of the Galaxy A-series, and finding a way to bring the look of the S23 to a slightly less expensive handset.
You won’t be seeing the spec set of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but the look of the regular S23 does appear to be migrating to Samsung’s latest, arriving in four phones initially, three of which have 5G while the final one does not, essentially offering that technology and more for as little as $379 and as high as $699.
The biggest of the range (at least initially) will be the Galaxy A54 5G, a 6.4 inch phone with a 120Hz AMOLED screen on the front, while the back will sport three cameras covering a 50 megapixel F1.8 wide camera, a 12 megapixel F2.2 ultra-wide, and a 5 megapixel macro camera. There will also be a 32 megapixel front-camera for those selfies, too.
Samsung’s A54 5G will be a 5G phone, as the name suggests, and one with a decent 128GB storage, 6GB RAM, current version of Android with Android 13, and a sizeable 5000mAh battery.
At $699, the A54 5G is clearly less than even the least expensive S23 model, though it doesn’t quite offer the same camera tech, and may not have quite the same premium finish. What it does is get the Galaxy look and feel at a lower price point, and it won’t be alone.
Underneath this model will be the Galaxy A34 5G, a $599 model that is slightly bigger at 6.6 inches and offers the same 120Hz speed on an AMOLED screen, with the cameras getting a change.
Instead of the combination of a 50 megapixel wide and 12 megapixel ultra-wide like in the A54, the A34 will see a 48 megapixel wide and an 8 megapixel ultra-wide, while that 5 megapixel macro stays the same. The front-facing camera also changes, switching to a 13 megapixel instead. It’s basically a less special camera system for the A34, but with the same 128GB storage, 6GB RAM, and big 5000mAh battery, too.
If that’s still too much for you, the Samsung Galaxy A14 will arrive in two versions, with both a 4G and 5G model at $329 and $379 respectively.
There are more differences beyond 4G and 5G, because while they’re both a 6.6 inch phone, the camera configurations are different. Opt for the 5G model and you’ll find a 50 megapixel main camera, 2 megapixel depth camera, and 2 megapixel macro, while the 4G A14 will see a 50 megapixel main camera, 5 megapixel ultra-wide, and 2 megapixel macro.
Both will ship with 128GB storage — one of the most consistent aspects between this year’s Galaxy A-series — as well as 4GB RAM, though Samsung hasn’t said which chips any of these run beyond noting they’re octa-core, which could be anything at this point.
The biggest point is the price, which will see Samsung get 5G and three cameras down to the mid-range for Australian buyers, priced from $379 and slated to hit retail at the end of March.
