Samsung Galaxy A52 5G review

Design, build quality, handling

Standout design is in the Galaxy A series' DNA, but this generation might be the best one yet. Waterproofing and HRR AMOLEDs are lovely, but a lot of customers will be drawn in by the sheer looks of the phone. Just like the Galaxy A32, A52, and A72, this Galaxy A52 5G in Awesome Violet look nothing short of beautiful.

The Galaxy A52 5G is a mid-range smartphone, but its body has several premium elements. The front Gorilla Glass 5 sheet is much appreciated, the plastic frame looks nice with the glossy finish, while the plastic back has this incredible matte layer that is really mesmerizing. Samsung calls the colors options Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Violet, Awesome Blue and we are inclined to agree.

Samsung is among the few makers to offers official IP ratings for its midrange series and the Galaxy A52 5G, giving it an edge against more aggressively priced Chinese competiros. The phone is IP67-rated for dust and water resistance, and it can survive in a meter deep water for up to 30 minutes. To put things in perspective, most of Xiaomi's phones come with basic IP53 splash resistance while other makers' have nothing at all.

Let's do some closeups now. The front is a home to the 6.5" Super AMOLED screen. It is of top quality with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and wide color gamut coverage. The panel has nicely thin bezels for this class. The punch-hole is as tiny as they get these days, so we can't complain either.

Above the screen is this razor-thin grille hiding the earpiece that also works as the second speaker in the stereo setup. The main speaker is at the bottom of the phone, and we were delighted to find that both are of equal loudness (bass included), and nicely balanced.

Another praiseworthy bit of hardware is the under-display fingerprint scanner. It is of the optical type, works fast and is reliable. For the week we used the Galaxy A52 5G we had only a couple of misreads, which is great.

The AMOLED screen is protected by a flat piece of Gorilla Glass 5. The glass is known for its good shatter resistance, though it isn't as great as far as scratches are concerned. This being a flat panel you can easily get a glass screen protector on top if you want extra peace of mind. Note that if you put a glass shield, you will also need to re-register your fingerprints for better accuracy.

Flipping the phone brings us once again to the beautiful Awesome Violet rear. It is flat, too, with 2.5D finish around the edge. It is all matte, including the camera island. And while we are looking at the quad-camera - it is jutting out of the back just a tiny bit and not sharply, but more like a tiny hill. It makes the phone wobble a bit on a desk or table, but certainly not as much as, say, a Galaxy S21 Ultra.

There are five holes on the island - the first column has the 12MP ultrawide shooter, the 64MP primarycamera , and the 5MP depth sensor. Next are the 5MP macro snapper and the single LED flash. Just like the Galaxy A52, the Galaxy A52 5G offers optical image stabilization on its main shooter.

The back panel is really resistant to fingerprints and smudge. Well, those probably do stick, but you just can't see them. It is not as grippy as it looks, though.

The plastic frame actually provides more grip than the back even if it is all glossy. We guess the thicker plastic and different paint are the reasons for that.

Moving on to the top of the A52 5G we see the hybrid SIM slot and one of the mics.

There is nothing on the left side. The volume control and the power/lock key are on the right.

The 3.5mm jack, the mouthpiece, the USB-C port, and the second speaker grille are all at the bottom. The audio jack is a rare occurrence these days, let alone on a waterproofed smartphone.

The Galaxy A52 5G measures 159.9 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm and weighs 189 g - exactly as much as the LTE A52 model. It is one of the more reasonably sized smartphones in its price bracket, given many of the phones are boasting 6.67-inch screens or larger.

The Galaxy A52 5G feels great when handled, grippy and secure enough so it's tempting to advise usage with a protective case. However the clumsier types may want to proceed as usual.

The only gripe we have with the build is that while the back looks nice, it feels somewhat hollow. It's likely because of the material, but it does feel kind of unsupported when we knock on it. We can't be sure how tough is the back unless we break it, but we do hope it is tougher than this highly unscientific test suggests and knowing Samsung's expertise in the area there's probably little to worry about.