Samsung Galaxy A53 5G review

One UI 4.1 on top of Android 12

The Galaxy A53 5G runs the latest Android 12 and One UI 4.1 combo. It is still missing the occasional feature here and there compared to the flagship Galaxy S22 line, but nothing unexpected or too major for most users.

One major selling point Samsung has for many of its mid-range devices is the promise of extended software support. This is the case with the A53 5G as well. You can expect 4 OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches. A sweet deal if you tend to keep your phones for a while.

One UI remains one of the best and most popular custom Android implementations out there. In recent years, most changes to the UX have been careful and incremental and have mostly amounted to extra polish and flair. Even users coming from older Galaxy devices should feel right at home, but some new additions to the mix are still worth mentioning. We'll just do a quick overview.

The lock screen looks the same as before with two monochrome shortcuts - dialer and camera. The under-display fingerprint reader will likely be the primary method of unlocking for most, but you can still use face unlock either instead of or alongside it. It can be more convenient in certain situations, but it generally is less secure since it's just using the selfie camera.

An always-on display is available - it's the simplified version from One UI 3. You can choose between a few clock styles or opt for an Image Clock. Music info is also supported. The feature can be always-off, always-on, scheduled, shown only when new notifications are available, or you can opt for tap-to-show for 10s.

Always-on display options

The lock screen is largely unchanged, as mentioned, and has a lot of customization options available.

Lockscreen options

One UI 4.1 looks even cleaner than v.3.x, but its logic remains the same - there are homescreen, widgets, notification centre, task switcher and an app drawer.

One UI 4.1

As we mentioned, the Galaxy A53 5G doesn't have all of the One UI 4.1 features. Samsung's new Smart Widgets are one of the weirder omissions. Perhaps these are on their way and simply haven't reached the A53 yet. They are really convenient since they allow joining data from a few widgets into a single one.

No Smart Widgets yet

One of the new One UI 4 features is Color Palettes. This is the implementation of the vanilla Android 12's Wallpaper colors. There are usually four Color Palette suggestions in addition to the default One UI Blue/Black one. Those are picked automatically by the software, depending on your current wallpaper. The color you choose will become the main one in the newly created theme (think Windows' "accent color").

These accent colors are applied on the dialer, the quick toggles, and other tiny UI bits. You can choose to apply them to the app icons as well.

Color palettes

One UI has always offered great customization. You can use one of a few wallpaper services to automatically change your lockscreen or homescreen. The powerful Theme engine is here as well.

Wallpaper services • Galaxy Themes

The dialer allows you to pick between two layouts for the in-call screen. You can also set up a background image or video for that screen, though it's going to be all the same for all of your calls - you can't have a different one on a per-person basis.

Dialer customization

Navigation is highly-customizable as well. You can go with gestures and tweak them to your liking or revert back to old-school buttons and even swap the home and back buttons for a truly retro navigation scheme.

Navigation settings

The Settings menu contains a new Privacy Dashboard. Here, you can easily see which apps use some of the most important permissions (for privacy). You can control the camera and control access across apps, opt for clipboard access alerts (useful if you copy passwords, social security numbers, IBANs, among others), and a full-blown permission manager if you like to dig deeper.

Privacy Dashboard

You get a whole bunch of options for using your Galaxy with other devices to enable various use cases. Wireless display is the most obvious one. You can just do display mirror this way though since the Galaxy A53 5G lacks Samsung DeX. It is still reserved for Samsung's flagship devices and hasn't made its way down the chain. Plus, the A53 5G can't do video out from its USB Type-C port, which is kind of the primary way to use DeX.

The Link to Windows feature provides you with an interface to your phone from your computer so you can exchange images, manage notifications on your PC or even make calls from it.

Another option along those lines but with more limited potential is Continue apps on other devices. This requires you to be logged in to your Samsung account on both devices, hook them up to the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth enabled and use the Samsung Internet browser or Samsung Notes. You'll then be able to copy and paste text and images across and open the same tabs in the browser.

No DeX • Continue apps on other devices • Link to Windows • Android Auto

Other staples of proprietary Samsung software include the Edge panels - the panes that show up when you swipe in from the side and provide tools and shortcuts to apps and contacts. Game launcher, the hub for all your games, which also provides options for limiting distraction when gaming is here to stay as well.

Otherwise, the software package is similar to other Samsung phones, with an in-house Gallery app, the Game Launcher app, and a proprietary file manager. Naturally, Samsung's Internet web browser is also available.

Gallery • Game Launcher • File manager • Edge panel

The Gallery is where you'd find the new Object Eraser feature. Once you enter photo edit mode, you can opt for object eraser from More options. This is a fancier way of saying smart delete - you either paint over an object or tap on it for automatic selection. And then you hope for the best - if the object's surroundings aren't too complex, you will get a good outcome. Otherwise - it's a mixed bag. Samsung's fancy experimental shadow and reflection erasers are not present for now, though.

Object Eraser

Beyond all of this, the Galaxy A53 5G comes loaded with a standard set of apps from Samsung, Microsoft and Google.

Pre-installed apps

Granted, the list has gotten a bit extensive, but there is nothing here that we would consider bloat in the traditional sense. Anything you don't personally like or appreciate having on your device can be easily uninstalled or, failing that - disabled.

As always, One UI runs incredibly smooth and provides a truly industry-leading custom Android experience, chock-full of extra features and customizability.

Performance and benchmarks

The Galaxy A53 5G is equipped with Samsung's new Exynos 1280 chipset. It is replacing the Snapdragon 778G inside last year's Galaxy A52s 5G and is new silicon from Samsung's own foundries. So, overall, pretty interesting on multiple levels. At least we think so, though the Korean giant doesn't seem to share the same enthusiasm. For one, the official specs for the A53 5G don't even mention the particular part number. And even after we confirmed it on the review unit itself, Samsung's official semiconductor website still lacks an entry for it as of writing this review. This has happened before, though. It's almost like Samsung doesn't like to draw attention to any of its Exynos chipsets, which are less than flagship-grade. It definitely doesn't mean that the Exynos 1280 is bad in any way.

The Exynos 1280 is made on Samsung's 5nm manufacturing process. So not the latest and greatest flagship 4nm one, but still impressive and essentially last year's tech. In the CPU department, the Exynos 1280 is packing two "big" Cortex-A78 cores, clocked at up to 2.4GHz and six "small" Cortex-A55 ones, working at up to 2.0GHz. The Snapdragon 778G in last year's Galaxy A52s 5G that is getting replaced technically uses the same basic ARM cores, though in their custom Kryo variants, but with a symmetrical 4+4 configuration. So, technically, we expect the Exynos 1280 to be less potent than it in some multi-core scenarios. Let's kick things off with GeekBench and CPU runs.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  3682
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  3296
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  3049
• Realme GT Master
  2917
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  2832
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2801
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  2796
• Poco X3 Pro
  2574
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2335
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  2225
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  2063
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  2063
• Realme 9 Pro
  2020
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  1891
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  1848
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  1820
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  1780
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  1738
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  1729
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  1719
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  1673
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  1662
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  1627
• Realme 9i
  1581
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  1577
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  1372
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  588

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  1171
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  1096
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  906
• Realme 9 Pro+
  814
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  787
• Realme GT Master
  785
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  771
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  743
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  736
• Poco X3 Pro
  735
• Realme 9 Pro
  694
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  688
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  687
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  636
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  608
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  603
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  592
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  569
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  560
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  537
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  525
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  511
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  505
• Realme 9i
  384
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  376
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  376
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  153

This expectation checks out in actual benchmark scores. The Snapdragon 695 5G with its 2 + 4 CPU configuration seems to be a closer match to the Exynos 1280 in terms of CPU performance. Oddly enough, despite its lower clocks speeds, the former seems to be doing a bit better in an all-core load scenario, while the latter is more powerful in single-thread execution.

Interestingly, the Galaxy A52s 5G with its Snapdragon 778G seems to have its A53 5G successor beat in the CPU department. Noticeably so in multi-threaded workloads.

This unfortunate trend continues with AnTuTu and its more compound tests. It incorporates GPU testing and also takes into account things like storage and memory. We can clearly see the Galaxy A53 5G getting outpaced by both the Galaxy A52s 5G and the older Galaxy A52 5G.

For the sake of thoroughness, our review unit has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Testing was done with RAM Plus, which Samsung's name for virtual memory set at the default 4GB. It can go down to 2GB or up to 6GB, but it didn't make any actual difference in benchmark scores. The feature is geared towards keeping more apps open in the background and restoring them quickly more than anything else.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  745496
• Poco F3
  631850
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  566529
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  543986
• Realme 9 Pro+
  495096
• Poco X3 Pro
  453223
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  429675
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  375528
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  335353
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  334981
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  329802
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  295442
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  288914
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  286216
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  279579
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  279342
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  261309
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  261282
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  242155
• Realme 9i
  229368
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  228044
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  226561
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  185358
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  122822

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  881428
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  719696
• Realme GT Master
  529263
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  527663
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  506432
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  504424
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  437872
• Realme 9 Pro+
  416031
• Realme 9 Pro
  401894
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  386474
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  384646
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  382902
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  379313
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  345223
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  333668
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  319093
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  244526
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  223188
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  222125
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  165959
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  136286

Don't get us wrong, the Galaxy A53 5G is still a decent mid-range performer and it is holding its own. However, the Exynos 1280 chipset is a bit of a downgrade from earlier Qualcomm chips and that generally means the Galaxy A53 5G is often underperforming within its competitive price bracket.

The Mali-G68 GPU inside the Exynos 1280 while also decent in itself, is also a notable downgrade from the Adreno 642L inside the Galaxy A52s 5G.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  53
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  30
• Poco X3 Pro
  26
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  19
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  19
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  18
• Realme GT Master
  18
• Realme 9 Pro+
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  12
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  12
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  11
• Realme 9 Pro
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  9.2
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  8.4
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  7.9
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  5.7
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  4.6
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  3.3

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  24
• Poco X3 Pro
  17
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  13
• Realme GT Master
  13
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  13
• Realme 9 Pro+
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  10
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  7.8
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  7.8
• Realme 9 Pro
  7.8
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  7.2
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  7
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  7
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  5.8
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  5.7
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  5.5
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  3.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  3.1
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  2.2

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  44
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  30
• Poco X3 Pro
  27
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  20
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  20
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  19
• Realme GT Master
  19
• Realme 9 Pro+
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  12
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  12
• Realme 9 Pro
  12
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  9.4
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  8.7
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  7.8
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  7.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  4.8
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  3.4

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  29
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  25
• Poco X3 Pro
  18
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  14
• Realme GT Master
  14
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  10
• Realme 9 Pro+
  10
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  8.8
• Realme 9 Pro
  8.2
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  8.1
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  8
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  7.5
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  7
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  7
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  5.8
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  5.1
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  3.1
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  2.9
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  2.3

On the plus side, it is encouraging to see that the Galaxy A53 5G is performing about on par in graphics tests with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G and the Realme 9 Pro+ both of which are equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 920 chipset that has the same Mali-G68 GPU. A four-core variant, to be exact, which, given the similar scores likely means the Exynos 1280 is using four GPU cores as well. We still don't know why Samsung is reluctant to publicly share that data.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  69
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  56
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  45
• Poco X3 Pro
  38
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  28
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  28
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  28
• Realme GT Master
  27
• Realme 9 Pro+
  23
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  22
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  17
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  16
• Realme 9 Pro
  16
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  15
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  12
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  12
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  12
• Realme 9i
  7.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  6.8
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  5.2

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  74
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  57
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  52
• Poco X3 Pro
  45
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  33
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  33
• Realme GT Master
  33
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  33
• Realme 9 Pro+
  27
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  25
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  23
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  20
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  19
• Realme 9 Pro
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  19
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  14
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  14
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  9.3
• Realme 9i
  8.2
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  8
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  6.2

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  98
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  97
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  77
• Poco X3 Pro
  67
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  49
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  49
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  47
• Realme GT Master
  46
• Realme 9 Pro+
  41
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  38
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  35
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  30
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  30
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  30
• Realme 9 Pro
  29
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  28
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  26
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  26
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  23
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  22
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  21
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  21
• Realme 9i
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  12
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  8.3

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  108
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  103
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  89
• Poco X3 Pro
  75
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  56
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  56
• Realme GT Master
  56
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  56
• Realme 9 Pro+
  45
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  43
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  38
• Realme 9 Pro
  35
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  34
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  34
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  32
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  29
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  29
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  26
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  26
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  24
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  24
• Realme 9i
  23
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  9.4

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  116
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  116
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  108
• Poco X3 Pro
  93
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  69
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  68
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  64
• Realme GT Master
  57
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  57
• Realme 9 Pro+
  56
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  55
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  42
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  42
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  41
• Realme 9 Pro
  41
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  39
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  37
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  35
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  35
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  34
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  31
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  29
• Realme 9i
  20
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  18
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  14

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  173
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  133
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  127
• Poco X3 Pro
  102
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  78
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  77
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  77
• Realme GT Master
  77
• Realme 9 Pro+
  68
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  64
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  60
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  47
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  47
• Realme 9 Pro
  47
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  43
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  39
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  39
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  37
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  35
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  32
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  32
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  24
• Realme 9i
  23
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  21
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  16

We remind you that when comparing GFXBench scores across different devices only the offscreen scores are relevant and only kind of since the resolution of the phone's display need to be taken out of the equation.

3DMark paints a very similar picture of graphical performance on the Galaxy A53 5G.

3DMark SSE ES 3.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  7215
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  5015
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  5010
• Realme GT Master
  4988
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  4979
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  3631
• Realme 9 Pro
  2946
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  2638
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  2529
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  2517
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  2391
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  2166
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  2135
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  1361
• Realme 9i
  1339
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  1316
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  886

3DMark SSE Vulkan 1.0 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  6605
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  4608
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  4274
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  4231
• Realme GT Master
  4020
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  3570
• Realme 9 Pro
  2773
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  2509
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  2406
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  2395
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  2257
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  2012
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  2002
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  1383
• Realme 9i
  1291
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  1267
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  931

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S22
  7526
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  5432
• Poco X3 Pro
  3401
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2491
• Realme GT Master
  2481
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  2477
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  2470
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2296
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  2292
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
  2014
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  1211
• Realme 9 Pro
  1211
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
  1204
• Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  1185
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  1107
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
  1104
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
  1101
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  1040
• Samsung Galaxy A72
  1031
• Sony Xperia 10 III
  825
• OnePlus Nord N10 5G
  811
• Samsung Galaxy A22
  691
• Samsung Galaxy A13
  510
• Realme 9i
  452
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11
  439

The is well-behaved when it comes to thermals and throttling, but not perfect. The phone never gets uncomfortably hot to the touch, which is good for comfort, but also means that the chassis is not doing any heavy lifting when it comes to thermal dissipation and most of the heat remains trapped inside. Naturally, as that builds up, some thermal-throttling is inevitable and expected.

Thermal throttling

The A53 5G mostly does that gracefully over a longer period, which is what you want to see. There were some sudden drops, followed by peaks in the initial portion of the test, which is not ideal and can cause in-game stutters. That said, we never actually saw a drop significant enough to pose a potential issue, so we'll give thermal management a pass. It's not perfect, but decent enough.

All things considered, we kind of get why Samsung is in no hurry to share details regarding the Exynos 1280 chipset or to parade it in press materials for the new Galaxy A53 5G and A33 5G. While it is a decently-powerful chip, it is also a clear downgrade from the Snapdragon 778G used by last year's Galaxy A52s 5G and even falls short of the Snapdragon 750G inside the Galaxy A52 5G in some respects.

Even so, there is plenty of power here for One UI to run smooth and snappy. We also had no issues with any app we threw at the A53 5G. Even some games that can render at over 60fps that we tried got close to the 120fps "cap" in 102Hz mode. It's a capable phone, just not as capable as its predecessor.