Samsung announced the new Samsung Galaxy A53 5G at a virtual event today. The phone is its successor to last year’s A52 and A52s 5G, and comes with a similar design, a similar camera layout, and long-lasting support by way of a five-year software update promise.
The A53 5G launches just in time to take on the iPhone SE and demonstrates the difference between Apple and Samsung’s midrange phones in terms of the pros and cons on both sides. Samsung can’t pull off classic and vintage design like Apple does, so the A53 5G has a more pleasing and modern look. And the iPhone SE’s A15 processor is undoubtedly more powerful than whatever Qualcomm or Exynos processor Samsung uses at this price range. But all that power doesn’t mean much on a phone that doesn’t have the screen size of the 6.5-inch A53, which also outdoes the iPhone SE’s 4.7-inch HD display with a FullHD OLED display complete with a 120Hz refresh rate.
As with all midrange models, Samsung is offering this phone with a quad-camera layout. The main and ultrawide cameras are 64 and 12-megapixels respectively, while Samsung has two ancillary 5MP cameras for depth sensing and macrophotography. At the front, there’s a pretty high-resolution 32MP camera that should be great for selfies, Snapchat, and Zoom.
“We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to witness the positive impact mobile technology can have on their lives,” said TM Roh, president and head of Samsung Electronics’ MX (Mobile eXperience) Business. “With the latest Galaxy A series release, we’re making it easier than ever to get Galaxy’s advanced, innovative mobile experience at even more affordable prices.”
While not as innovative as the premium Galaxy S-series, the A-series is arguably the quintessential Galaxy experience for millions of people worldwide as it’s the series that’s more affordable. To its credit, we found the A52 to be an excellent phone. It’s a far cry from the time when Samsung’s cheaper phones were simply money sinks.
The A53 5G is available for pre-order today for $450 directly from Samsung’s website, with shipping starting April 1 from Samsung, AT&T, and other retail partners. For those who choose to buy from T-Mobile and Verizon, an earlier shipping date of March 31 is available.
Samsung also announced a cheaper A33 and the availability of the Galaxy A13 with LTE. It’ll be a more affordable version of the Galaxy A13 5G, and it goes on sale from Friday, April 8, directly from Samsung. Finally, a Galaxy A73 is coming as a successor to the A72. Samsung was shy on details like pricing, specs, and availability, but assures it will certainly be on sale somewhere from April 22.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.