Your Galaxy A53 is a pre-AI relic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing

The Galaxy A53 feels like a phone from a bygone era compared to its sequels for more than one reason. And although this comes with its own set of problems, that unique retro vibe is also part of the Galaxy A53's charm today.

For one, the A53 was the last in the series to feature four rear-facing cameras instead of three. In that sense, the budget phone from 2022 looks more similar to the premium Galaxy S25 Ultra than all of its sequels. But what about modern software features? What about AI?

Well, apart from general performance, AI is one area where your Galaxy A53, as unique as it may look today, falls short. It lacks any modern AI features and it's really showing its pre-AI roots.

Even though the Galaxy A53 received Android 16 and One UI 8 recently, it doesn't support even the more basic or widespread AI tools like Circle to Search. At most, you might get something similar through Google Lens.

In short, you can forget about Galaxy AI and Intelligent Features on your Galaxy A53. It will never have these tools, and the one feature that gets remotely close to modern AI is Smart Select, which can be accessed through the Edge panel.

Smart Select is almost as powerful as the newer and upgraded AI Select, except it lacks features such as Generative Edit and Drawing Assist for obvious reasons.

All in all, the Galaxy A53 feels a lot like a phone from a bygone era, but that can be a good thing. It's part of its charm.

If you don't mind the phone's relatively poor performance in 2025, and if you don't want to jump on the AI bandwagon yet, you might want to keep using your trusted A53 and get the most out of it while you can.

The Galaxy A53 should get the Android 16-based One UI 8.5 update next year, and Samsung will support the phone with security patches for a couple more years.

However, if you think you're ready for an upgrade and want to embrace the AI era, newer phones like the Galaxy A56 can be a decent choice. They don't have the full-fledged Galaxy AI suite but do have a handful of intelligent features, as well as Circle to Search.

If you want the full-fledged Galaxy AI toolset, get ready to pay a bit more for at least the Galaxy S25 FE.