When we reviewed the Galaxy A53 early last year when it was officially released, we were impressed with most of its features, with the performance of the phone being the main exception that affected its recommendability.
The Galaxy A53 is powered by an Exynos chip (the Exynos 1280) while all A52 series phones had Snapdragon chips, so as you would expect, we chalked it down to Samsung not being able to optimize the Galaxy A53's Exynos chip well enough for the phone to perform as nicely as you would expect or when compared to its predecessor.
Well, I'm happy to report that Samsung seems to have made the necessary improvements to make the Galaxy A53 feel flud and fast most of the time. I say most of the time because, come on, we all know Samsung's mid-range phones are seldom, if ever, the best performing devices in the market in their price segment.
Galaxy A53 5G has received the polish it sorely needed at launch
So yes, there is still the odd stutter or slowdown here and there, but I have to hand it to Samsung: the Galaxy A53 has gotten the polish it needed. I don't know if it's regular software updates released post the phone's release or the Android 13 update, but like I think I've said before, the lack of a zoom camera is pretty much all that the A53 misses out on (well, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, which I think should still be available on mid-range devices).
Everything else works as intended and the A53 is a solid phone that will satisfy most customers. And A53 owners can hold on to the device for a long time, too. It's promised four Android OS upgrades and will, therefore, get Android 16 at some point, along with whatever version of Samsung's software is available at the time (let's just call it One UI 8 for now).
Galaxy A53's great, but the A54 is coming so hold on to your wallets
Taking into account both the phone's current performance and the long period of software support that Samsung says it will get, I can easily say the Galaxy A53 is the best all-round mid-range smartphone available from Samsung at the moment. That said, with the Galaxy A54's launch getting closer, I would recommend waiting for a while before deciding which phone you purchase.
In many markets, Samsung will probably stop selling the Galaxy A53 when the Galaxy A54 hits retail stores, but if that doesn't happen, then waiting to see how the A54 improves over its predecessor is a good idea before you spend any money. The reduced price of the A53 could work in its favor once the A54 goes official, at least if Samsung actually decides to slash the Galaxy A53's price in some markets instead of taking it off store shelves altogether.
