Samsung Galaxy A72 VS Galaxy A52 Review: Mid-Range Phones with Flagship Ambitions
Last year's A-line smartphones were very popular, especially Galaxy A51. This year, Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 may well repeat this success, all the signs for it are there. The smartphones got nice Super AMOLED screens with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, the body now has dust and water protection standard IP67, there is stereo sound, and the main cameras are equipped with optical stabilization for high-quality photos and videos.
Inside we find quite a good mid-range chip Snapdragon 720G. There are all the necessary wireless interfaces, long battery life. Considering the price of the smartphones, only the under-screen fingerprint scanners lack speed. Although we hope that with updates the situation will get improved
Pros:
- High-quality AMOLED screens with refresh rates up to 90 Hz
- Dust and water-resistant housing
- Adequate performance for the phone class
- Good main cameras with optical stabilization
- Stereo speakers deliver rich sound
- Neat design
Cons:
- Slow fingerprint scanners
- Some competitors have more powerful chipsets
Samsung Galaxy A72 vs Galaxy A52. What is Equal and Different?
Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 are very close both in appearance and in characteristics.
The differences are:
- screen size
- dimensions & weight
- battery
- one rear camera module
The main feature of the new smartphones, perhaps, is that they have a number of functions, which were previously found only in Samsung flagships. Namely, stereo sound, dust and water protection, fast screens (in this case, 90 Hz), and cameras with optical stabilization. Today we are going to find out how it all works. In the meantime, we can get acquainted with the technical characteristics of the smartphones. In the table, the differences are highlighted in bold:
| Technical spec. | Samsung Galaxy A72 | Samsung Galaxy A52 |
| Display | Super AMOLED, 6.7 inches, 2400x1080 (aspect ratio 20:9), 394 ppi, 90 Hz, Gorilla Glass 5, 800 nits (peak) | Super AMOLED, 6.5 inches, 2400x1080 (aspect ratio 20:9), 407 ppi, 90 Hz, Gorilla Glass 5, 800 nits (peak) |
| Body | dimensions: 165x77.4x8.4 mm, weight: 203 g, back cover: polycarbonate | dimensions: 159.9x75.1x8.4 mm, weight: 189 g, back cover: polycarbonate |
| Processor | 64-bit 8nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, 2x2.3GHz Kryo 465 Gold + 6x1.8GHz Kryo 465 Silver, Adreno 618 graphics | |
| Main memory | 6/8 GB | 4/6/8 GB |
| Flash memory | 128/256 GB UFS 3.1 | |
| Camera | 64 MP (f/1.8, 26 mm EFR, 1/1.7", 0.8 µm, PDAF, OIS) + 12 MP ultra-wide angle, (f/2.2, 123˚, 1.12µm) + 8 MP telephoto (f/2.4, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x Zoom) + 5 MP macro f/2.4; video 2160p@30 fps, 1080p@30/60 fps; front camera: 32 MP f/2.2 |
64 MP (f/1.8, 26 mm EFR, 1/1.7", 0.8 µm, PDAF, OIS) + 12 MP ultra-wide-angle, (f/2.2, 123˚, 1.12µm) + 5 MP f/2.4 depth sensor + 5 MP f/2.4 macro; video 2160p@30 fps, 1080p@30/60 fps; front camera: 32 MP f/2.2 |
| Wireless connection | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac (dual band, 2.4 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0 LE, NFC | |
| GPS | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | |
| Battery | 5000 mAh, non-removable; corded charging: up to 25W | 4500 mAh, non-removable; corded charging: up to 25W |
| Operation system | Android 11 + One UI 3.1 | |
| Sim-card | 2хNanoSIM | |
| Extras | IP67 dust and water protection, optical fingerprint scanner in the screen, stereo sound | |
Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 Design
Externally, the smartphones are almost identical to each other. Moreover, they came to us in the same black (graphite) color and you can distinguish them next to each other only by the difference in size. On the front, they are typical modern Samsung smartphones: a large screen with rounded corners and a hole for the front camera in the middle.
The bezel is slightly wider than that of the flagships, but this is only clearly visible in direct comparison. The functional element in the front worth mentioning is the speaker above the screen. It also acts as the second speaker for stereo sound. The front part is made of Gorilla 5-generation glass, the rest of the body is made of plastic. The frame around the perimeter is glossy metallic. The volume and power buttons are in their usual place - on the right.
On top there is an additional microphone and storage tray. It looks like there will be different versions for different regions. There are variants with a hybrid tray. That is, instead of a second SIM-card, it will be possible to install a MicroSD card.
The left side of the smartphone is devoid of any elements.
On the bottom there is a speaking microphone, an external speaker, a USB Type-C connector and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Thankfully, the company decided to keep it for the A-line, unlike for its flagships.
The back of the smartphones differs significantly from last year's A-line. A matte monochrome plastic with gradients and geometric patterns is used instead of the completely non-practical glossy plastic. It is more secure in the hand, is not covered with prints and small scratches. And in general it looks more solid. In addition to the classic black variants, as in our review, blue, white and "lavender" (pink will look more simple) are available. Each looks interesting in its own way, as you can see on the live photos of smartphones in different colors.
The rear camera module remained rectangular, but now it is the same color as the body and the transition between it and the body was made smooth. The cameras and flash are zigzagged in two rows. It all looks neater than in the previous range.
One of the major innovations in the Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 is IP67 dust and water protection (up to 30 minutes in a depth of up to 1 meter). Usually, dust and water protection in Samsung smartphones is found only in Samsung's waterproof flagships.
How Good are the Displays?
Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 have Super AMOLED displays of 6.7 and 6.5 inches with pixel densities of 394 PPI and 407 PPI, respectively. The other characteristics are the same: FullHD+ 2400x1080 resolution (aspect ratio 20:9), peak brightness of 800 cd/m² and refresh rate of 90 Hz. The interface, lists, social networking profiles look smooth and pleasant. It is more complicated with games: not all of them support more than 60 FPS. Of course, smartphones have the Always on Display function:
The set of screen settings is approximately the same as in Samsung's flagship smartphones. There is a dark theme, the choice of interface scale, font, eye comfort (blue filter), which can work in automatic mode and adjust the picture depending on the time of day. And two color display modes: vivid (with enhanced color gamut) and natural.
The screens are of good quality, with typical AMOLED features: deep black, high contrast and very bright colors in Vivid mode. In the Natural mode color rendering is more like IPS-panels. Viewing angles are maximum, greenish tint on white (a standard AMOLED trick) almost does not appear. Samsung Galaxy A72 in Vivid mode with manual adjustment shows a maximum brightness of 414.808 cd/m². At the same time, the color gamut is much wider than sRGB, the picture goes a little into the cold shades.
In Natural mode, the color gamut is close to sRGB, and the color rendering is closer to the reference values. At the same time, brightness is lower: 393.927 cd/m²:
Samsung Galaxy A52 has a slightly lower maximum brightness: 386.906 cd/m2. The color rendering is very similar to the Galaxy A72. Vivid setting:
In Natural mode the maximum brightness is almost the same: 383.435 cd/m².
How to unlock?
Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 are equipped with under-screen optical fingerprint scanners. While scanning the finger is illuminated, there can be difficulties with the recognition of wet fingers. The scanners don't work as quickly as you'd like them to. It's rather slower than the classic sensor scanners. And slower than the ultrasonic under-screen scanner in the Samsung Galaxy S21+. Which, according to personal experience, has already reached the speed of the familiar variants. There is a possibility that with software updates the speed will increase.
The front camera without additional sensors is used for face recognition. In good light, there are no complaints about the speed of recognition. For insufficient light, there is a function of auto-increase the brightness of the screen as a backlight. It helps somewhat, but the response speed is still falling. In the settings you can save up to 4 fingerprints, as well as the main and additional views for facial recognition.
Performance
In the last generation, the Galaxy A51 was powered by the original Exynos 9611 processor, while the Galaxy A71 was powered by the Snapdragon 730. This year they decided to use identical hardware. A very effective mid-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor is installed inside the smartphones. It is made by 8-nm process technology and includes two cores Kryo 465 Gold at 2.3 GHz and six Kryo 465 Silver at 1.8 GHz, Adreno 618 GPU is responsible for the graphics. RAM — can be 6 or 8 GB LPDDR4x (Galaxy A52 is also available in a 4 GB version), and the storage capacity can be 128 or 256 GB UFS 2.1. Samsung Galaxy A72 synthetic tests results:
The test results of the Samsung Galaxy A52 are not particularly different from the Galaxy A72:
Smartphones cope quite well with modern games, although you can not reach the desired 60 FPS frame rate at high graphics settings. Call of Duty Mobile – 40-45 FPS, PUBG Mobile – stable 30 FPS, Asphalt 9 – similarly 30 FPS.
The Game Center utility with a hub of installed games and Game Booster add-ons is traditionally present. In addition to the usual functions like performance enhancement (by unloading all other applications) and disabling notifications, there are quite useful add-ons (to be downloaded separately), such as Z Pref. This is a GPU load monitor, temperature and FPS counter.
CPU Throttling Test showed that under long peak load performance can drop to 84%, which is generally not critical. At the same time, the body becomes warm, no more.
The wireless interfaces include dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, NFC, FM and Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX, aptX HD, LDAC.
Global positioning systems A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO are supported.
The smartphones can play stereo sound using the main speaker and the speakerphone. The volume reserve is very good, the quality is also quite good. As for a smartphone, of course. 3.5mm headphone jack is present, so you do not have to look for adapters
Battery Life
Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 are equipped with 5000 mAh and 4500 mAh batteries, respectively. Both smartphones support fast wired charging 25W, Samsung promises that with its help, the younger model (with 4500 mAh) will charge up to 50% in half an hour. Unfortunately, there was no way to check this: the smartphones arrived to us without the kits. And in the kit will be a charger for 15 watts. Yes, we would like to have 25W, but the flagships don't have a power adapter in the box at all.
The smartphones were used exclusively in 90 Hz screen mode. With active use, not refusing to do anything (talking, photos, games, social networks, mail, YouTube, web surfing) usually by late afternoon there was 35-40% left, so a day and a half is quite realistic with more moderate use.
The Samsung Galaxy A72 has a bigger battery than the Galaxy A52. But the screen is larger, so the difference in battery life is not drastic. In the PC Mark battery life test, the Galaxy A52 showed a very good result — 10 hours and 39 minutes. Samsung Galaxy A72 in a similar test has ensured an hour more (11 hours and 35 minutes).
The power-saving mode and device usage monitoring help to extend the operating time if necessary.
User Interface
The Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 have Android version 11 OS with One UI 3.1 shell, just like the current flagships. We have already seen all this in Samsung smartphones for the last year and a half: there are no cardinal differences from older versions. The shell is fast and convenient, with smooth animations and a completely redrawn interface. Available adjustment of desktops on the size of the grid, it is possible to unload all the applications in the work slots, or hide in a separate menu. Navigation with buttons or gestures is available, there is a simplified mode with large icons.
From the typical desktop features we should mention a more functional application manager, which allows you to open applications in a smaller window, make them semi-transparent or even minimize them to an icon. And the split screen mode, which allows you to save ready-made combinations for later quick launch. The Edge side panels have been used in Samsung smartphones for a long time.
The pre-installed applications are minimal, the interface is not overloaded. Even the original Samsung music player has to be downloaded, which will delight those who prefer to use third-party solutions.
How Good are the Cameras?
Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52 got a combination of 4 cameras at the back:
1. The main module has a resolution of 64 megapixels, an aperture of f/1.8, optical stabilization and phase autofocus.
2. The second module - 12-megapixel ultra-wide with an aperture of f/2.2, a viewing angle of 123 °, traditionally without autofocus.
3. The third module is a 5 MP macro with f/2.4 optics.
4. And the fourth, which is different for the models. The Samsung Galaxy A72 is - 8 MP telephoto with an aperture of f/2.4, phase autofocus, optical stabilization and 3x zoom. The A52 didn't get a telephoto, instead it's a 5 MP depth sensor.
Front camera: 32 MP f/2.2. Video smartphones can shoot in 4K resolution of 30 FPS and FullHD 60 fps. Stabilization is there, but only at FullHD 30 FPS.
The camera app looks familiar: modes are switched by horizontal scrolling, additional modes are hidden in the "More" section, they can be pulled into the main list, and the order of modes can be customized to your liking. All basic settings, including flash, filters, aspect ratio and zoom are on the main screen. The zoom can be adjusted both smoothly and use fixed values. The multi-camera mode with simultaneous shooting with different cameras in different modes is also present.
The main camera in sufficient light takes very nice, detailed pictures with a good dynamic range. Auto HDR in most cases works as it should and does not distort the picture too much. In the evening the main camera also shows itself very well, the night mode works adequately. But the detail is reduced and the work of the processing algorithms and noise reduction can be seen on small details. Samsung Galaxy A72:
Samsung Galaxy A52 main camera:
The ultra-wide camera has not changed. So far, only the Galaxy S21 Ultra can boast of autofocus. Otherwise, you can take very good pictures with it:
Samsung Galaxy A52:
Only the Samsung Galaxy A72 has a 3x zoom camera. It does a great job in good light. In the evening, the photos are occasionally slightly blurred, even with optical stabilization:
3 things to know about the Samsung Galaxy A72 and Galaxy A52
- The smartphones feature a mid-rangel Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor, 4/6/8GB of RAM, 128/256GB of internal storage, and 90Hz AMOLED FullHD+ screens.
- Each model's rear camera includes four modules: a main, wide-angle, telephoto, and macro on the Galaxy 72. The Galaxy A52 has a depth sensor instead.
- They have IP67 certification for protection against dust and water.
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Editor of gagadget.com since 2012, engaged in technology reviews. Specialization — smartphones, laptops, monitors, headphones, peripheral devices, games. During his work, he made more than 300 reviews. Connoisseur of quality sound, musician with 15+ years of experience. Gamer since Intel 486.
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