Samsung Galaxy A53 coming to the US for $449 w/ four years of major Android updates

Ben Schoon | Mar 17 2022 - 7:00 am PT

After launching the Galaxy S21 FE and Galaxy S22 series earlier this year, Samsung is turning its attention to the US mid-range market. Today, the company revealed that the Galaxy A53 is coming to the US for $449 starting on April 1.

During an online event this morning, Samsung announced that the Galaxy A53 5G would be the company’s sole upper-mid-range offering in the US this year, with the Galaxy A33 also announced today skipping the region.

The Galaxy A53 5G offers up an experience built on top of the Exynos 1280 chipset, an important note given that Samsung uses Qualcomm chips in most of its 5G phones in the United States. That’s paired with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage (with microSD expansion), and a 5,000 mAh battery with 25W fast charging – like some other recent Samsung launches, there’s no charger included with the A53. Samsung claims a battery life of up to two days in “typical” usage. The phone also features an IP67 water resistance rating, and it’s built in part with recycled plastic materials.

You’ll be interacting primarily with a 6.5-inch 120Hz display that’s a 1080p SuperAMOLED panel which Samsung says can hit a max brightness of 800 nits. By comparison, the Pixel 4a 5G maxes out around 650 nits, and the Galaxy A52 could manage around 700 nits or so. That display also has an embedded fingerprint sensor.

In the camera department, there are four sensors on the back of the phone. A primary 64MP camera, 12MP ultrawide, 5MP depth sensor, and 5MP macro camera. On the front, there’s a 32MP selfie camera in a hole-punch cutout.

Perhaps the most compelling thing here is that the Galaxy A53 5G has the best software support in a phone at this price range outside of the iPhone SE. Just like Samsung’s latest flagships, you’ll get four years of major Android updates – the phone launches with Android 12, meaning you’ll get Android 16 at least – and a fifth year of security updates beyond that. Google’s upcoming Pixel 6a will likely offer a similar package, but it’s impressive seeing Samsung hit this timeline on one of its most popular devices.

Samsung will open up sales of the Galaxy A53 5G in the United States starting on March 31 from T-Mobile and Verizon. AT&T, Samsung.com, and other retail partners will open up sales a day later on April 1. Pre-orders on Samsung.com get a free pair of Galaxy Buds Live. Notably, Samsung is only selling the black version of the Galaxy A53 in the US at launch.