LONG-LASTING BATTERY: Your busy life deserves a battery built for busy; Whether you’re taking a video call on your commute, catching up on your favorite show or with friends and family, your long-lasting, super fast charging battery* has your back
POWERFUL PERFORMANCE: The very best of Galaxy A Series gives you awesomely smooth streaming of your favorite content with the most powerful performance in its series and awesomely fast speeds to download shows and movies — all at the speed of 5G**
EXPANDABLE STORAGE: Galaxy A53 5G*** gives you the A Series’ biggest built-in storage and lets you enjoy more memories and entertainment; With an additional 1TB of expandable storage with a microSD card****, you can hold on to every smile and relive every epic vacay
INTELLIGENT CAMERA: Capturing content is as easy as pose, shoot and share with A53 5G’s*** intelligent camera; Single Take***** lets you capture video, pictures and more with just one tap, while image stabilization technology makes sure every clip is crystal clear
INFINITE DISPLAY: Whether you’re streaming short videos or kicking back to complete a whole series, the Galaxy A53 5G*** Super AMOLED display****** is built to keep you entertained, with incredible color clarity that translates into awesome resolution
MODERN DESIGN: Life happens, but Galaxy A53 5G*** provides a premium slim design that is built to last through those unpredictable moments; The body was engineered to endure, so you can worry less around water and dust*******
PRIVACY & SECURITY: Protect your data with multilayered Knox Security; Also, with Private Share********, you can set time limits and expiration dates on all shared files, revoke access at any time and ensure the intended recipient is the only one who can open your files — and that they cannot send or screenshot your stuff
Product Dimensions
0.33 x 6.3 x 2.96 inches
Device interface - primary
Touchscreen
Country of Origin
Vietnam
Manufacturer
Samsung
Included Components
1. Data Cable 2. Travel Adapter 3. Ejection Pin
Battery Power Rating
18
Colour
Black
Form Factor
Slate
Other camera features
Rear, Front
Other display features
Wireless
Item Weight
6.7 ounces
Display technology
AMOLED
Connectivity technologies
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB, NFC
Wireless communication technologies
Cellular
RAM
6 GB
OS
Android
Batteries
1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included)
Item model number
SMA536U1ZKDX
Date First Available
March 17, 2022
8 reviews for SAMSUNG Galaxy A53 5G A Series Cell Phone, Factory Unlocked Android Smartphone, 128GB, 6.5” FHD Super AMOLED Screen, Long Battery Life, US Version,…
Rated 4 out of 5
Bob –
I love everything about this phone. Does everything my cousin’s expensive S series phone does. At a more affordable price.
Rated 5 out of 5
Amazon Customer –
* Special Edit * Many if not all recent Samsung phones no longer come with the usb wall charger. You will not get it in the box.
Coming from an A7 2017 model, this phone is incrementally great. Its not a huge difference but the main issue today is really OS and security updates end thus forcing a new phone. Because of using Samsung SmartTags, I likely cannot use a custom rom. If it wasn’t for that, the A7 2017 really isn’t that far from this. That’s something I can now test.
The A53 has a surprisingly better speaker. Really loud and sounds like it’s coming from the front instead of the bottom where it is. Actually, seems they also use the call speaker as well to output sound which is on the top.
The camera is a bit better of course. It’s good enough. I’m no camera snob or you better be buying the most expensive phones if you ask me. Has macro function. Also does a good job focusing.
The fingerprint reader is about the same once enabling it to always show on the always on display (AOD) and I set AOD to always show as well.
The screen is good. There’s no wild difference other than marketing.
Battery seems about the same in limited testing (my A7 still gets about 48 hours with AOD enabled and some use). The battery saving special modes can add up to days of battery life mostly on standby. So in theory up to 7 days. The A7 has this feature and its great for no power emergencies. Looks like a bit differently implemented on the A53 but still have to properly test it. I know for a fact that Android devices can last up to 12 days on standard batteries as I have one that does. A much bigger screen, etc at 7 days standby is wonderful. My numbers for sleep drainage show it might even make it without the battery saver.
But, the A53 battery will take some weeks or months to properly see how the battery does. Interesting, point AOD here has no auto off (and on) while down or in a pocket which is crazy. That instantly saves battery and is crazy they no longer have it. Instead they have schedule so you can at least get a partial worse effect of it at night when sleeping or tap to show, etc. The A7 thus gets me only total 3-4% drain at night even with AOD enabled. So far, the A53 with AOD always enabled sees 3% for 7 hours overnight. Looks like 4% per 8 hours. This is for my setup. Your’s may differ.
Actually, one of the best improvements appears to be the cellular connection. It appears to be 2-3 bars stronger than the A7. Since the A7 was typically at 1 bar for me, it would often not receive calls, delayed messages, etc. So far, I’m receiving everything. This was a main issue I always had with the A7. Easily exceeding everything else the phone offers.
By the way, I’m using the A7 wall charger here. It’s 15 watts. That’s fine. The A53 just charges 10 watts slower than the maximum. I see no need for now to spend more for that. It just charges a bit slower. As I edited in earlier, don’t expect Samsung include them now with their phones. The A53 does not come with one for anyone who thinks it does. Neither does their more expensive models this year.
So far not seeing any issues. I’m happy with it. But, there’s far too many features anymore. Takes a lot of time. I’d still be almost as happy though with the A7 if it wasn’t trashed by the phone manufacturers like they are. But, if you need a phone, this one is a great choice. I highly doubt that will change here. You also get up to 4 years OS upgrades and 5 years security which increases the value of this phone over many manufacturers.
Bug: AOD stuck at full brightness in the dark thus consuming more battery. SOLVED: The eye comfort shield (what they call the software blue screen filter for night time that makes the screen yellowish) causes AOD to have problems dimming when both are running.
Rated 4 out of 5
cmcv –
I have owned this phone for 3+ months. I usually don’t do reviews for anything, but I am particularly satisfied with this product.
For the average smartphone user, this is all you need. For all tasks / apps besides high-demanding games this phone is absolutely as peppy as anyone would need even with quick motion enabled (120 hz refresh rate). The phone camera is also quite good (slightly better than the Pixel 6’s camera).
My only complaint is Samsung’s bloatware applications that are pre-installed with the phone. Would not be a big deal if you could simply uninstall all of them, but you can’t without some software level tinkering that would likely void the phone’s warranty.
5 star product quality and experience, minus 1 star for Samsung’s pre-installed bloatware applications.
Rated 5 out of 5
STORMY M. –
Looked almost new out of the box (few very minor scratches on a corner). Prior to moving SIM card to this phone I made sure to sync my old LG V20 to my google account. There were a couple of apps that did not synch from LG to my new Galaxy like QuikMemo+. Lesson learned, check all of your favorite apps to ensure they actually sync from one platform to another. In my case, I had to move back to the LG and copy/paste my QuikMemo+ notes into notes in Google Keeps. Worked perfectly! Very happy with this, especially with being able to take care of this at home and not needing to visit the AT&T store.
Rated 4 out of 5
G. Stanley –
Have only used this phone for a week or so but first impressions are: sluggish performance; fairly poor battery life; insensitive touch screen (I often have to tap the screen 3 or 4 or more times to get it to respond); loaded with Samsung bloatware. Otherwise it is a pretty standard android phone. PS – the review page asked for ratings for ‘face recognition’ and ‘fingerprint reader’. I do not use either of them so I just marked them average. Don’t know if they are good or bad.
Rated 5 out of 5
DWH NYC –
We are retired and use consumer cellular. Not heavy user of cell phones, limited use such as text messages, occasional photo, Whole foods app, Airline, Hotels, Hertz. I even purchased open box to save money. I had been using old Moto for last 3 years. This is very user friendly like us senior and recommend for ones not too smart for smart phones. We purchased another one for my husband after a week of use to replace his 3 years old Moto phone.
Rated 4 out of 5
Benjamin –
First the good. This is a fantastic phone for the money. Great connection. Good sound quality. The screen is amazing for the price! Truly one of the great values. Two downsides. First, the fingerprint reader is slow. Don’t know why. I also hate that it’s under the screen on the front. I like it much better on the back. Second, HEY SAMSUNG! STOP WITH THE BLOATWARE! If you are going to install bloatware at least make it so I can do your job and remove it. I don’t want Samsung store. I don’t want your gallery. I don’t want notices from the store twice a day. Really. Give it a break. Let me decide what I want and don’t want.
Rated 4 out of 5
Tony –
Works well. Fingerprint scanner works well. Goto settings>Biometrics and security>Tap fingerprints>Enter your pin if you need to>And where it says “Show animation when unlocking”…turn it off and it works even faster. If you do it right you won’t see those line circles around the scanner when pressed. Much faster. The camera is good. And the battery is awesome. Very nice phone for the price.
Bob –
I love everything about this phone. Does everything my cousin’s expensive S series phone does. At a more affordable price.
Amazon Customer –
* Special Edit * Many if not all recent Samsung phones no longer come with the usb wall charger. You will not get it in the box.
Coming from an A7 2017 model, this phone is incrementally great. Its not a huge difference but the main issue today is really OS and security updates end thus forcing a new phone. Because of using Samsung SmartTags, I likely cannot use a custom rom. If it wasn’t for that, the A7 2017 really isn’t that far from this. That’s something I can now test.
The A53 has a surprisingly better speaker. Really loud and sounds like it’s coming from the front instead of the bottom where it is. Actually, seems they also use the call speaker as well to output sound which is on the top.
The camera is a bit better of course. It’s good enough. I’m no camera snob or you better be buying the most expensive phones if you ask me. Has macro function. Also does a good job focusing.
The fingerprint reader is about the same once enabling it to always show on the always on display (AOD) and I set AOD to always show as well.
The screen is good. There’s no wild difference other than marketing.
Battery seems about the same in limited testing (my A7 still gets about 48 hours with AOD enabled and some use). The battery saving special modes can add up to days of battery life mostly on standby. So in theory up to 7 days. The A7 has this feature and its great for no power emergencies. Looks like a bit differently implemented on the A53 but still have to properly test it. I know for a fact that Android devices can last up to 12 days on standard batteries as I have one that does. A much bigger screen, etc at 7 days standby is wonderful. My numbers for sleep drainage show it might even make it without the battery saver.
But, the A53 battery will take some weeks or months to properly see how the battery does. Interesting, point AOD here has no auto off (and on) while down or in a pocket which is crazy. That instantly saves battery and is crazy they no longer have it. Instead they have schedule so you can at least get a partial worse effect of it at night when sleeping or tap to show, etc. The A7 thus gets me only total 3-4% drain at night even with AOD enabled. So far, the A53 with AOD always enabled sees 3% for 7 hours overnight. Looks like 4% per 8 hours. This is for my setup. Your’s may differ.
Actually, one of the best improvements appears to be the cellular connection. It appears to be 2-3 bars stronger than the A7. Since the A7 was typically at 1 bar for me, it would often not receive calls, delayed messages, etc. So far, I’m receiving everything. This was a main issue I always had with the A7. Easily exceeding everything else the phone offers.
By the way, I’m using the A7 wall charger here. It’s 15 watts. That’s fine. The A53 just charges 10 watts slower than the maximum. I see no need for now to spend more for that. It just charges a bit slower. As I edited in earlier, don’t expect Samsung include them now with their phones. The A53 does not come with one for anyone who thinks it does. Neither does their more expensive models this year.
So far not seeing any issues. I’m happy with it. But, there’s far too many features anymore. Takes a lot of time. I’d still be almost as happy though with the A7 if it wasn’t trashed by the phone manufacturers like they are. But, if you need a phone, this one is a great choice. I highly doubt that will change here. You also get up to 4 years OS upgrades and 5 years security which increases the value of this phone over many manufacturers.
Bug: AOD stuck at full brightness in the dark thus consuming more battery. SOLVED: The eye comfort shield (what they call the software blue screen filter for night time that makes the screen yellowish) causes AOD to have problems dimming when both are running.
cmcv –
I have owned this phone for 3+ months. I usually don’t do reviews for anything, but I am particularly satisfied with this product.
For the average smartphone user, this is all you need. For all tasks / apps besides high-demanding games this phone is absolutely as peppy as anyone would need even with quick motion enabled (120 hz refresh rate). The phone camera is also quite good (slightly better than the Pixel 6’s camera).
My only complaint is Samsung’s bloatware applications that are pre-installed with the phone. Would not be a big deal if you could simply uninstall all of them, but you can’t without some software level tinkering that would likely void the phone’s warranty.
5 star product quality and experience, minus 1 star for Samsung’s pre-installed bloatware applications.
STORMY M. –
Looked almost new out of the box (few very minor scratches on a corner). Prior to moving SIM card to this phone I made sure to sync my old LG V20 to my google account. There were a couple of apps that did not synch from LG to my new Galaxy like QuikMemo+. Lesson learned, check all of your favorite apps to ensure they actually sync from one platform to another. In my case, I had to move back to the LG and copy/paste my QuikMemo+ notes into notes in Google Keeps. Worked perfectly! Very happy with this, especially with being able to take care of this at home and not needing to visit the AT&T store.
G. Stanley –
Have only used this phone for a week or so but first impressions are:
sluggish performance; fairly poor battery life; insensitive touch screen (I often have to tap the screen 3 or 4 or more times to get it to respond); loaded with Samsung bloatware.
Otherwise it is a pretty standard android phone.
PS – the review page asked for ratings for ‘face recognition’ and ‘fingerprint reader’. I do not use either of them so I just marked them average. Don’t know if they are good or bad.
DWH NYC –
We are retired and use consumer cellular. Not heavy user of cell phones, limited use such as text messages, occasional photo, Whole foods app, Airline, Hotels, Hertz. I even purchased open box to save money. I had been using old Moto for last 3 years. This is very user friendly like us senior and recommend for ones not too smart for smart phones. We purchased another one for my husband after a week of use to replace his 3 years old Moto phone.
Benjamin –
First the good. This is a fantastic phone for the money. Great connection. Good sound quality. The screen is amazing for the price! Truly one of the great values. Two downsides. First, the fingerprint reader is slow. Don’t know why. I also hate that it’s under the screen on the front. I like it much better on the back. Second, HEY SAMSUNG! STOP WITH THE BLOATWARE! If you are going to install bloatware at least make it so I can do your job and remove it. I don’t want Samsung store. I don’t want your gallery. I don’t want notices from the store twice a day. Really. Give it a break. Let me decide what I want and don’t want.
Tony –
Works well. Fingerprint scanner works well. Goto settings>Biometrics and security>Tap fingerprints>Enter your pin if you need to>And where it says “Show animation when unlocking”…turn it off and it works even faster. If you do it right you won’t see those line circles around the scanner when pressed. Much faster. The camera is good. And the battery is awesome. Very nice phone for the price.