Samsung Galaxy A53 vs А33 in a nutshell:
- Plastic construction on both
- A53 has thinner bezels around the screen
- 120Hz vs 90Hz
- Slightly faster processor on A53 5G
- Both come with a massive 5,000mAh battery inside
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Display and design
Small differences
They are so similar that it is difficult to tell them apart (the white one on the left is the A33, the one on the right is the A53)
Both are Galaxy A series phones meaning they are budget devices, they are made from good old plastic throughout, yet you get a solid, sleek build.
However, thanks to the plastic construction, both phones are lightweight for their class and quite comfortable to carry in a pocket. Quite a relief if you’ve ever carried a Pro Max flagship around these days.
You also get IP67 water and dust protection on both models, a nice feature to have.
One thing missing on both phones is a headphone jack, like the times and while budget phones had it, that’s no longer the case with this A series.

The A33 has bigger bezels and a chin, while the A53 looks more elegant, but the screen quality is almost identical
However, we have nearly identical screen sizes: 6.5″ on the A53 5G versus 6.4″ on the A33 5G, and the good news is that both use AMOLED technology with lush colors and excellent contrast. The difference here is the refresh rate: you get the sweet 120Hz goodness for smooth scrolling on the A53 5G, while the cheaper model gets 90Hz. And only the edges around the screen are quite thick with the A33, while the A53 borders on it more elegantly.
The pair both have an in-screen optical fingerprint scanner. Plus, it’s also nice that both have image-based facial recognition using the front-facing camera.
Battery and Charging
Same super impressive battery size on both

No headphone jack on either
Battery life has always been excellent on the Galaxy A series and these two latest editions only continue that tradition.
You get a 5,000 mAh battery on both the A53 5G and A33 5G. This is just incredibly promising, because such a gigantic battery is very likely to offer excellent endurance in the real world.
Below are our battery test results that we run under controlled brightness, under equal conditions on both phones:
On the charging front, you’ll get 25W of fast charging speeds on both phones, but you won’t find a charging brick in the box, so you’d have to buy a charger separately.
There’s no support for wireless charging on board, but that’s a feature traditionally missing from most budget phones.
Cameras
Still four cameras, still no zoom

Nearly identical quad camera systems
Samsung insists on putting four cameras on the back of all these phones, as if it wants to impress the consumer with the sheer number of lenses. Unfortunately, two of those cameras are completely redundant: the macro and depth cameras are expected to be of mediocre quality and only have a resolution of 5 MP. You too do not buy a telephoto zoom.
You do get a main and an ultra-wide angle lens, though, that can handle most of the camera workload, and below are the exact camera specs for camera geeks to explore:
Camera Specifications | Solution | Sensor Size: | Pixel size | Lens |
---|---|---|---|---|
Head A53 | 64 MP | 1/1.7″ | 0.8 µm | 26mm, f/1.8 |
Head A33 | 48MP | unknown | unknown | f/1.8 |
Ultra A53 | 12 MP | 1/3″ | 1.12 µm | 13mm, f/2.2 |
Ultra A33 | 8MP | unknown | unknown | f/2.2 |
Macro A53 / A33 | 5MP | † | 1.12 µm | f/2.4 |
Depth A53 / A33 | 5MP | † | 1.12 µm | f/2.4 |
Of course, Samsung will not sit still and we only expect camera improvements from the last generation A52 and A32 models.
We took a few photos to demonstrate the differences in photo quality:
Both are Samsung phones, these two share a lot of common photographic DNA. And it’s all about delivering super vibrant, saturated photos that look better than the real thing. You can catch the A53 more often and more aggressively for that ultra-saturated look, even to the point of “too much”, but details seem to be a little bit cleaner too.
In terms of video recording, both are quite similar. You’ve got 4K30 video recording as the best quality available, but software video stabilization isn’t available in 4K, so you’d have to switch to 1080p on both phones to use that.
One advantage of the A53 over the A33 is that if you choose to use the 4K option, you can use the ultra-wide camera while recording video, while the A33 only allows you to switch to the ultra-wide camera in lower resolution, FHD 1080p videos.
Performance and software
Same Exynos chip on both

Not quite flagship level, but both feel fast enough
Interestingly, both the A53 5G and A33 5G are powered by the Exynos 1280 processor, but with a slight difference in configuration: the A53 uses more powerful “big” cores and is slightly faster.
We also like that Samsung has simplified the range and that on both phones you only get a single version that comes with 6GB and 128GB of storage. And yes, you also have a microSD card slot on both, so you can easily expand that storage.
As you can see there is a very small speed jump on the Galaxy A53, but there is quite a noticeable annual improvement coming with the Galaxy A33, making these two models much more similar in terms of actual performance.
And we’re happy about that: one of our main complaints against the A32 5G model was its slow speed, and Samsung seems to be addressing just that.
On the network side, you have 5G connectivity on both phones, as their names suggest. Don’t expect fancy 5G mmWave support, but we do expect to have the rest of the popular 5G bands on board.
Software
In terms of software, being 2022 phones, the Galaxy A53 5G and A33 5G both come with the latest combination of Android 12 and One UI 4.1. Last year, Samsung committed to 4 years of major software updates for the Galaxy A series, and that really makes these two stand out in the Android space.
Galaxy A53 5G vs A33 5G: Specs Comparison

And here’s a detailed specs comparison between the Galaxy A53 5G and A33 5G model:
Galaxy A53 5G | Galaxy A33 5G | |
---|---|---|
Size and weight | 159.9 x 74.7 x 8.1mm, 189g | 159.7 x 74.0 x 8.1mm, 186g |
Colors & Materials | Black, white, light blue and orange Plastic |
Black, white, light blue and orange Plastic |
Display | 6.5″ AMOLED, 1080p, 120Hz | 6.4″ AMOLED, 1080p, 90Hz |
Processor | Exynos 1280 | Exynos 1280 |
RAM | 6GB | 6GB |
Storage | 128GB microSD card slot |
128GB microSD card slot |
Cameras | 64 MP wide-angle camera, f/1.8 12MP ultra-wide camera, f/2.2 5MP macro camera 5MP depth camera |
48 MP wide-angle camera, f/1.8 8 MP ultra-wide camera, f/2.2 5MP macro camera 2MP depth camera |
Battery Size: | 5,000 mAh | 5,000 mAh |
Charging Speeds | 25W wired no wireless charging |
25W wired no wireless charging |
Prices | $450 | from about $370 |
Samsung announced both the Galaxy A53 5G and A33 5G on March 17, 2022, exactly one year after the launch of the Galaxy A52/A32 models.
Remember that there has been quite a bit of variation within the series as well. Last year, international markets got a Galaxy A52 model without 5G connectivity that was cheaper and had a slower Snapdragon 720G processor. Halfway through the A53 and A52, Samsung also released a Galaxy A52S 5G model outside the US, which is a Snapdragon 778G inside, about as fast as this new A53 5G model.
At the end of the day, Samsung has significantly improved the cheaper A33 model and it is now a much more usable phone than before, with far fewer compromises. And yes, the gap between the A33 and A53 is now much smaller. It’s noticeable in the looks, with the less refined design, bigger bezels, and even the teardrop camera versus punch hole. However, the cheaper model seems to have improved a lot more in speed and the evolution taking place in that segment seems greater than the more modest upgrade that is the A53 5G model.