The Samsung Galaxy M54 5G has emerged as a formidable contender in the mid-range smartphone market, offering a blend of premium features and performance at a competitive price point. This comprehensive review delves into the device’s key aspects, exploring its design, display, performance, camera capabilities, and overall user experience.
Design and Build Quality
The Galaxy M54 5G showcases Samsung’s commitment to elegant design, even in its mid-range offerings. The device boasts a sleek and modern appearance, with a plastic back that convincingly mimics the look of glass. This design choice not only contributes to the phone’s premium feel but also helps in keeping the weight manageable, despite its large battery.
Measuring 77.3 x 164.9 x 8.4 mm and weighing 199 grams, the M54 5G strikes a balance between screen size and ergonomics. The phone’s build quality is robust, inspiring confidence in daily use. While it may not feature the premium materials found in flagship models, the construction feels solid and durable.
The device is available in two sophisticated color options, allowing users to choose a style that suits their preferences. The subtle shimmer effect on the back panel adds a touch of elegance, making the phone stand out in a crowded market.
Display: A Visual Treat
One of the standout features of the Galaxy M54 5G is its impressive 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display. This expansive screen offers a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels (Full HD+), ensuring crisp and detailed visuals. The use of Super AMOLED technology results in vibrant colors, deep blacks, and excellent contrast ratios, making everything from photos to videos pop with life-like quality.
The display supports a 120Hz refresh rate, a feature typically reserved for more expensive devices. This high refresh rate translates to smoother scrolling, more responsive touch interactions, and an overall more fluid user experience. Whether you’re browsing social media, playing games, or simply navigating the UI, the smoothness is immediately noticeable and adds a premium feel to the device.
With a peak brightness of 850 nits, the screen remains legible even under direct sunlight, addressing a common pain point in many mid-range smartphones. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, offering decent protection against scratches and minor drops.
Performance: Punching Above Its Weight
At the heart of the Galaxy M54 5G lies the Exynos 1380 chipset, Samsung’s in-house processor designed for mid-range devices. This octa-core processor, featuring four ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at up to 2.4 GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0 GHz, delivers a balanced mix of performance and energy efficiency.
The chipset is paired with 8GB of RAM, ensuring smooth multitasking and app switching. In day-to-day use, the M54 5G handles everything from social media browsing to video streaming with ease. Even more demanding tasks like gaming are managed well, though the most graphically intensive titles may require some settings adjustments for optimal performance.
The Mali-G68 MP5 GPU handles graphics processing, providing capable performance for most mobile games and multimedia tasks. While it may not match the raw power of flagship GPUs, it offers a good balance of performance and efficiency for its price range.
Storage options include 128GB and 256GB variants, with the added benefit of expandable storage via a microSD card slot. This flexibility is particularly appealing for users who store large amounts of media or prefer to keep their entire app library on-device.
Camera System: Versatility in Photography
The camera setup on the Galaxy M54 5G is one of its most impressive features, especially considering its price point. The primary camera boasts a 108MP sensor, capable of capturing highly detailed images in various lighting conditions. This high-resolution sensor allows for excellent digital zoom capabilities and the option to crop images without significant loss of quality.
Complementing the main sensor is an 8MP ultra-wide camera, perfect for capturing expansive landscapes or group shots. The 2MP macro lens rounds out the rear camera array, enabling close-up shots of small subjects. While the macro lens may not be the most used, it adds versatility to the camera system.
For selfie enthusiasts, the 32MP front-facing camera delivers sharp and detailed self-portraits. It also performs well in video calls, an increasingly important feature in today’s connected world.
Samsung’s camera software shines on the M54 5G, offering a range of modes and features typically found on more expensive models. Night mode, in particular, impresses with its ability to capture clear and bright images in low-light conditions. The pro mode gives more control to experienced photographers, allowing manual adjustments of ISO, shutter speed, and focus.
Video capabilities are solid, with the ability to record up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. Electronic image stabilization helps in capturing smoother footage, though it’s not quite at the level of optical stabilization found in flagship devices.
Battery Life and Charging
One of the most significant selling points of the Galaxy M54 5G is its massive 6000mAh battery. This large capacity ensures that the phone can easily last through a full day of heavy use, and for many users, it might stretch to two days on a single charge.
The device supports 25W fast charging, which, while not the fastest in the market, provides a good balance between charging speed and battery longevity. A full charge takes around 1.5 to 2 hours, but even a short 30-minute charge can provide several hours of use.
Samsung has implemented various software optimizations to extend battery life further. The adaptive power-saving mode intelligently manages background processes and app usage to squeeze out even more screen time.
Software and User Experience
The Galaxy M54 5G runs on Android 13 with Samsung’s One UI 5.1 overlay. This combination offers a clean, intuitive interface with a wealth of customization options. Samsung’s commitment to software updates means that the M54 5G is likely to receive major Android updates and security patches for several years, enhancing the longevity of the device.
One UI brings several useful features to the table, such as a robust theme engine, a secure folder for sensitive apps and data, and Samsung’s ecosystem of apps like Samsung Health and Samsung Pay. The interface is well-optimized for one-handed use, despite the large screen size.
Connectivity and Additional Features
As the name suggests, the Galaxy M54 5G supports 5G connectivity, future-proofing the device for the next generation of mobile networks. It also includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC for contactless payments.
The under-display fingerprint sensor is responsive and accurate, providing a convenient and secure method of unlocking the device. Face recognition is also available as an alternative biometric authentication method.
Value Proposition
Priced at around $699 globally (₹37,999 in India), the Samsung Galaxy M54 5G offers exceptional value for money. It brings several features typically associated with more expensive phones down to a more accessible price point. The combination of a high-refresh-rate AMOLED display, versatile camera system, 5G connectivity, and long-lasting battery makes it a compelling option in the mid-range segment.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy M54 5G stands out as a well-rounded mid-range smartphone that doesn’t compromise on essential features. It successfully balances performance, camera quality, and battery life, wrapped in an attractive design. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of flagship devices, it offers a premium experience at a fraction of the cost.
For users looking to upgrade from budget smartphones or those who want flagship-like features without the premium price tag, the Galaxy M54 5G presents an excellent choice. It’s particularly well-suited for photography enthusiasts, heavy users who prioritize battery life, and those who want a future-proof device with 5G capabilities.
In a market segment where compromises are often necessary, the Galaxy M54 5G manages to deliver a comprehensive package that ticks most of the boxes for the average smartphone user. It’s a testament to Samsung’s ability to bring high-end features to more affordable devices, making it a strong contender for one of the best mid-range smartphones of its generation.