Google Pixel 7a vs Samsung Galaxy A54 5G

The Galaxy A54 5G was released earlier this April and looks to be one of the most impressive budget phones of 2023. That said, the competition is about ready to heat up. The Google Pixel 7a is rumored to be on its way next month. Let’s look closer at the Pixel 7a vs Galaxy A54 and see if Google’s new budget option is worth the wait.

Editor’s note: This article is based on speculation, rumors, and leaks relating to the Pixel 7a. We’ll continue to update this post as we get more information.

The Galaxy A54 saw a major redesign this year compared to its predecessor, bringing its design language in line with the Galaxy S. The end result is a phone that can pass for the Galaxy S23 at a glance. Google has typically kept its Pixel design language consistent across its budget and flagship offerings, and the Pixel 7a is said to be no different. In other words, both mid-rangers will look pretty similar to their flagship counterparts.

Google will reportedly stick to plastic for its phone, though at least one rumor claims it could swap out the cheaper material for ceramic. Samsung offers a more premium touch, with Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back, though the frame is just plastic. Both phones look great, so the real winner will come down to your tastes.

Moving past the design, you’ll find several other important differences between the Pixel 7a vs Galaxy A54 5G.

Starting with the processor, the Galaxy A54 opts for an in-house Exynos 1380 backed by 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. There’s even a microSD card slot with support for up to 1TB of storage. Meanwhile, the Pixel 7a has a Google Tensor G2 onboard, the same SoC found in the Pixel 7. You also get 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Unfortunately, there’s no expandable memory on the Pixel 7a.

Of the two SoCs, the Tensor G2 is the more powerful chip, at least on paper. We can’t say for sure how much of a difference you’ll notice in everyday use, but we can at least take a few guesses.

Last year’s Galaxy A53 (backed by an Exynos 1280) offered a decent mid-range experience, but the Tensor G1 outpaced it in benchmarks. Both SoCs are next-gen leaps this time around, but we imagine the overall performance gap will remain similar. The Tensor G2 is likely to be better for heavy lifting like gaming and benchmarks. The A53 worked great for casual productivity and web browsing but occasionally had hiccups that revealed its mid-range nature. The A54 will likely continue that story.

The Galaxy might have a weaker SoC, but it punches back with a larger, more feature-packed display. The Galaxy A54 packs a beefy 6.4-inch Infinity-O Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. The Pixel 7a is rumored to actually shrink its display size down from the 6a, at 6.1 inches. There is a higher refresh than the 6a, but the 90Hz panel is still not nearly as impressive as Samsung’s.

The rest of the specs mostly come down to differences in camera, charging standards, and battery size. We’ll talk about those a bit further down. Before we do that, let’s talk about software.

Samsung and Google also have a different take on Android aboard their phones. Google sticks to a more stock-like experience though it adds meaningful extras like a call screen feature that uses Google Assistant to ensure a caller isn’t a robocall or telemarketer. Samsung’s One UI is a much heavier skin. Even with its heavy hand, the UI never feels too overbloated, and most of its extra apps can be deleted or at least disabled. It even has a few truly useful additions, like the Edge Panel for quickly pulling up select apps, side key customization, and more.

Regardless of which phone you choose, both have excellent software support. Samsung backs the A54 with four years of Android updates and five years of security updates. That’s the best you’ll find from any Android phone, even the Pixel family. The Pixel 7a comes close, though, offering three years of Android updates and the same five years of security patches.

Last year’s Galaxy A53 had one of the best cameras found on a budget phone. Despite its best foot forward, the Pixel 6a (and arguably the iPhone SE) delivered a slightly more impressive camera experience. Samsung hopes to close this divide with the Galaxy A54.

The A54 might seem like a step backward at a glance, as it trades in a 64MP camera for the Galaxy S23’s 50MP main shooter. The big difference is that the S23’s camera has larger individual pixels at 1.0μ, a jump from 0.8μ on the A53. Although the A54 borrows Samsung’s flagship camera, the other two lenses are more modest. You get a 5MP macro sensor and a 12MP ultrawide lens on the rear, with a 32MP selfie camera upfront.

The A54 performed pretty well in our camera tests, especially in good lighting. We did find the saturation could be a bit much, though. Just be aware this is a mid-range phone, so it won’t be as good as Samsung’s more expensive flagships.

Google’s photography magic has never really been about hardware. It’s all about software optimizations, and that’s where the Tensor G2 comes in handy, using AI to improve the photo-taking experience. However, Google isn’t content to let the software do all the heavy lifting, as the Pixel 7a is rumored to get a big camera upgrade over the 6a’s 12.2MP main sense and 12MP ultrawide camera.

If rumors are accurate, the Pixel 7a will have a 64MP Sony IMX787 sensor, though it will likely stick to the same 12MP ultrawide camera. Google is also upgrading its front cameras, switching to a 13MP Sony IMX712. We can’t say how this will compare to the A54, but we’re certainly excited to pit the two against each other in the hopefully not-too-distant future.

The Google Pixel 6a had a lot going for it, but battery life wasn’t a strong suit as its 4,410mAh battery struggled to keep up. My daughter has a Pixel 6a and typically gets around a day’s use if you keep it to the basics. Adding gaming and other higher-intensity activities will obviously drain the battery much faster. We had a similar experience with our review unit, which would typically hit as low as 10% before the day ended.

The Pixel 7a is set to have a similar battery size, though rumors have yet to peg down the exact capacity. Give what we know, we’d expect the Pixel 7a to have “barely a full day’s” battery life once again. The Tensor G2 and other optimizations could improve this, but we wouldn’t count on it.

We don’t know if Google will improve fast charging with the Pixel 7a. At worst, we’d expect similar performance, which means an average charging time of around 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy A54 consistently got us nearly a day and a half of battery life with its 5,000mAh battery. We would easily end the day with as much as 35% battery life during our time with it. It also charged up pretty fast, thanks to support for 35W chargers. It took around 1 hour and 20 minutes to top off the Galaxy A54 from zero to full.

One area where the Pixel 7a might trump the Galaxy A54 is wireless support. Mid-range phones have traditionally left out this feature in order to cut costs. Rumors suggest Google is getting ready to bring wireless charging to the Pixel 7a but at a pretty modest speed of 5W. While that’s better than no support, charging will take a long time with this method.

The Galaxy A54 went on sale April 6th, with the Pixel 7a hot on its heels with a Google IO unveil expected this May. Rumors claim the Pixel 7a will come in a few different colorways: Light Sky Blue, White, and Gray. The Galaxy A54 has several color choices of its own, with Awesome Black, Awesome Violet, Awesome Lime, and Awesome White.

Pricing will be pretty comparable, as the Galaxy A54 retails for $449. We should mention that a variant of the Galaxy A54 comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but it’s not available in the United States.

Meanwhile, rumors claim the Pixel 7a could be a bit more expensive than the base A54 at $500. Of course, you get a few improvements, like a stronger SoC and wireless charging. It’s also more compact if that’s something you’re into.

The Samsung Galaxy A54 and Pixel 7a are set to be two of the year’s best budget phones, and we really liked our experience with the Galaxy A54 5G. The Pixel 7a is also a compelling device based on rumors. Normally we’d recommend waiting until the Pixel 7a comes out to make your choice unless you urgently need a new phone. But I must address the wild card: The Pixel 7 is currently the best budget phone right now!

While the Pixel 7 normally retails for just $600, it recently has gone on sale for $450 on Amazon and other major retailers. Best Buy even has it for just $350 if you’re willing to immediately activate it to a supported carrier like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Google Fi Wireless. You don’t have to be a new customer to get in on the savings either.

At that price, the Galaxy A54 5G and Pixel 7a aren’t nearly as appealing — even if you get an extra year of software support with the latter devices. Of course, if you’re not a fan of Google’s stock-take on Android, the Galaxy A54 5G is a great alternative to the Pixel 7 and 7a.