Samsung Galaxy A54 vs Google Pixel 7: Which phone is right for you?
Samsung has announced the Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone, a mid-range phone that’s far more affordable than the flagship Galaxy S23 range.
But with the A54 seeing similar specs and features as the Google Pixel 7, we’ve decided to compare the two phones to see which offers the best value.
So if you’re stuck between the Samsung Galaxy A54 and Google Pixel 7, check out the key differences below.
Google Pixel 7 is a lot more expensive
Both phones here can be considered as mid-range Android options, and yet there’s still a significant price gulf here.
The entry-level 128GB configuration of the Samsung Galaxy A54 costs £449/$449, while the Google Pixel 7 costs a hefty £599/$599 for the same specs.
There’s an even bigger price difference if you’d prefer to upgrade to the 256GB option: the Samsung Galaxy A54 is priced at £499/$499 while the Google Pixel 7 comes in at £699/$699 – that’s a whopping £200/$200 gap.
As a result, the Google Pixel 7 is undoubtedly the more expensive phone, although it’s possible to find a discount with Google frequently putting its phones on sale.
Both companies use self-made chips
Most Android use Snapdragon chips these days, so it’s fairly unusual to see both phone makers here opting for their own self-made processors.
The Samsung Galaxy A54 is powered by the new Exynos 1380 chip, which uses a 5nm architecture. The octa-core chip is made up of a quad Cortex-A78 (2.4GHz) and quad Cortex-A55 (2.0GHz), while also featuring a new AI engine to boost language and image recognition.
Meanwhile, the Google Pixel 7 packs its own Google Tensor G2 chip with an even smaller 4nm node. This has an octa-core setup too, with the two “super-big” cores reaching frequencies up to 2.85GHz.
While we need to test the Galaxy A54 to be sure, the specs seem to suggest that Google’s chip will be faster. The Tensor processor is also renowned for having an industry-leading AI engine, and so should have superior post-processing capabilities for the photos.
Galaxy A54 has a macro lens
Flip the Samsung Galaxy A54 over, and you’ll notice that it has a trio of cameras on the rear. That means it has one extra sensor than the Google Pixel 7, with Samsung adding a macro lens to join the main and ultra-wide cameras.
A macro lens improves the quality of close-up shots, packing in tiny detail you may not get with a non-macro camera. The Google Pixel 7 lacks a macro lens, but still offers a Macro Focus Mode, leveraging the power of its AI engine to be capable of similar (if not superior) macro shots.
In terms of hardware, there otherwise isn’t much separating the phone cameras on paper; both have a 50MP main sensor and a 12MP ultra-wide companion.
Samsung seemingly takes the edge for the selfie camera, with a 32MP snapper, opposed to the Pixel’s 10.8MP. But specs alone never paint the full picture when it comes to smartphone cameras, especially now AI makes such a difference. So we recommend waiting for our final review of the Galaxy to see how its camera stacks up – spoiler alert: we expect the Pixel 7 to offer better pictures.
Samsung offers a larger battery
The two phones may share near-identical screen sizes and there’s little separating the dimensions, yet Samsung has been able to squeeze in a larger battery.
The Galaxy A54 has a 5000mAh battery, with Samsung claiming it can last over two days from a single charge, even with 5G activated. That’s excellent stamina, although we will need to check those claims during the review process.
The Google Pixel 7 only has a typical 4355mAh battery capacity, which isn’t quite as big as the Samsung. During our review, we found that it could last over a day with average use, although is extremely unlikely to hit the 48-hour mark.
Both phones support fast charging too, with the Galaxy A54 supporting a 25W charge, and the Pixel 7 up to 30W with a compatible charger.
Samsung options are a little more colourful
The Samsung Galaxy A54 comes in 4 colour options: Awesome Graphite, Awesome Silver, Awesome Lime and Awesome Violet.
Ignoring the eccentric names, that’s a similar lineup to what the Google Pixel 7 offers, which is available in Lemongrass, Snow and Obsidian.
The big difference here is that the Galaxy A54 offers a violet option, so if that’s the colour you’re pining for, it may well be worth picking the Samsung phone.