Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus vs A53 5G

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus (with Exynos 9 Octa 9810) that was released on February 25, 2018, against the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, which is powered by Exynos 1280 and came out 49 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • 31% higher pixel density (531 vs 405 PPI)
  • Supports Qi/PMA wireless charging up to 10W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Shows 45% longer battery life (33:59 vs 23:22 hours)
  • Comes with 1500 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3500 mAh
  • Delivers 31% higher peak brightness (831 against 634 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.1)
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
  • More recent OS version: Android 13 versus 10
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Exynos 1280
  • The phone is 4-years and 1-month newer
  • Has an ultra-wide angle camera lens
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
We may receive a commission from Amazon for purchases made using the links below, but this has no bearing on our assessment methodology.

Review

Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

You can enter your local price of these phones (in USD or any other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
Price

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.2 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1440 x 2960 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 18.5:9 20:9
PPI 531 ppi 405 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 631 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 830 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10 Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 84.2% 85.4%
Display features - Always-On Display - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 97.6%
PWM 215 Hz 250 Hz
Response time 7 ms 9 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
634 nits
831 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 158.1 mm (6.22 inches) 159.6 mm (6.28 inches)
Width 73.8 mm (2.91 inches) 74.8 mm (2.94 inches)
Thickness 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) 8.1 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 189 g (6.67 oz) 189 g (6.67 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors Black, Gold, Gray, Red, Purple White, Black, Blue, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, rear Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
85.4%

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and Samsung Galaxy A53 5G in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9810 Samsung Exynos 1280
Max clock 2700 MHz 2400 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 8 (2 + 6)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.9 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.9 GHz: Exynos M3
- 6 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache 4 MB -
Lithography process 10 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G72MP18 Mali-G68 MP4
GPU clock 572 MHz 1000 MHz
FLOPS ~658 GFLOPS ~487 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
423805
CPU 116977 112126
GPU 121725 126851
Memory 74973 73975
UX 93023 98952
Total score 407928 423805
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 40.7 °C 45.2 °C
Stability 95% 99%
Graphics test 13 FPS 13 FPS
Graphics score 2327 2287
PCMark 3.0
11426
Web score 4954 9324
Video editing 5470 7468
Photo editing 9136 21110
Data manipulation 5667 9095
Writing score 5924 14991
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 6, 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 1794 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 64 GB 128, 256 GB
Storage type UFS 2.1 UFS 2.2
Memory card MicroSD MicroSD
Memory card max size Up to 400 GB Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 8.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 10) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 2.1 One UI 5.1
OS size 13.9 GB 36 GB

Battery

Specifications
Capacity 3500 mAh 5000 mAh
Charge power 15 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes, Qi/PMA (10 W) No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (40% in 30 min) Yes (45% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:40 hr 1:24 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 06:59 hr 10:38 hr
Watching video 11:56 hr 15:55 hr
Gaming 03:44 hr 05:01 hr
Standby 79 hr 120 hr
General battery life
23:22 hr
33:59 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 64 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 9000 x 7000
Zoom Optical, 2x Digital
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 240FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens - 123°
Lenses 2 (12 MP + 12 MP) 4 (64 MP + 12 MP + 5 MP + 5 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.5 - 2.4
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung SAK2L3 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 64 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung S5KGW1P (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 52 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.6" (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
-
Ultra-wide lens - - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.0" (CMOS)
Macro lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
Depth lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.8", Sony IMX616 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A53 5G from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 8 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 3264 x 2448 6464 x 4864
Aperture f/1.7 f/2.2
Focal length 25 mm 26 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns 0.8 microns
Sensor type ISOCELL CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.6" 1/2.8"
Video resolution 1440p at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5.1
Bluetooth features PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.1 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Yes Depends on the region
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No No
Hybrid slot Yes Yes
LTE Cat* 18 18
5G support No Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack Yes No
FM radio No -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
85.6 dB
86.1 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced February 2018 March 2022
Release date March 2018 April 2022
SAR (head) 0.294 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.35 W/kg -
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
48 (51.1%)
46 (48.9%)
Total votes: 94

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