Apple iPhone SE (2022) vs. Samsung Galaxy A52 5G

Let’s not beat around the bush: The iPhone SE (2022) is hardly the most attractive phone you’ll see released this year. It regurgitates the design of the iPhone 8, meaning you have a smallish phone with big forehead and chin bezels, as well as a Home button. If you like retro designs you might find it charming, but compared to the swish edge-to-edge display of the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, it looks pretty uninspiring.

Samsung’s device also has the edge in the display department. Carrying a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels, it packs 407 pixels per inch. By contrast, the iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch Retina LCD screen, with a 1334 x 750-pixel resolution. This works out at around 326 pixels per inch, and when you factor in the marked reduction in size, the SE’s screen just isn’t anywhere near as impressive as the A52’s. Particularly when the latter supports a 120Hz refresh rate, which provides seamless scrolling.

One area of parity, however, is that both phones have been given an IP67 rating. This means both phones can tolerate being submerged in up to a meter of water for up to 30 minutes. Of course, this isn’t enough for the iPhone SE to make up for its less appealing design and less impressive display, so this round is an easy win for the A52.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy A52 5G

The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G, while it also uses 6GB of RAM as standard. This makes it a very capable smartphone, and it runs pretty much all the latest games and apps without fuss. That said, as good as it is, the unassuming iPhone SE (2022) comes with the very powerful Apple A15 Bionic, as well as 4GB of RAM. The use of the A15 Bionic — which is constructed using 5nm transistors — makes Apple’s phone astonishingly quick for such a small device, and as solid as the A52 is, the SE has a clear advantage.

Unfortunately, the SE commits the increasingly unforgivable crime of coming with 64GB of internal memory as standard (although for $479 you can have it with 128GB). This is a fairly paltry amount of storage in 2022, what with our growing need to take 20 different photos of the same scene to find the perfect image. As for the A52, it offers a more generous 128GB of memory as standard, giving you more or less twice the storage fun. It also has a slot for a microSD card, so you can really ramp up its memory.

The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G comes with a 64-megapixel wide lens, a 12MP ultrawide lens, a 5MP depth lens, and a 5MP macro lens at the rear. The iPhone SE (2022), on the other hand, comes with a single 12MP wide lens.

You’d therefore be forgiven for thinking that the A52 offers a much better camera, but this isn’t the case. Yes, the iPhone SE has only one lens, but Apple’s software squeezes every last ounce of quality out of it. As with the second-generation SE, it takes highly natural and well-balanced photos in most conditions. It also benefits from the addition of Apple’s Deep Fusion technology, Smart HDR 4, as well as an improved Portrait mode that uses the same Portrait Lighting effects seen on the iPhone 13.

In other words, its main camera lens is up there with the best in the business. The same cannot be said for the A52, which despite having a main lens with 64MP still suffers the same inconsistency and over-saturation issues as other Samsung phones that had come before it. So even with an additional ultrawide and macro lens, you probably won’t take as much pleasure from the A52’s camera as from the SE’s.

Winner: iPhone SE (2022)

The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G has now been updated to Android 12 with OneUI 4 running over the top. OneUI 4 is a noticeably fast Android skin, with plenty of customization options for making it suit your particular style. It’s neither better nor worse than the iPhone SE’s iOS 15, though Apple’s operating system historically favors simplicity and security over customization and complexity.

While it’s largely a matter of taste as to which OS you might prefer, there’s little doubt that the iPhone will receive more updates over its lifetime. Samsung has committed to three core Android updates for the A52, whereas you’ll likely get five or six with the SE. This means Apple’s phone takes the win.

Winner: iPhone SE (2022)

Both phones support 5G, which may not be remarkable nowadays, but is still commendable for such inexpensive phones. That said, both devices support only the longer-range sub-6Hz range of 5G frequencies and not the faster mmWave bands. Nonetheless, sub-6Hz 5G still represents a big step up in terms of speed over 4G, so most people won’t mind.

The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G starts at $499 and can be bought directly from Samsung’s website. It’s supported by all major carriers in the U.S. and can be purchased from nearly every major online retailer.

The iPhone SE (2022) begins at $429 and rises to $579 for the version with 256GB of internal memory. It can be pre-ordered from Apple, and will be supported by all major networks.