Samsung Galaxy A14 5G review

introduction

We rarely get to play on US-specific smartphones of a more affordable stature. That didn’t stop us from recommending the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G, at first glance if you’re looking for a phone in the $200 ballpark, but we still felt a more comprehensive approach was appropriate. So with that in mind, we tracked down a Galaxy A14 5G and brought it to HQ for review.

Here, however, a small clarification is needed. The Galaxy A14 5G is available in different markets with different chipsets. The US specification contains the Dimensity 700, while the one sold in India uses the Exynos 1330 chip, which is a more powerful platform. That is to say, while many of our findings here will apply to all 5G A14s, some bits will be specific to the Dimensity variant, such as battery life and possibly image quality. While they may end up being similar between the two releases, it won’t be something we can confirm for sure. Performance, on the other hand, will be better on the Exynos variant, we are confident of that.

That said, the Galaxy A14 5G isn’t a huge upgrade over the A13 5G. That Dimension 700 we talked about on this one comes straight from the A13 5G. The rear camera system also remains unchanged: a 50MP effective camera is joined by 2MP macro and depth units. Battery capacity is still plenty, at 5,000mAh, but the new phone is somewhat heavier at 7g.

This “somehow” is quickly answered when you look at the display, which now has a diagonal of 6.6 inches (6.5 inches on the A13 5G). More importantly, the new panel has a resolution of 1080p compared to 720p on the previous model – it’s an update we can appreciate. Another welcome update hides in the teardrop notch at the top edge of the display: the selfie camera is now 13MP instead of 5MP.

The specifications of the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G at a glance:

• Body: 167.7×78.0x9.1mm, 202g; Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame.
• Screen: 6.60″ PLS LCD, 90Hz, 1080x2408px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 400ppi.
• chipsets: Mediatek MT6833 Dimensity 700 (7 nm), as reviewed: Octa-core CPU (2×2.2GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0GHz Cortex-A55), Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. Ex 1330: Octa-core CPU (2×2.4GHz and 6×2.0GHz), Mali-G68 MC4 GPU.
• Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
• Operating system/software: Android 13, a Core 5 UI.
• Rear camera: Broad (main): 50MP, f/1.8, PDAF; Macros: 2MP, f/2.4; Depth: 2MP, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 13 MP, f/2.0, (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Drums: 5000mAh; 15W wired.
• Various: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; 3.5mm jack.

Samsung Galaxy A14 5G unboxing

The Galaxy A14 5G ships in a half-height white box, which consists of a thin cardboard case with a print of the phone on top that contains a cardboard tray with the phone inside. The list of accessories is short: just get a USB-C cable and you’re done.