Samsung Galaxy A14 5G review

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Introduction

We rarely get to play around with US-specific smartphones of a more budget stature. That hasn't stopped us from recommending the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G, sight unseen if you're looking for a handset in the $200 ballpark, but we still felt a more thorough approach was fitting. So, with that in mind, we tracked down a Galaxy A14 5G and brought it to headquarters for reviewing.

A little clarification is needed here, though. The Galaxy A14 5G is available in different markets with different chipsets. The US spec has the Dimensity 700 inside, while the one sold in India uses the Exynos 1330 chip, which is a more powerful platform. That is to say, while a lot of our findings here will apply to all A14 5Gs, some bits will be specific to the Dimensity variant - battery life and possibly image quality, for example. While they may end up being similar between both versions, that won't be something we can confirm for a fact. Performance, on the other hand, will be better on the Exynos variant - that we're confident saying.

With that out of the way, the Galaxy A14 5G isn't a huge update over the A13 5G. That Dimensity 700 we've been rambling on about on this one comes straight out of the A13 5G. The rear camera system remains unchanged, too - a 50MP actual camera is joined by 2MP macro and depth units. Battery capacity is still plenty, at 5,000mAh, but the new phone is somehow 7g heavier.

That 'somehow' quickly gets answered when you look at the display, which is now 6.6 inches in diagonal (6.5 inches on the A13 5G). More importantly, the new panel has a 1080p resolution as opposed to the 720p on the older model - that's an upgrade we can appreciate. Another welcome upgrade hides in the waterdrop notch at the display's top edge - the selfie camera is now 13MP as opposed to 5MP.

Samsung Galaxy A14 5G specs at a glance:

• Body: 167.7x78.0x9.1mm, 202g; Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame.
• Display: 6.60" PLS LCD, 90Hz, 1080x2408px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 400ppi.
• Chipset: Mediatek MT6833 Dimensity 700 (7 nm), as reviewed: Octa-core CPU (2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55), Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. Exynos 1330: Octa-core CPU (2x2.4 GHz & 6x2.0 GHz), Mali-G68 MC4 GPU.
• Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
• OS/Software: Android 13, One UI Core 5.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, PDAF; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 13 MP, f/2.0, (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 5000mAh; 15W wired.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; 3.5mm jack.

Samsung Galaxy A14 5G unboxing

The Galaxy A14 5G ships in a half-height white package, which consists of a thin paperboard sleeve with a print of the phone on top that holds a paperboard tray with the phone inside. The list of accessories is short - you get a USB-C cable, and that's it.