Samsung Galaxy M52 5G review

Tried and tested OneUI 3 on top of Android 11

The Galaxy M52 5G runs OneUI 3.1, Samsung's second to latest take on Android, over v.11 of Google's OS. Since the phone was launched in the fall of 2021 and it's hardly a flagship (hence not on top of the update schedule list), we weren't expecting OneUI 4 and Android 12 just yet. The old stuff is pretty okay as is, however.

The general UI is essentially no different than any other Samsung of late. There's a standard lockscreen with dialer and camera shortcuts and the usual widget options. You can have an always-on display here as well.

Lockscreen • Lockscreen settings • Shortcuts • Widgets • Always on display

For unlocking, the side-mounted fingerprint sensor is the most obvious choice. It takes a few taps to set up, and from then it's quick and reliable to unlock, whether it's your right thumb or left index finger operating it.

As with other such implementations, you run the risk of triggering the sensor by any skin contact by simply holding the phone in your pocket, resulting in a locked phone and an inoperable sensor once you do pull it out to use it. If you happen to suffer from that more often than you'd like, you can have the sensor only engage with a press on the button - otherwise, a click isn't required.

Alternatively, you can set up face unlock which works with the front camera only and is thus less secure.

Biometrics and security

Pulling the notification shade covers the entire screen underneath, even if there's just one notification card or none at all, which some might call inefficient use of space. Notification history is part of OneUI since Android 11, as are Bubbles, the chat-head style visualization of instant messenger apps.

Notification shade • Quick toggles • Quick toggles settings

Notification settings

Android 11's refined multimedia controls are implemented in OneUI as well - you get a stack of the active audio playback apps right below the quick toggles and swiping to the side switches between the apps. The volume control panel with its four vertical sliders lets you tweak different volumes, while Music Share allows you to play music through Bluetooth accessories connected to a friend's Samsung phone.

Media controls

Yet another of the native Android 11 improvements that Samsung also includes in One UI 3 is the ability to pin apps to the top of the sheet with Share options. Permission handling, as introduced with A11 and implemented in One UI 3 serves you a new prompt for permissions every time an app requests it, letting you deny permission, allow it only while using the app, or just for this one time, with a fourth option for 'always allow' available in the settings menu.

Share options pinning • Share options pinning • Permissions handling • Permissions handling • Settings UI

Samsung's excellent theme support and rich online selection are present, as well, if you're into customization. System navigation options are available, with a few tweaks and layouts available for gestures, as well as old-school button controls, even the really-old original style, with the back button on the right side.

Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Themes • Navigation options

There is also the Edge panels interface, Bixby and full integration of the SmartThings platform. The Game launcher is the hub for all your games, along with options for limiting distraction while playing.

Additional software features

Synthetic benchmarks

The Galaxy M52 5G relies on the Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset to do its number-crunching, and Qualcomm's popular 5G-enabled upper-midrange offering has proven to be able to crunch well enough. The octa-core Kryo 670 CPU (4x Cortex-A78-based cores and 4x Cortex-A55 ones clocked at up to 2.4GHz and 1.8GHz respectively) and Adreno 642L GPU can handle most things you throw at them, and even in base 6GB/128GB trim you shouldn't be strapped for RAM or storage.

We ran the usual set of benchmarks on the Galaxy M52 5G and got more or less the results we expected, having seen the A52s 5G and other models with the same chipset. GeekBench scores were very similar between the two and, similarly, the Galaxies are somewhat underperforming when it comes to single-core results - other SD778G devices can achieve 25 to 30% higher scores. Differences are less pronounced under multi-threaded loads.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT 5G
  3555
• Huawei nova 9
  2973
• Realme GT Master
  2917
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
  2909
• Xiaomi 11T
  2834
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  2832
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2801
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  2796
• OnePlus Nord 2
  2792
• Motorola Edge 20
  2550
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  2131
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  1820
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  1577

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT 5G
  1139
• OnePlus Nord 2
  814
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
  803
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  787
• Realme GT Master
  785
• Huawei nova 9
  784
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  771
• Motorola Edge 20
  762
• Xiaomi 11T
  742
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  722
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  636
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  603
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  525

In Antutu, the M52 5G places around the middle of the SD778G pack, ahead of the Nova 9 and the Edge 20, and behind the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5Gs. The Nord 2 and the Xiaomi 11T with their Dimensity 1200s do show an advantage thanks largely to their more powerful GPUs. As in GeekBench, here the M52 5G proves that it offers a significant leap in performance over the SD750-equipped A52 (non-S) 5G.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Realme GT 5G
  810433
• OnePlus Nord 2
  598022
• Xiaomi 11T
  590837
• Realme GT Master
  529263
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  527663
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
  522490
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  506432
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  504424
• Motorola Edge 20
  488574
• Huawei nova 9
  469798
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  430765
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  386474

In graphics benchmarks, the M52 does reasonably well, though it's significantly outperformed by Dimensity 1200 handsets you can get for similar money. Still, its SD778G is no slouch and can put out respectable numbers, in line with similarly equipped competitors.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT 5G
  112
• Xiaomi 11T
  77
• OnePlus Nord 2
  75
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
  65
• Motorola Edge 20
  57
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  56
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  56
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  56
• Realme GT Master
  56
• Huawei nova 9
  56
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  32
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  29

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 11T
  72
• Realme GT 5G
  60
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
  57
• OnePlus Nord 2
  57
• Motorola Edge 20
  51
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  49
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  49
• Huawei nova 9
  48
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  47
• Realme GT Master
  46
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  28
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  26

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT 5G
  65
• Xiaomi 11T
  47
• OnePlus Nord 2
  46
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
  40
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  33
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  33
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  33
• Realme GT Master
  33
• Motorola Edge 20
  33
• Huawei nova 9
  33
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  19
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  17

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme GT 5G
  55
• Xiaomi 11T
  40
• OnePlus Nord 2
  38
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
  35
• Motorola Edge 20
  29
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  28
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  28
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  28
• Huawei nova 9
  28
• Realme GT Master
  27
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  15

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT 5G
  5872
• OnePlus Nord 2
  4224
• Xiaomi 11T
  4172
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
  3136
• Huawei nova 9
  2503
• Motorola Edge 20
  2494
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2491
• Realme GT Master
  2481
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
  2477
• Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
  2470
• Oppo Reno6 5G
  2024
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
  1107
• Samsung Galaxy A52
  1040

Sustained load benchmarks can't scare the Galaxy M52 5G either. We got a remarkable 98.9% stability rating in 3DMark's 20-minute stress test. In the CPU throttling test, things looked almost as solid - the phone maintained peak performance for about 21 minutes, at which point its results dropped to within 85-90% of those numbers and that's what it can sustain indefinitely, we reckon.

CPU throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test