Galaxy A52s users might be better off without a Snapdragon chip

Even though Samsung uses high-end Qualcomm chips for its premium flagship phones, there’s almost no trace of Snapdragon solutions across the Galaxy A series today. The Galaxy A05s is the only recent A-phone to sport a Snapdragon chip — hence the “s” in its name. However, Samsung doesn’t seem to have any plans to release a true successor to mid-range devices like the Galaxy A52s.

Samsung’s Galaxy A52s is one of the most beloved mid-range phones in recent years, primarily because of its Snapdragon 778G 5G chip. It helped the phone punch above its weight class in 2021 and brought it longevity. Many people still use it today, and chances are you do, too.

Sadly, the Galaxy A52s and the Snapdragon 778G are starting to show their age in 2024, as the phone will no longer receive any major Android updates.

Fortunately, Samsung’s new Galaxy A55 appears to be a good enough sequel for many reasons, as we explained before. But is the A55 really the ‘proper’ sequel? Shouldn’t that be the “A55s?”

In theory, yes. In a perfect world where monikers always make perfect sense, Samsung would be working on a Galaxy A55s right about now. Of course, this theoretical phone has virtually no chance of happening, but what if it did? Which Snapdragon chip would it rock? And would it really make for a better Galaxy A52s upgrade than the real Galaxy A55?

Is the theoretical reality not all that great?

Once again we need to underline that there’s zero evidence of a Galaxy A55s being in the works. This is merely a thought experiment that allows us to speculate how a theoretical A55s would look like in this era, and even whether or not its existence could be justified.

So, the big question is, which chip would this theoretical Galaxy A55s use? That’s up for debate, but perhaps the Galaxy A52s’ old Snapdragon 778G equates best to the modern Snapdragon 7 Gen 3.

How does the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 compare to the Exynos 1480? Well, surprisingly enough, the Galaxy A55 powered by the Exynos 1480 chip and the Honor 100 powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip have comparable scores in Geekbench.

An honorable mention is the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, which is known to be significantly more powerful than the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. However, this chip is probably fairer to be compared with the Snapdragon 778G+ SoC instead of the A52s’ 778G.

Also worth noting is that Qualcomm might release the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chip later this year, which could have been an even better choice for our theoretical Galaxy A55s. Then again, Samsung wouldn’t have picked this chip in our theoretical reality, given the history of the Galaxy A52s. We need to keep in mind that the A52s didn’t have the most powerful mid-range Snapdragon SoC at launch, either.

So, all in all, what have we discovered? We’re just as surprised as you are, but maybe a proper S-branded sequel to the Galaxy A52s, powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, wouldn’t have been a better alternative to the real Galaxy A55 Samsung announced days ago. The Exynos 1480 solution might be good enough to do the series justice and make Galaxy A52s users confidently upgrade to the new A55.