Should I Get Samsung Galaxy A52 or S20FE?

jetblack on 19/05/2021 - 11:51
Last edited 19/05/2021 - 12:56 by 1 other user

With Education store pricing and $50 signup discount I have the choice of:

• A52 (4G) for $429
• S20 FE (4G) for $501

Main differences I see are:

• A52 has gorilla glass, S20 FE doesnt
• Exynos 990 in the S20 FE v Snapdragon 720 in the A52 (practically speaking, is there much difference?)
• USB Type-C 3.2 on the S20 v 2.0 on the A52 (Is transfer rate the only real difference? I rarely use USB for data transfer)
• no Samsung pay on the A52

OzB's thoughts?

• 

  Hybroid on 19/05/2021 - 11:53

  Exynos 990 is the major decision maker.

  • 

    jetblack on 19/05/2021 - 11:55

    That's partially what I'm asking. Every time someone discusses chipset, there's the on-paper specs vs real-world performance.

    I have no idea if the Exynos is better or worse, in practical terms, than the A52

    • 

      bobokingdom on 19/05/2021 - 12:12

      A52 is Dual SIM. S20 FE is Single SIM.

• 

  Drakesy on 19/05/2021 - 12:01

  +3

  s20 FE at that price any day of the week.

• 

  BewareOfThe Dog on 19/05/2021 - 12:28

  +1

  According to the Samsung site, the A52 has NFC, so it should have Samsung Pay, or Google Pay?

  • 

    ChineseElectronics on 19/05/2021 - 13:59

    Confirmed, A52 owner here, it does have NFC and google pay works flawlessly.

• 

  Bid Sniper on 19/05/2021 - 12:32

  +1

  https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone2=10377&idPhon…

  Camera seems main point, A52 better

  I use google pay on my A52, no issues.

• 

  ChineseElectronics on 19/05/2021 - 14:03

  +1

  Battery life would be noticably better on the A52 for sure, i own the 5G variant with the higher power snap 750G processor and 120HZ display. I can get 1.5 days of general phone usage (not gaming) on a charge. You'll get better battery life on the 4G variant compared to the 5G due to the lower power processor, less smooth 90hz display (takes less power to run), and not using 5G which saves battery. Maybe you could get close to 2 days of use on the 4G variant. Keep in mind i use the dark mode which provides better battery life as it shuts off all the black pixels.

• 

  rambao9 on 19/05/2021 - 14:58

  +3

  There's almost no comparison here, imho.

  The S20FE is a budget high-end, hence stronger specs etc.

  and the A52 is a mid-range which performs like a mid-range phone.

  Even with the Exynos 990, the S20FE is still a much better than the A52.

  For these mid-range cameras, in reality, they'd perform about the same.

  Usually, you're right on paper, benchmark scores aren't THAT important in terms of practical use but when your benchmark scores are more than double, I wouldn't even bother. The A52 in this sense has performance of like 2-3 year old flagship devices.

  A52 AnTuTu: 261282 (v8)
  S20FE AnTuTu: 543986 (v8)

• 

  Muzeeb on 19/05/2021 - 16:30

  How long did it take for your $50 voucher to come through?

  • 

    Belistic on 19/05/2021 - 18:26

    +1

    Mine never arrived, so I would ask the chat thingy for one, a couple days after I requested it.

  • 

    jetblack on 20/05/2021 - 07:58

    +1

    took about 4 or 5 days… Although I did also email support after 2 days, so it couldn't hurt to proactively reach out to support. [email protected]

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  Username Goes Here on 23/05/2021 - 20:44

  I’ve been reading reviews on the FE and lots of people unable that’s it seems very fragile. Screen cracks very easily. Specs maybe better but is it worth the risk for something that seems poor design by not including a higher gorilla glass version over the mid range A52.