This is Samsung’s new Galaxy A33 5G- and compared to last year’s model,
it brings plenty of upgrades this time around.
So, could this be the new budget phone to beat in 2022?
I’m Will for GSMArena, and let’s find out in our full review.
The Galaxy A33 5G is a midranger that offers plenty of bang for your buck, especially
compared to Samsung’s cheaper A series phones.
Notably, it comes in a single 5G flavor this year, instead of having both a 5G and a 4G version.
The finish is smooth and matte, and besides the peach model- We also have one in black.
The design is a bit different from last year, with a camera bump that curves into the plastic back panel.
The matte finish also covers the slightly curved plastic frame
and provides a decent amount of grip too.
Overall, the A33 5G is reasonably sized and comfortable in the hand.
One of the most notable improvements here design-wise is ingress protection. Now there
is IP67 rated water and dust resistance, which before was reserved for the higher tier models.
Another major difference from last year is the audio. You lose out on a headphone jack this time
around, but now you get a stereo speaker setup. It’s a hybrid one, with the earpiece doubling
as the second speaker. The speakers earned a good mark on our loudness test,
and the quality is rich, with great sounding highs and even a bit of bass.
Last year, you had to choose between the slower 4G model with a nice AMOLED screen, or get the
faster 5G one, but with a downgraded display. This year, you can get it all without the downsides.
The Galaxy A33 5G runs on Samsung's new Exynos 1280 chipset - the same one that premiered
on this year’s Galaxy A53 5G. Performance is excellent for the class- a significant
improvement over both the Helio G80 of the Galaxy A32, and the Dimensity 720 of the Galaxy A32 5G.
GPU performance especially is much better than before, and the thermals are great
here too. So the A33 5G should serve you well if you want to fire up some games.
And together with that, you get a competitive 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display
with a 1080p resolution, Gorilla glass 5 protection, and a 90Hz refresh rate.
The display is sharp, at 411 ppi- a major improvement from the A32 5G’s 720p display.
You get those deep blacks typical of an AMOLED. Colors can be pretty accurate too,
depending on the color settings you choose. There’s no HDR support here. But at least
there is Widevine L1 DRM support, for 1080p playback across popular streaming services.
There are two refresh rate options, standard at 60Hz,
and high at 90- which smoothes out movements like swiping and scrolling on screen.
It’s not adaptive. The screen won’t dial it down when you’re idling to save energy.
Unlike other budget Samsung phones like the Galaxy A23, the A33 5G has an ambient
light sensor to help control auto brightness. The brightness itself is good for this class.
We measured around 400 nits maximum with the manual slider, and this can boost to around 730
nits with the adaptive brightness mode on.
And under the display sits an optical fingerprint scanner for your biometrics.
The sensor is large enough, fast and reliable.
The Galaxy A33 5G has 128 or 256 GB of storage onboard, and that’s expandable.
But this year you don’t have a dedicated microSD slot,
so you’d have to choose between a memory card or a second SIM.
The Galaxy A33 5G is powered by a large 5,000mAh battery.
It managed to earn a score of 104 hours in our battery life tests-
notably less than many other midrangers, including last year’s models, but still okay.
This year, the phone supports up to 25 watt charging, but
Samsung doesn’t include a charging adapter in the box, in order to reduce waste.
We tested the Galaxy A33 with a Samsung 25 watt adapter and
it was able to charge the phone from 0 to 50% in half an hour.
The interface of the A33 5G is Samsung’s latest OneUI 4.1 over Android 12. All of the essentials
are here, but it does omit the occasional feature here and there compared to the flagships.
These include smart widgets and Samsung dex,
and the more advanced object eraser options in the photo editor.
One major selling point of Samsung midrangers is the promise of extended software support,
and with the A33 5G, you can expect 4 OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches.
You can find out more about OneUI 4.1 in our dedicated video.
Now on to the cameras. The A33 5G has a 48MP, optically stabilized main cam,
an 8MP ultrawide, a 5MP macro cam, and a depth sensor.
12MP photos from the primary camera are superb for the class. They are sharp and
offer more than enough resolved detail, good contrast, low noise and pleasant dynamic range.
Our main nitpick is that you get the typical Samsung rendition,
and these punchy colors aren’t for everyone.
Portraits are taken with the help of the depth sensor, and they’re pretty good.
Subjects are detailed and well exposed, and the separation is decent for this price range.
8MP ultrawide photos are likable. There’s a good amount of detail,
low noise and the dynamic range is decent. The colors are again quite punchy.
Closeups from the macro cam are pretty decent. You
get a higher resolution than most competitors which have a 2MP unit.
The detail is good, with nice contrast and vibrant colors, but there is some visible noise.
At night, the main camera saves some good looking photos, especially for the class. They’re detailed
and sharp, with low noise, saturated colors, good exposure and praiseworthy dynamic range.
Turning on night mode will get you a sharper and less noisy result, and it exposes more detail
in shadows. You get a brighter exposure here, rather than a natural looking one.
Low light photos from the ultrawide turned out okay. They have enough detail,
and the exposure is not that bad. There is plenty of noise though.
The Night Mode does help a lot by cleaning up that noise.
You get more detail and sharpness too, and the overall exposure is brighter.
Selfies can either come out in a wide 13MP frame, or a cropped 8MP one.
The full sized selfies are good, with enough detail, nice contrast, and decent dynamic range.
And thanks to the new chipset, the A33 5G’s selfie cam is capable of 4K video recording, too!
The main rear camera can also shoot in 4K, and its videos are superb - there
is plenty of resolved detail, good sharpness, and no noise to speak of.
The dynamic range is noticeably wide, and the colors are punchy.
There is no electronic stabilization on this camera unless you dial down to 1080p.
The ultrawide cam can only shoot in 1080p, anyway. This footage is sharper than we expected,
with excellent resolved detail, low noise and great dynamic range.
The colors don’t match those of the main cam- they’re actually more realistic here.
So, that’s the Galaxy A33 5G. Samsung has really upgraded this model from budget tier
quality to something quite competitive. There’s one variant- you don’t have to CHOOSE between
a good chipset OR a nice screen- here you get both, in one device. Plus you get waterproofing,
stereo speakers, solid software support, and some nice cameras for the price.
Really the only thing to complain about is in comparison: last year’s Galaxy A52s
was such a great deal, and right now, it’s already down to the Galaxy A33’s price level.
But if that’s not available, or you’d rather get the latest model,
the A33 5G is definitely worth recommending. Thanks for watching and see you on the next one.