It’s pretty much accepted that Samsung is going to show off the Galaxy S22 at the Galaxy Unpacked 2022 event tomorrow (Feb. 9). But could the electronics giant have another phone announcement up its sleeve.
A report in Dutch blog Let’s Go Digital suggests that Samsung might. The site got its hands on a leaked press release announcing the Galaxy Tab S8 — another product rumored to be arriving at Unpacked — and the footnotes mention the Galaxy A53, an unannounced update to Samsung’s line of midrange phones.
Specifically, a footnote on 15W fast charging for Samsung’s upcoming tablet lists the Galaxy A53 alongside the Galaxy S22 as potential devices that can charge the Galaxy Tab S8. “15w fast charging supported when Tab S8 Ultra display is turned off and connected to select Galaxy smartphones including Galaxy S22, Galaxy A53, Galaxy A33 using a USB Type-C cable,” reads a screen-captured snippet of the press release posted by Let’s Go Digital.
While Samsung wouldn’t be the first company to inadvertently tip off people about an upcoming smartphone, we’re not sure we buy the idea that the Galaxy A53 is going to join the Galaxy S22 at Unpacked on Wednesday. For starters, announcing a new line of flagship phones plus new tablets should already make for a crowded event, and Samsung tends to keep its virtual product launches to an hour. For another, the phone maker isn’t going to want a lower-cost phone taking any attention away from its latest flagship.
We may doubt that the Galaxy A53 launch will be as soon as this week, but it certainly seems to be on the horizon. The latest rumor has Samsung launching its new midrange phone in March.
The amount of Galaxy A53 leaks also confirms that there’s something stirring on the midrange phone front. Earlier this month, Roland Quandt posted specs and pictures of the rumored phone on WinFuture.de. The phone will supposedly resemble its predecessor, the Galaxy A52, right down to the 6.5-inch display and plastic casing.
According to Quandt’s specs, the phone will be powered by an upgraded chipset, most likely a Samsung-designed Exynos 1200. Other leaked specs include 128GB of storage, 5G compatibility and a 5,000 mAh battery. That latter spec would be an upgrade over the 4,500 mAh power pack that helped the Galaxy A52 last for more than 10 hours on our battery test, beating the average smartphone.
Quandt’s report shows off the Galaxy A53 in black and white, and Let’s Go Digital uses rumored information about the phone to show off its own render, pictured above.
We’ll find out whether Samsung will limit its Galaxy Unpacked phone announcements to just the Galaxy S22 when the event gets underway tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET. (Be sure to check out our guide on how to watch Samsung Unpacked to stay on top of the announcements.) But even if the event ends without a Galaxy A53 in sight, it seems pretty clear we won’t have to wait long for a new version of Samsung’s popular Galaxy A handsets.
