Phone Comparison; Oppo Reno10 5G VS Samsung Galaxy A54

The Oppo Reno10 5G and the Samsung Galaxy A54 are two comparable flagship devices that offer users a variety of utilities to prospective buyers.

The Samsung was announced and launched in March this year while the Oppo was made available to buyers in July.

Among the devices’ other comparative attributes is the pricing for which both are in the range of Ksh50,000.

We’ve prepared a comparison that includes a look at the respective specifications as well as our thoughts on the respective devices and their functionalities.

Exterior and Dimensions

Among the distinct differences between the devices is the size. The Samsung is the shorter, wider and thicker of the two with its dimensions measuring 6.23 inches in length by 3.02 inches in width and 0.32 in thickness.

The Oppo on the other hand is longer than the Samsung but is narrower and thinner. It measures 6.39 inches long, 2.92 inches wide and 0.31 inches thick. With their respective weights as well, the Samsung is the heavier of the two tipping the scales at 202 grams to the Oppo’s 185 grams.

Despite the weight difference, both are relatively comfortable in hand either when used in one hand or with both.

Both devices have ambient sound detection microphones on the top edge. The Samsung has its hybrid nano-SIM tray on the top edge. The Oppo on the other hand has its infrared port and a secondary speaker on the top edge. Both devices have a plain left edge.

The bottom edge of the Samsung A54 has its primary microphone, USB Type-C charging port and primary speaker. The Oppo’s bottom edge has its hybrid nano-SIM tray, primary microphone, USB Type-C chagrin port and primary loudspeaker.

On both devices, the right edge has the power button and volume rocker. Both have a minimalist layout giving the buttons a small footprint while maintaining the sturdiness and longevity of the buttons.

At the back, both the Samsung and the Oppo have their primary cameras. On the Samsung, the triple camera setup is made up of three individual bumps for each of its sensors alongside the flashlight.

The Oppo has the more conventional implementation using a single camera bump to house its three sensors and LED flashlight.

Samsung has a larger variety to choose from with respect to colours. It has Lime, Graphite, Violet, and White. The Oppo on the other hand has Silver Grey, Ice Blue only.

Screen and Camera

The Oppo Reno10 5G has the larger display of the two devices. It has an AMOLED 6.7-inch Asahi Glass screen. The Samsung has the 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Corning Gorilla Glass 5 display. In comparison to the Oppo, the Samsung has a noticeable bezel which gives it an optically smaller viewing surface area. This is evident in its 82.9 per cent screen-to-body ratio. The Oppo’s screen-to-body ratio is 89.6 per cent.

That said, the A54 boasts superior screen brightness and pixel density which are 1000 nits in high brightness mode (HBM) and 403 pixels-per-inch respectively. The Oppo is not that far off though. It has 800 nits of high brightness and a peak brightness of 950 nits. It has a pixel density of 394 pixels per inch.

Both displays have a refresh rate of 120 Hz and HDR 10+ which gives extra definition to colours and light and dark areas when viewing high-resolution images.

Both devices have a 32-megapixel front-facing camera with a wide angle for a larger composition when in use. The Samsung however has the edge over the Oppo given its selfie camera has 4K recording capability. Its secondary mode is video recording in 1080p at 30 frames per second. This is the same peak mode for the Oppo Reno10 5G’s selfie camera.
With the primary cameras, the Oppo Reno10 5G has the edge over the Samsung A54 with its larger sensors. Though both have a triple camera setup, the Oppo is fitted with a 64-megapixel wide-angled sensor, a 32-megapixel telephoto sensor and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor.

This is in contrast to the A54’s 50-megapixel wide-angled sensor, its 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and its 5-megapixel macro sensor.

Both cameras are capable of 4K video recording at up to 30 frames per second. The Samsung Galaxy A54 has two further video modes. It can record at 1080p and 720p with the latter having a slow-motion mode that captures footage at up to 460 frames per second.

The Oppo Reno10 in comparison only goes down one step to record footage at 1080p. This too has up to 460 frames per second capture for slow-mo videos.

Performance, Storage and Battery

The Oppo Reno10 5G is fitted with a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 chipset while the Samsung Galaxy A54 has the Exynos 1380. The chipsets are comparable in the two devices but the Samsung Galaxy’s Exynos has the overall edge when it comes to battery life efficiency and GPU functionality especially when it comes to gaming.

Both devices run octa-core processors. However, the Galaxy A54 has a 1 to 1 split in its cores whereas the Reno10 5G has a 1 to 3 split.

The A54 has four Cortex-A78 cores maxing out at 2.4GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores running at 2.0GHz. The Reno10 5G meanwhile has two Cortex-A78 cores running at 2.6GHz and 6 cores running at 2.0GHz. Given its 1 to 1 split the Samsung A54 is the marginally faster of the two with excellent battery management.

The Oppo Reno10 has the Mali G68 MC4 graphics card while the Samsung Galaxy A54 runs on the Mali G68 MP5. The latter has a better overall rendering of graphic detail when gaming giving the Samsung a better visual experience from a user perspective.

Both devices run on the Android 13 operating system. Oppo has its ColorsOS 13.1 custom skin based on Android while the A54 has the OneUI 5.1 skin. Both allow a high degree of customization and the preference will come down to the user.

Both the Oppo Reno10 5G and the Samsung Galaxy A54 have ultra flash storage (UFS) which allows for faster read speed and freeing up of read-only memory to be used as random access memory. Both devices come with a base RAM of 8GB that can be expanded to up to 16 GB. The Oppo however has the newer UFS 2.2 protocol while the A54 is still running on the UFS 2.1.

Another area where the Oppo scores a point over the Samsung is the internal memory. The Oppo comes with 256 GB of internal storage that can be expanded further via a MicroSDXC card. The Samsung comes with 128 GB of internal storage also expandable via the same Micro SDXC card. Both have a hybrid nano-SIM tray in which dual nano-SIM cards can be fitted. Should a user opt for expanded storage, both devices can then only have one SIM card fitted as the slot on either tray that would house the second SIM card is also where the MicroSDXC card would be placed.

The two devices run on a 5000 mAh lithium ion-polymer (Li-Po) non-removable battery which is ideal for most functions on either device.

The Oppo has a better recharge capability with the Power Delivery 3 (PD3) protocol enabling it to recharge fully within an hour. It also has a 67-watt fast-charging power brick to achieve this. The Samsung A54 also has a fast-charging power brick but this only goes to 25 watts.

Communication, Connectivity and Sensors

The Oppo Reno10 5G similar to the Samsung Galaxy A54 operate on the 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G network modules which provide great connectivity and speed even in areas with low network reception.

Both devices have dual-band Wi-Fi which makes them great for fast connectivity to Wi-Fi networks. They additionally both have Wi-Fi Direct for data transfer between compatible devices.

The two smartphones also have Bluetooth 5.3 LE and A2DP designation which gives both devices excellent connectivity. The Oppo Reno10 5G has a slight edge as it has aptX HD which allows it to transfer music with greater audio clarity.

For security, the two devices have fingerprint sensors under the screen that are fairly accurate and ease the worry of the devices being accessed by unauthorized persons.

Both devices have Near Field Communications for further security in transferring sensitive data. This is especially important for instance when making payments via mobile applications such as Google Wallet which only requires the phone to be brought into contact with a PDQ machine to make a transaction.

The Oppo Reno10 5G has an infrared port which allows the device to be used as a remote control for compatible devices such as TVs.

Accelerometers, gyros and proximity sensors come as standard with both devices. Neither device comes fitted with an FM Radio module. Both however do have USB Type-C 2.0 which has the On The Go OTG feature enabling data transfer via a USB Type-C cable.

Our verdict

We liked the Samsung Galaxy A54’s brighter screen overall speed and better power efficiency.
The Oppo Reno10 5G was not to be outdone in the sound department with its superior aptX HD module.

Though both devices have great cameras, the Oppo was our choice pick for photography and video recording performance. The implementation of its camera bump also earned a point for innovative design. The marginally bigger screen with next to no bezel also gave us a great viewing experience over the A54. We were more inclined to the Oppo Reno10 5G in this respect.

Both devices are great though and would definitely be worthy of inclusion on anyone’s wishlist or purchase when considering an upgrade.

The Oppo Reno10 5G retails for Ksh56,999 while the Samsung Galaxy A54 retails for Ksh55,000 in stores countrywide.