Apple iPhone SE vs. Samsung Galaxy A53: Which should you buy?

If you're looking for a more affordable phone, Apple's new iPhone SE and Samsung's Galaxy A53 5G are both worth considering. Despite sharing a similar price tag, the pair are almost completely different devices. The iPhone SE is very much a throwback phone, while the Galaxy A53 is a cut-down version of Samsung's flagship offering. 

While many of us are firmly positioned in the iPhone or Android camp, we're going to look at exactly how the iPhone SE and Galaxy A53 compare for those who are a bit more platform agnostic. 

First, here are their specs: 

Samsung Galaxy A53 vs. Galaxy A73 Price

Pricing for the Galaxy A53 and the iPhone SE is pretty similar. The Galaxy A53 will set you back $699 outright, while the new iPhone SE starts at $719 for a 64GB model. A 128GB model will set you back $799, while a 256GB model goes for $969.  

This pricing is also reflected in plan options. When you buy a phone on a plan, the outright price of the device is simply divided by 12, 24, or 36 (depending on how many months you'd like to pay your phone off over) and popped onto the price of your base plan. 

Every now and again, telcos offer discounts on handsets, but in short, the more expensive the outright price, the more expensive your phone plan will be. Sometimes promotions can skew the maths a little, but they're far from a given.

The iPhone SE is available at Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone, while you'll also find the Galaxy A53 5G at Woolworths Mobile. 

Here's a selection of 24-month iPhone SE plans:

And here's a selection of 24-month Galaxy A53 5G plans:

iPhone SE vs. Samsung Galaxy A53 Camera

The iPhone SE has a single 12MP lens on the back, while the Galaxy A53 has four rear-facing cameras: a 64MP primary lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, a 5MP macro lens, and a 5MP depth lens. 

Both the iPhone SE and Galaxy A53 take good photos, especially in good lighting conditions. Both get worse in uneven or low lighting, and both can struggle to get sharp shots of energetic puppies. Neither camera is bad by any measure, but both fall short of what their respective manufacturers have achieved with their flagship phones. 

While the Galaxy A53 has the advantage of multiple lenses on paper, we found the secondary lenses to mostly be token additions in our testing. The quality on them just isn't great in most situations. 

iPhone SE Camera Gallery

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Check out these camera samples taken on the 2022 iPhone SE. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version. 

Galaxy A53 Camera Gallery

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Check out these camera samples taken on the Galaxy A53 5G. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version. 

iPhone SE vs. Samsung Galaxy A53 Design

Physically speaking, the new iPhone SE and the Galaxy A53 5G are very different phones. They're almost polar opposites. 

The iPhone SE harkens back to the iPhone 8, with an old school aesthetic. Its smallish 4.7-inch display is flanked by top and bottom bezels, and it still has an actual home button. The build quality is a little more premium than the Galaxy A53, however. You get glass on the front and back, and an aluminum frame. The Galaxy A53 still has an aluminium frame, but trades glass for plastic on the back.

Otherwise, the Galaxy A53 5G is a much more modern device with a far large 6.5-inch display. The display is edge-to-edge with a hole-punch selfie camera, and runs at a 120Hz refresh just like Samsung's Galaxy S22 family. This makes all motion on the screen smoother. The iPhone SE has a standard 60Hz refresh rate.

Both the iPhone SE and Galaxy A53 are rated IP67 for water resistance, which means they can survive depths of up to one metre for as long as 30 minutes.

The iPhone SE comes in black, white, and red, while the Galaxy A53 5G comes in black or blue.

iPhone SE vs. Samsung Galaxy A53 Performance

The new iPhone SE is powered by Apple's A15 processor, while the Galaxy A53 5G is powered by Samsung's in-house Exynos 1280. The iPhone SE is the clear winner here. The A15 is the same processor you'll find in the iPhone 13, and the most powerful mobile processor on the market. You'll still get reliable day-to-day performance from the Samsung, but the iPhone SE has far more pure grunt. 

The Galaxy A53 does however start with more storage out of the box, coming with 128GB of storage. The entry-level iPhone SE only has 64GB, which means you'll need to spend extra if that isn't enough. 

The iPhone SE should get six major operating system updates. On the other hand, the Galaxy A53 will get four major operating system updates and five years of security updates, which is unrivalled when it comes to Android devices and quite generous for mid-tier phones. 

iPhone SE vs. Samsung Galaxy A53 Battery

On paper, the Galaxy A53 runs circles around the iPhone SE in terms of battery. It has a 5,000mAh cell, which is over twice as large as the 2,018mAh battery you'll find inside the iPhone SE. But given how widely different the phones are, these numbers don't really matter.

From our testing, the Galaxy A53 5G battery still lasted longer than the iPhone SE, but not by as much as you'd expect. We typically got between four and five hours of screen time per charge, which translates to a full day of moderate use. 

With the new iPhone SE, we typically got between three and hours of screen time. You can still get through a full day, but only with lighter usage. Moderate and heavy users will likely need to top up the iPhone SE throughout the day to ensure it lasts the entire night. 

The iPhone SE supports wireless charging, but the Galaxy A53 doesn't. 

Should I buy the iPhone SE or Galaxy A53?

The iPhone SE and the Galaxy A53 are both great devices, but they're fundamentally for different users. For the most part, the iPhone SE is firmly rooted in the past - it's clearly designed for those on an iPhone 8 or older. It's a phone for upgraders who don't want to give up their home button. The excellent performance and promise of years of updates are big ticks in its favour, however. 

The Galaxy A53 is a better choice if you're after a device that feels more modern. If you want a big screen that isn't flanked by chonky bezels. The performance isn't on the same level that Apple offers, but it's more in line with what you'd expect from a phone in 2022. 

If you need more advice, you can read our full Galaxy A53 5G review here, or our full iPhone SE review here. 

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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