Face off camera Samsung Galaxy A54 vs. The Google Pixel 6a is easily the most critical comparison you can make between these two mid-range phones. Camera performance is central to the Pixel 6a’s appeal, not to mention its high ranking among the best camera phones.
As we found out in our Galaxy A54 review, Samsung has certainly made great strides. The A54 comes with a 50MP main camera – the same sensor used by the Galaxy S23, as well as a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 5MP macro sensor.
Meanwhile, our Google Pixel 6a review shows it’s also a stellar camera phone for the money. It uses a 12.2MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. The real secret to the Pixel 6a’s photographic success is its artificial intelligence photo processing. If the Galaxy A54 can match this performance – let alone surpass it – Samsung’s latest device will become one of the best budget phones available today.
I put both camera phones to the test in a series of head-on shots to see which phone outperforms the other. Here’s how our Samsung Galaxy A54 vs. Google Pixel 6a.
Galaxy A54 vs. Pixel 6a: interior photos
I took some photos indoors, in less than ideal lighting conditions. In both cases, the larger sensor on the Galaxy A54 came in handy, allowing it to capture more light for a brighter, more detailed image.
My plate of breakfast tacos was placed in a difficult photo spot, with a nearby window streaming in light just behind the food. This explains the darkness of the Pixel 6a image, where the backlight casts a shadow on everything.
The Galaxy A54 did a bit better in these conditions, pulling more color out of those eggs and the various peppers, onions and taco meat thrown into the fray. The coffee mug is still a little too dark — it’s actually a forest green color — and there’s a bit of glare on the front of the saucer, but the overall shot is much brighter and looks better than what the Pixel 6a mustered. .
In a nearby toy store, every Star Wars figure ever created is displayed behind a glass panel. Both phones lose some detail due to light reflecting off the right side of the case. But again, the larger sensor on the Galaxy A54 produces a brighter and more colorful image. You can see some fuzziness in the Galaxy A54’s shot – some of the droids at the far right of the shelf aren’t quite in focus – but Baby Yoda’s green skin, Chewbacca’s brown fur and Luke’s orange flight suit all appear in unforgiving view. lighting.
There is some color in the Pixel 6a shot, mostly on the Star Wars figurines in the first row of the shelf. But things get darker and darker as you go further back into the case, making it hard to see as much detail as the Galaxy A54 photo reveals.
Galaxy A54 vs. Pixel 6a: Outdoor photos
Once we moved our photography contest outside, the Pixel 6a had a better chance to shine. In many of these shots, the cameras match up pretty well, but there are some instances where the Google phone’s photo-processing prowess really shines.
A fruit stand partially covered in shadow proved challenging for the Galaxy A54. While you can actually make out more detail in the background area under the canopy in the Galaxy A54 shot, the excess sunlight causes the Samsung camera phone to overexpose some of the watermelons and gourds. The Pixel 6a does a better job of creating a more balanced photo, where there’s a more muted shine on fruits and vegetables.
We also get a study contrasted with a shot of a California lilac taken at dusk. The Galaxy A54 was able to capture more ambient light with its sensor, resulting in a less dark photo overall. You can clearly see the green plants and yellow flowers at the base of the lilac bush, and there’s even a little light blue left in the sky.
The Pixel 6a goes in the opposite direction with a darkened shot that loses some of the detail found in the Galaxy A54’s photo. To compensate, Google’s photo processing software sharpened the lilacs and enhanced the purple color of the flowers on the bush. The Galaxy A54 is a more balanced photo, but there’s something striking about the Pixel 6a’s dark purple photo that grabs attention in a way that the Samsung image doesn’t.
I won’t pretend that this shot of the entrance to the local pizzeria is a masterpiece, but it does illustrate how differently these two phones produce images. Images from the Pixel 6a tend to run cooler, which can sometimes make images look dark while deepening certain colors. (Check out the blue sky in the background of the Pixel 6a photo.) The Galaxy A54’s shots are brighter and produce a more true-to-life image that sometimes makes colors look a little too muted.
You can see the effects of this on the cubes on the right side of the pizzeria building – they’re a little washed out in the Galaxy A54 photo, while the lines look a little more distinct in the Pixel 6a photo.
The same effect is in place when we switch to the ultra-wide cameras on both phones – the Galaxy A54’s image is brighter with more muted colors, while the Pixel 6a looks darker with richer blues and slightly more brickwork detail. Both photos suffer from a fisheye effect, which is no doubt exacerbated because I was standing quite close to the building. The bend seems a little pronounced in the Galaxy A54’s photo, perhaps because it has a wider field of view (123 degrees compared to 114 degrees on the Pixel 6a.)
For the most part, I think the Galaxy A54 holds up pretty well against the Pixel 6a, with its photos outperforming those produced by the Google phone in more than a few cases. One area where the Galaxy A54 consistently falls short is portrait mode.
This shot of my daughter illustrates some pretty pervasive portrait issues on the Galaxy A54. For starters, her skin is far too pale and washed out in the Galaxy A54; there’s also a lot of smoothing of her face that hides some of the freckles that are more visible in the Pixel 6a photo. Google’s phone has a very warm look in the portrait, but the image feels welcoming and the colors are a bit more vibrant. I also think that the bokeh effect is more complete in the Pixel 6a version because the Galaxy A54 left some of the orange leaves unblurred.
Galaxy A54 vs. Pixel 6a: Night photos
If the Galaxy A54’s portrait mode isn’t enough, the night photos it produces more than make up for it. Samsung has made what it calls “Nightography” a key part of its Galaxy S photography features in recent years, and it’s clear from the low-light photos the Galaxy A54 produces that the phone maker’s efforts extend to its mid-range devices as well.
Take this photo of a mural where the Galaxy A54 has adjusted to the ambient street light to create a well-balanced image with plenty of visible color. The skin tone of the girl in the mural looks consistent, while the cherry blossoms surrounding her are still pink. In the Galaxy A54 shot, there is some glare from the right side of the building, but the edge of the building is sharply defined against the night sky.
I don’t like the Pixel 6a’s image, but it’s definitely darker than the Galaxy A54’s effort. You could argue that the final effect is atmospheric, but I don’t mind the blue cast on the girl’s skin, and I don’t think the house on the left stands out as much as it does in the Galaxy A54 photo.
The differences are more subtle outside the local tiki bar, and it’s clear that the Pixel 6a has it better in this photo. Both phones produced a clear, well-balanced image that accurately recreated the colors of the scene. The font of the title bar is clearer in the Galaxy A54 photo, although some may not like the glare around the word “Disabled”. The Pixel 6a casts more of a shadow on the title bar to give the photo a more stylized look, which some prefer.
Galaxy A54 vs. Pixel 6a: Selfies
In this Samsung Galaxy A54 and Google Pixel 6 head-on photo, there’s one more camera to compare – the front-facing camera on each phone. For the Galaxy A54, it’s a 32MP shooter with an f/2.2 aperture, while the Pixel 6a offers an 8MP selfie camera with a wider f/2.0 aperture.
In this selfie of myself, the Pixel 6a deflects the cooler, which ends up muting some of my facial features. (I appreciate any attempt to downplay my flaws, but it’s not a very realistic photo.) Conversely, the Galaxy A54’s warmer hue highlights more of my face, especially my beard, which stands out more than it did on the Pixel 6a. self portrait. In the Galaxy A54 photo, the sky also looks a little bluer and the background is more colorful overall.
What happens when you switch to portrait mode on the front camera? Well, the same overall differences between the two images remain, with the Galaxy A54 showing better colors overall. However, I think the bokeh looks better on the Pixel 6a shot, especially since there are some parts at the edge of my beard that are caught in the A54’s background blur.
Face off camera Galaxy A54 vs. Pixel 6a: Verdict
Both the Galaxy A54 and Pixel 6a offer very good cameras, especially when you consider the $449 price tag on each device. The Galaxy A54 clearly enjoys a low-light advantage, especially at night, thanks to the larger sensor and Samsung’s emphasis on night mode. The Pixel 6a shines in situations where Google’s photo-processing capabilities are required, such as night shots.
However, there is uncertainty about this camera front Samsung Galaxy A54 vs. Google Pixel 6a and it comes in the form of Pixel 7a. This unannounced device is expected to appear soon – perhaps in May at Google I/O 2023. And if one rumor turns out to be true, the 12.2MP main camera is about to give way to a sensor that has many more megapixels. This could significantly shift any Samsung vs. Google the other way.
For now, I’d prefer the Galaxy A54 over the Pixel 6a because it’s more likely to take solid shots in less-than-ideal lighting.
