Oppo has just revealed the Reno 10 5G, the latest mid-ranger to enter the UK market – but how does it compare to one of the most popular mid-rangers around, the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G?
While the Galaxy A54 5G certainly has a lot going for it, including a premium design, great compact display and decent everyday performance, the Oppo Reno 10 5G is coming in strong with a bigger display, better cameras and faster charging.
The question is, which is best for your needs? That’s where we at Trusted Reviews come in. While we are yet to go hands-on with the Oppo Reno 10 5G, we have used the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G extensively, and here are some of the key differences between the two mid-range smartphones.
The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G has a more premium build
The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is a slick smartphone with a design that mirrors that of the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, complete with the same minimalistic design and housing-less cameras on the rear. In fact, put the S23 and A54 5G side-by-side, and you’ll be hard-pressed to tell the difference.
That’s also down to the fact that the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G has a glass rear in place of the plastic rear used by the Oppo Reno 10 5G and most of the mid-range competition. The glass rear instantly gives the phone a much more premium feel than its £449 price tag suggests, though the flip side is that it’s more prone to shattering than the plastic alternative.
That’s not to say that the Oppo Reno 10 5G isn’t a looker – the curvy design of the Reno 10 also looks premium, and the exclusive Oppo Glow finish on the rear not only glistens in the light but is said to provide added resistance against scratches from keys and coins, helping the phone stay fresh for longer without the need for a case.
It’s also pretty lightweight at 185g, considering it has a large 6.7-inch OLED screen.
The Oppo Reno 10 5G has a telephoto lens
One key area where the Oppo Reno 10 5G stands out compared to the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is photography, despite the fact that both phones sport a trio of lenses on the rear.
More specifically, the Oppo Reno 10 5G sports a main 65MP snapper with an f/1.7 aperture, an 8MP 112-degree ultrawide lens and a new 32MP 2x telephoto lens, with the latter a totally new addition to the Oppo Reno series and a bit of a rarity on a mid-range smartphone.
Oppo claims that the use of an RGBW sensor should provide great results, even in lower light scenarios, and a Pro Portrait mode allows you to tweak the colour profile, bokeh and more.
The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G, on the other hand, sports a dual camera offering comprised of a 50MP main, a 12MP ultrawide and a paltry 5MP macro lens, with no telephoto lens available – you’ll have to opt for the premium Samsung Galaxy S23 for that.
We found the A54 5G was perfectly capable of capturing detailed shots from both lenses in daylight, though low light performance left much to be desired, and it was clear the macro lens was only present to bump up the camera count, rather than providing a detailed close-up shot.
Both offer similar levels of processing power
With a mid-range focus from both smartphones, you shouldn’t expect flagship-level performance.
We’re yet to benchmark the Oppo Reno 10 5G and its combination of a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 and 8GB of RAM but we expect similar performance from the Exynos 1380 and 8GB of RAM from Samsung’s Galaxy A54 5G, which we’ve tested extensively.
The Galaxy A54 5G’s chipset provides solid day-to-day performance with smooth scrolling on TikTok, the ability to play games at medium settings and more.
It’s not going to satiate the needs of mobile gamers, but there are dedicated gaming phones that squeeze the most out of the mobile chipsets as humanly possible.
The other key factor to consider is storage, and this is an area where Oppo excels with 256GB on offer as standard from the Reno 10 5G. The Galaxy A54 5G is also available with 256GB of storage, but you’ll have to pay extra for it – the base model comes with half that at 128GB.
The Oppo Reno 10 5G has faster charging
Samsung isn’t a brand well known for its fast charging capabilities – sure, its top-end Galaxy S23 Ultra can charge at 45W, but that’s hardly the fastest charging around at the flagship level, with over double that available from the 120W Xiaomi 13 Pro.
That’s also the case with the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G, which caps out at 25W charging – and there isn’t a charger in the box either. In testing with a compatible 25W charger, we found that it’d get around 41% charge in 30 minutes, with a full charge taking just over an hour and a half.
On the other hand, the Oppo Reno 10 5G sports Oppo’s 67W SuperVOOC charging capabilities that the company claims can deliver a full charge of its 5000mAh battery in just 47 minutes – half that of Samsung’s option. It also comes with a 67W SuperVOOC charger in the box to take advantage of those fast speeds right away.
The Oppo Reno 10 5G is cheaper
Despite its strengths in the camera, display and charging departments, the Oppo Reno 10 5G comes in at a rather affordable £399, which also makes it £50 cheaper than the £449 Samsung Galaxy A54 5G in the UK.
The Galaxy A54 5G is also available in the US at $449, though like every other Oppo phone, the Reno 10 isn’t available to buy in the US, and this will unlikely change in future.
