What you need to know
- Samsung has opened up its Android 13 beta program to the Galaxy A52.
- This is presumably the first mid-range Galaxy device to receive the One UI 5 beta.
- The update is available in India but is likely to expand to more regions and additional versions of the device.
Samsung's One UI 5 (Android 13) beta has been underway for a while, and as we await the stable rollout, the company is giving more users a chance to test the software. We expected Samsung to reserve initial testing for its flagship phones, but the company has already begun expanding to its mid-range phones, starting with the Galaxy A52.
Owners of the phone have started reporting that their phones are now eligible for the One UI 5 beta program (via XDA-Developers). The update comes in at roughly 2GB and appears to be limited to the non-5G version of the Galaxy A52 in India, receiving firmware versions A525FXXU4ZVIC/A525FODM4ZVIC/A525FXXU4ZCIB.
It's certainly a surprise to see the program already available for Samsung's A-series phones, as the update has so far been limited to the Galaxy S22 and S21. It seemed likely that other flagships would receive the beta, including Samsung's best foldable phones.
That said, the A52 was one of our favorite mid-range smartphones of 2021 and only got better with the 5G variant of the device. It's unclear when that version will receive the beta, but given how similar they are, we expect it may not be long. It also remains to be seen when the newer Galaxy A53 5G will receive the beta since reports indicate that it may be the only mid-range Galaxy smartphone to receive the stable Android 13 update before 2023.
Meanwhile, Galaxy A52 users in India can sign up for the beta program in the Samsung Members app. Of course, we don't recommend installing it on your primary device as some things may not work correctly.
The Galaxy A53 5G is a seriously impressive mid-range smartphone. It has flagship features like a 120Hz display, 8GB of RAM, up to 256GB of storage, and 4K recording. If you don't wanna spend an arm and a leg for flagship features, this is the phone for you.
