The sequel to this year's Oppo A52, the A53 is now available in Pakistan. It’s essentially the same entry-level device as its predecessor, save for a few tweaks. The A53 — much like other members of the Oppo A-series — is a design-first phone and not necessarily a performance beast. Let’s take closer a look.
There’s only one big upgrade to the Oppo A53 here: the refresh rate on its 6.5” display has been upped from 60Hz to 90Hz. If you don’t care for a smoother refresh rate, the A52 should make a better buy. Oppo has cut the resolution down to a standard HD+ from an FHD+.
The 8MP ultra-wide camera has been lopped off as well, leaving the new A53 with a 13MP main camera and two 2MP macro and depth-mapping sensors. The front camera is still 16MP.
The Oppo A53 design is inherited as well. You get the same 3D iridescent wave look, polished and reflective, except the fingerprint reader is now rear-facing instead of side-facing as it was. The A53 comes in Fancy Blue, Fairy White, and Electric Black editions.
Under the hood of A53 by Oppo, the 5,000 mAh and its supporting 18W fast charging are carried over too. Qualcomm’s new budget-minded Snapdragon 460 lies at the heart of the phone — yet another step down from the far more powerful Snapdragon 665 platform that powers the A52. And while Oppo promises snappy performance thanks to its ‘PC-grade RAM + Anti-Lag’ software, we wouldn’t hold our breath.
The Dirac-powered dual stereo speakers make another return, as does the 3.5mm headphone jack. The storage starts from 64GB and goes up to 128GB, expandable further with a microSD card. While the highest-end edition has 6GB of memory (not 8GB) and the budget variant features 4GB of RAM onboard. Oppo’s latest ColorOS 7.2 runs on top of this hardware. Think the Oppo's A53 as the 90Hz A52 variant, rather than a true successor. It starts from Rs. 27,999.