These days there are specialised gaming phones for those who want the absolute best in gaming performance for mobile games. If you can afford one that is.
For the rest of us, something under RM1,500, the mid-tier range of smartphones, would be more within reach.
The Samsung Galaxy A32 5G isn’t meant for gaming. Rather, this is the South Korean brand’s cheapest new phone with 5G capabilities.
But should you consider having one right now to prepare for the 5G future, how well can you play games on it? This gaming review sets to answer that.
Hardware
The Galaxy A32 5G looks like your usual slab of smartphone, but it’s a pretty handsome slab nonetheless. It comes in four different colours (all of them are some brand of “awesome”, as they are officially dubbed), have thin bezels (and a V-shaped notch on top) and mostly flat. The three of four camera modules at the back has raised rims so it’s slightly uneven when placed as is on its back. Which is likely like what other modern phones are doing.
But the most noticeable feel of this particular model is that it has a bit of heft thanks to its 500000 battery. It’s not by much, but you definitely can feel the weight.
Also, the Awesome Black colour don’t really look that black. Its reflective back make it look like navy blue or grey than the deep black the promo images suggested.
Samsung’s phone builds are the best in the business and this mid-ranger also benefits from that experience. The Galaxy A32 5G is sleek, pocketable though just a little bit weighty in the hands.
Specs-wise, it’s… interesting. On its own, it’s decent, but it has a lot of differences from the normal, non-5G Galaxy A32.
This is the specs for the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G, as sold in Malaysia:
- Processor: 2GHz Octa-Core
- Display: 6.4-inch 720×1600 (HD+) TFT screen
- Camera: 48.0 MP + 8.0 MP + 5.0 MP + 2.0 MP
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Storage: 128GB internal (106GB usable), MircoSD slot up to 1TB
For what’s inside the box, you can check our first impressions of the Galaxy A32 5G.
Software
The Galaxy A32 5G runs on the latest Android 11 with Samsung’s OneUI 3.1 shell on top. And as such, the phone is responsive and nice to use. Jumping from a 4-year-old daily driver (which is in smartphone terms, it’s an ancient phone these days) the performance difference is a huge leap. The big RAM also helps in multi-tasking, switching apps back and forth is buttery smooth.
Samsung has a buttload of its own proprietary apps pre-installed, and even its own storefront, but it’s all an opt-in basis. That said, it’s all optional. If you want to stick around with only your Google account when using this phone, you can. All the Google service apps are available.
Though there is one particular good app you might want to consider signing up for a Samsung account for. The Game Launcher and Game Plugin apps adds some good features to improve your gaming experience. The Game Launcher not only puts all your games into one place to easily start up, it also tracks playtime.
The Game Plugin app is really handy. When you play any video game, a little button is seen on the three-button navigation bar. Tapping that and you get to access a variety of tools, like a screen recorder should you want to capture your gaming footage. The Game Plugin app also has other downloadable plugins too. The PerfZ plugin is mighty useful- it adds a Task Manager-like overlay showing how the phone is doing performance-wise.
You can also customise each game to use different performance profiles. So you can prioritise high FPS on one game or graphics quality on another.
Gaming Performance
While the Galaxy A32 5G isn’t built for gaming in mind, it can play games. As mentioned in our first impressions, many games can easily run on this phone.
Though there are exceptions. Some modern AAA game mobile ports aren’t available like Aspyr Media’s port for Grid Autosport, for example. But there are a few that can. Civilization VI, also available on PC and consoles, fits right at home on this phone.
While there are many games you can run, don’t expect to hit the highest of graphical settings. Some games don’t even run on medium settings (Genshin Impact is by default set to “lowest”) and others, like Need For Speed No Limits, have odd graphical issues where textures don’t display the right colour sometimes.
Some games, like Black Desert Mobile, look way too jagged and pixely, even when the resolution setting is maxed out.
Black Desert Mobile ![]()
Civilization VI 
COD Mobile ![]()
Genshin Impact 
Need For Speed No Limits ![]()
War Of The Visions Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
If you’re playing the usual MOBAs, battle royales, shooters and gacha games, you should be fine. The phone runs them without issues. It’s on the less-popular titles that you’ll see performance hiccups.
There is one thing that this phone excels at, however. The Samsung Galaxy A32 5G packs a wallop of a battery life. The mix of the lower 720p resolution and its big 5000mAh battery capacity mean you can be gaming for hours. And it’s even longer on for video playback.
You can watch at least 18 hours of the 2018 24 Hours Of Le Mans replay on YouTube on a single charge. Very close to the suggested video playback time of 20 hours as Samsung suggested.
However, charging isn’t the fastest as a result. The fast charge here only supports 15W, which is not much, and it can take two hours to do a full charge from 20%.
Still, if you like your mobile gaming periods to be in the hours, and still have enough juice to last you the day, the Galaxy A32 5G will do that for you.
Value
As a smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is really decent for its price-point. It does all that you need and want from a smartphone. A good camera for normal all-round use. Runs smooth and responsive. The screen is nicely bright with popping colours.
Plus, when Malaysia does get 5G coverage, you’re set for faster internet connection it comes with. This means you’ll be getting faster and more stable connection when watching streams and (hopefully) see less lag multiplayer games. It’s RM100 more expensive than the standard A32 as a result.
While it’s right to assume the extra RM100 is to accommodate the 5G-capable processor, unfortunately, the difference is more than just that.
The A32 5G, when compared to the normal A32, has a lower resolution with a lower refresh rate screen, a bigger notch (a V instead of a U-shaped one) and a lower megapixel-count main camera. For RM100 more.
It sounds like a bad value when you compare specs toe-to-toe like that. And the main selling point, 5G, hasn’t arrived yet here.
But the thing is, when removed of that comparison, the drawbacks made for the A32 5G aren’t that of a dealbreaker. Images look jagged in a few apps, sure, but the rest of the downgrades aren’t that impactful when it comes to day-to-day usage.
There are far cheaper smartphones, and some are being touted for their gaming capabilities moreso. Even the vanilla A32 seems to have more value-for-money. And you won’t get the most value of it if you are buying this primarily as a gaming phone.
But as a normal 5G-ready smartphone, it’s worth the asking price, plus it can be used for casual gaming. Whether the difference of internet speed when that tech arrives here will be worth the extra price (and the few drawbacks) remains to be seen.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is a decent all-rounder mid-range smartphone, good enough for all kinds of usage including gaming. Since 5G isn’t available yet, this is a jack-of-all-trades smartphone, with one potential trick still hidden in its sleeves.
If you want to be ready for the 5G future (with a reasonably priced phone), the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is a great entry point. It also happens to be good enough to play most popular mobile games.
Review unit provided by Samsung Malaysia
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G (Gaming Review)
If you want to be ready for the 5G future (with a reasonably priced phone), the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is a great entry point. It also happens to be good enough to play most popular mobile games.
- Hardware 8.5
- Software 9
- Gaming Performance 7.5
- Value 7