Samsung Galaxy A34 5G vs Galaxy A12

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy A34 5G (with MediaTek Dimensity 1080) that was released on March 14, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy A12, which is powered by MediaTek Helio P35 and came out 2 years and 4 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A34 5G
  • Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
  • 3.6x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (741K versus 204K)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 97% higher peak brightness (926 against 470 nits)
  • 44% higher pixel density (390 vs 270 PPI)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Optical image stabilization
  • Slow-motion recording at 480FPS
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 13
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Dimensity 1080
  • Has 2x more RAM: 4GB versus 2GB
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR4X 2133 MHz
  • Ability to record video in 4K resolution
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A12
  • Shows 18% longer battery life (26:02 vs 22:02 hours)
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A34 5G and Galaxy A12 crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 71% Yes
Yes, we think most users will notice the upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy A12 to Samsung Galaxy A34 5G makes sense and should feel noticeably better in daily use.
Main improvements: display, performance, and connectivity.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in battery life.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED PLS TFT
Size 6.6 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 720 x 1600 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 390 ppi 270 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1000 nits 450 nits
HDR support No No
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 84.9% 82.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
-
Display tests
RGB color space 100% 96.3%
PWM 253 Hz 337 Hz
Response time 1 ms 52 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 864:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
926 nits
470 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 161.3 mm (6.35 inches) 164 mm (6.46 inches)
Width 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) 75.8 mm (2.98 inches)
Thickness 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 199 g (7.02 oz) 205 g (7.23 oz)
Waterproof IP67 No
Rear material Plastic Plastic
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors Black, Silver, Green, Purple White, Black, Blue, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-button
Screen-to-body ratio
84.9%
82.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A34 5G and Samsung Galaxy A12
SoC
Chipset MediaTek Dimensity 1080 MediaTek Helio P35
Max clock 2600 MHz 2300 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A53
- 4 cores at 2.3 GHz: Cortex-A53
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 6 nanometers 12 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) MediaTek APU 3.0 No
GPU
Graphics Mali-G68 MC4 IMG PowerVR GE8320
GPU shading units 128 32
GPU clock 950 MHz 680 MHz
FLOPS ~243.2 GFLOPS ~43.5 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A34 5G and Samsung Galaxy A12
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1047
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
2543
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 2435 -
Single-core score 1047 300
Multi-core score 2543 824
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
741627
204161
CPU 299339 98355
GPU 79444 9461
Memory 125398 57623
UX 237446 38722
Total score 741627 204161
Samples [31 tests] [2 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 97% -
Graphics test 2 FPS -
Graphics score 238 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 99% -
Graphics test 3 FPS -
Graphics score 639 -
Sources: 3DMark [5]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 10948 -
Video editing 7467 -
Photo editing 18941 -
Data manipulation 10634 -
Writing score 14594 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A34 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-06 (Ano)Geekbench 6 GPU2720
📘 2026-09-06 (Anonymous)Geekbench 6 CPU1020 / 2514
📘 2026-09-04 -> PolarisDeOstianAnTuTu 11780307
📘 2026-09-04 (Polaris)AnTuTu 11780307
📘 2026-08-05 (Thomaz Tescaro)AnTuTu 11788166
Samsung Galaxy A12
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-25 -> a05stechAnTuTu 12261637
📘 2026-08-09 (Fintex)AnTuTu 11193141
📘 2026-06-12 -> Karlue392007CPU Throttle78%
📘 2026-06-03 (Renzs)AnTuTu 11204161

Memory

RAM
RAM size 4 GB 2 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4
Memory clock 2133 MHz 1866 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 32 GB
Storage type UFS 2.2 eMMC 5.1
Memory card MicroSD MicroSD
Memory card max size Up to 1024 GB Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 8.0 One UI Core 5.1
OS size 38 GB 13 GB
OS updates 4 years 2 years
Security updates 5 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 15 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (49% in 30 min) Yes (20% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:55 hr 3:03 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:38 hr 11:00 hr
Watching video 13:33 hr 13:25 hr
Gaming 05:31 hr 06:03 hr
Standby 115 hr 133 hr
General battery life
22:02 hr
Galaxy A12 +18%
26:02 hr

Main camera

Matrix 48 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8000 x 6000 8000 x 6000
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS No
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
Slow motion 480 FPS (720p) No
Angle of widest lens 123° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 5 MP
3) Macro: 2 MP
4) Depth: 2 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 48 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/2.0
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX582 Samsung S5KGM2
Sensor size 1/2.0" (≈ 0.5 inch) 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Digital
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 5 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Sensor Samsung S5K4HAYX -
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution 5 MP 2 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Sensor GalaxyCore GC5035 -
Stabilization Digital No

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 45 -
Preview 48 -
Zoom 76 -
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A34 5G from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A12 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 13 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 4160 x 3120 3264 x 2448
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.0
Focal length 26 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX258 CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi 4 (802.11 b/g/n)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
Bluetooth version 5.3 5
Bluetooth features LE PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No No
Hybrid slot Yes No
LTE Cat* - 7
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Mono
Headphone audio jack No Yes
FM radio No Yes
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
90.4 dB
80.9 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Budget
Announced March 2023 November 2020
Release date March 2023 December 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $390 $180
Successor - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G - Samsung Galaxy A17 4G
SAR (head) 0.55 W/kg 0.67 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.49 W/kg 1.38 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Proximity sensor
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included -
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy A34 5G is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
67 (90.5%)
7 (9.5%)
Total votes: 74

User opinions

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