Huawei P30 Lite vs Samsung Galaxy A50: Which Should You Choose?

Introduction

In March of 2019, Samsung launched its Galaxy A50. The P30 Lite, however, saw the light of day one month later.

With this article, you'll be able to compare every feature of the P30 Lite and the Galaxy A50. Then, you can decide what model better suits your needs. Let's start.

You should be aware that the P30 Lite will stop receiving security updates in the meantime.

For additional information regarding our smartphone comparisons, check this FAQ.

 Click here  to check who their rivals are.

Price*			vs.
Device	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
Release Date	2019, April	2019, March	0y.
OS Updates	2 years	3 years	1y.
Security Updates	2 years	4 years	2y.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Which One Has The Best Performance?

Geekbench 5 scores the P30 Lite 8% ahead of its rival in the multi-core ranking. All in all, there's not much of a difference between the two.  ? 

Both smartphones are clearly under the average performance against similarly priced phones.

By the way, you can define both of them as low to mid-range.

Performance*			vs.
Features	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
SoC	Hisilicon Kirin 710	Exynos 9610
Graphics	Mali-G51 MP4	Mali-G72 MP3
Geekbench 5 Score	1281	1186	-95
OS	Android 9 (Pie)	Android 9 (Pie) and OneUI
Tek-Score	4.1	4.0	-0.2

*Reference: 100: Apple iPhone 12.

Which Phone Has The Best Display?

The Galaxy A50 is the title-holder here, and you'd be able to tell the difference.

Usually, devices in this price range average at 622 nits, but the P30 Lite stays at 166 nits below that.

Your next device must go over 500 nits, or else it will disappoint you when in direct sunlight or displaying HDR content.

Given the P30 Lite, 82% of its rivals have an AMOLED screen, and 79% have an Always-On display. At the same time, only 18% of them have refresh rates over 60hz, and only 11% of them feature Gorilla Glass 6 or Victus.

Regarding the Galaxy A50, as a reference, 77% of its rivals have an AMOLED screen and have an Always-On display. In contrast, only 17% of them have over 60hz of refresh rate, and only 10% of them feature Gorilla Glass 6 or Victus.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
Size	6.1	6.4	0.3
Screen Type	LCD	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	1080x2312	1080x2340	30240
Refresh Rate	60hz	60hz	0
Dots per Inch	418.33	402.69	-15.64
Always-On-Display	No	Yes
Notch	Teardrop	Teardrop
Peak Brightness	456 nits	550 nits	94
HDR	-	-
Sub Tek-Score	1.8	7.8	6.0
Protection	Aluminosilicate glass	Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Tek-Score	3.0	3.9	0.9

*Reference: 100: Sony Xperia 1 II.

Which Phone Has The Best Cameras?

Overall, I'm sure the Huawei P30 Lite has a better camera.

You should be aware that the 48 MP shooter is market dependent, so when you buy, make sure that the smartphone is compatible with your carrier.

About the P30 Lite: Seems like DXOMARK will never review this shooter, but we don't need a crystal ball to guess the score: 94*. If you also consider its wide-angle lens, the final score goes up to 104** points.

PS: 86% of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more, and all have an ultra-wide-angle lens. Although only 25% of them come with a telephoto lens.

About the Galaxy A50: DXOMARK's gurus gave this shooter a score of 81. By considering its wide-angle lens, we get a score of 86 points. For an out-and-out review, check their article.

Finally, just so you know, 80% of its rivals can record videos in 4 or 8K, and all have an ultra-wide-angle lens. Still, only 23% of them come with a telephoto lens.

Considering this score, we can classify the P30 Lite as mid-range and the Galaxy A50 as low to mid-range.

If you're a snapper addict, you'll miss a telephoto lens, so just ignore these two and check the Galaxy S20 FE or the Oppo Find X2 Neo instead.

*I do recommend DXOMARK's reviews. Unfortunately, there are lots of good cameras left out of their labs. So when I get my hands on one of them, I do my best to get a comparable score by evaluating hardware specs only (sensor size, Aperture, HDR, OIS, Lenses, and so on). You should give it a borderline margin of error of 2 points.  ? 

**Please take this with a grain of salt, especially for cameras with no zoom and with less than 40MP. They moved to a new camera test protocol, and they don't have enough reviews, so I can refine the pre-update camera scores.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
Megapixels	48	25	-23
Aperture	1.8	1.7	-0.1
Lens	27mm	26mm	-1
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	1	1	0
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	No	No
Video	1080	1080	0
Score	104	86	-18

*Reference: 100: Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra.

Extra Camera(s)	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50	vs.
Megapixels	8	8	0
Aperture	2.4	2.2	-0.2
Lens	17mm	13mm	-4
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Ultra-wide-Angle
Megapixels	2	5	3
Aperture	2.4	2.2	-0.2
Score	10	5	-5

Selfie Camera	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50	vs.
Megapixels	24	25	1
Aperture	2.0	2.0	0.0
Lens	26mm	25mm	-1

	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50	vs.
Tek-Score	6.1	5.1	-1.1

Who has the best frame?

If you're still undecided about them, the P30 Lite is a better choice based on its glass build and better looks. But the Galaxy A50 is also pretty decent.

The P30 Lite weighs 159 g. (5.61 oz), while its rival is 7 g. (0.28 oz) heavier. But because screen size also matters, the P30 Lite has a "weight to screen size" score of 7.6, showing it's one of the lightest phones for its screen size. The Galaxy A50, on the other hand, has 7.7, which suggests exceptional work from Samsung.  ? 

If you'd rather have a water-resistant device, you should check out the competition, like the Galaxy S20 FE.

Looks*			vs.
Body	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
Size	152 x 72 x 7 mm (5.36 x 2.54 x 0.25 in)	158 x 74 x 7 mm (5.57 x 2.61 x 0.25 in)	5236
Weight	159 g. (5.61 oz)	166 g. (5.86 oz)	7
Build	Front and back glass	Front glass
Colors	Peacock Blue, Pearl White, and Midnight Black	Black, Blue, White, and Coral
Screen To Body Ratio	84.11%	86.00%	1.88
Disp.Size To Weight Score	7.6	7.7	0.1
Looks	8.5/10	6.4/10	-2.1
Waterproof	-	-
Biometrics	Fingerprint	Under Display Fingerprint
Tek-Score	3.5	2.8	-0.7

*100% = 4+ colors + front and back glass + S2BR: 86+%.

Which has the best battery?

The P30 Lite does have a battery capacity of 3340 mAh versus the 4000 mAh of the Galaxy A50. But by GSMArena's standards, you shouldn't expect any real contrast here.

And if you'd like to try out reverse wireless charging, that's already a reality on the Galaxy S20 FE, for example.

Battery*			vs.
Features	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
Capacity (mAh)	3340	4000	660
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	82% left	82% left	0
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	68% left	66% left	-2
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	66% left	70% left	4
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	6.0	4.3	-1.6
Sub Tek-Score	7.2	7.3	0.1
Fast Charging	18w	15w	-3
Wireless Charging	No	No	0
Tek-Score	6.2	6.2	0.0

*Reference: 90: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Which has more storage?

The P30 Lite, for sure.

The P30 Lite comes equipped with 128GB of integrated storage and 4GB of RAM. Be aware that at this price segment, others deliver more RAM but less storage. They're around 5GB of RAM and 80Gb of storage.

Storage shouldn't be an issue on any of these phones. However, if videos or big games are your thing, 64 GB will be a problem sooner than later.

Storage*			vs.
Features	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
RAM (GB)	4GB	4GB	0
Internal (GB)	128GB	64GB	-64
Micro SD	microSDXC (shared SIM slot)	microSDXC (dedicated slot)
Tek-Score	7.5	6.3	-1.3

*Internal Storage + 256GB Memory Card (Max: 512GB).

Which is the most connectivity-friendly?

The Galaxy A50 for sure, as it has Bluetooth 5.0.

They both run on LTE networks. If you'd rather have a smartphone with 5G, you may want to check the Galaxy A42 or the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
Network	LTE	LTE
Bluetooth	4.2	5.0
NFC	Yes (market dependent)	Yes (market dependent)
3.5mm jack	Yes	Yes
Tek-Score	6.9	8.5	1.5

Which is more affordable?

Here are the best prices that we've found:

Reference: $280

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$350.00

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Huawei P30 Lite

Reference: $265

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$319.78

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Samsung Galaxy A50

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Prices on eBay are in $US but Europe-based. You can click to check the prices in your country.

Prices marked with ! are from renewed/refurbished/carrier-locked phones (except eBay prices that, as a last resort, can be from bids or used devices).

How much of a "phone" can your money buy?
That's how much "score" you can get with $100 based on the global score that you'll see in the next section (higher is better).

Have you found better prices elsewhere? The formula is simple: score/price*100.

Also, don't forget to check the latest deals from these four stores, and the state of the art on mobile technology, if you don't want to overpay on your next smartphone.

Related articles:

Best smartphone deals

The Best Unbiased Smartphones For All Budgets

Smartphone Specs Statistics: The State Of The Art (Q1 2021)

So, what about that global score? We'll get there. First, let me mention the average at their price range. And it isn't that far from 5.7 for both.

Verdict: Does any of them really stand out?

As you can see, they both are great phones.

I do like the A50 because of its battery and the Always-On display. But my oh my, the P30 Lite sure does look great on my hands.

Pros	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
#1	Cameras	AMOLED
#2	Fast Charging	Always-On-Display
#3	MicroSD Slot	Fast Charging
#4	3.5mm Jack	MicroSD Slot
#5		3.5mm Jack

Cons	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
#1	AMOLED	Wireless Charging
#2	Always-On-Display	Glass Protection
#3	Wireless Charging

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	P30 Lite	Galaxy A50
Gaming Score	3.8	4.3	0.6
Tek-Score	5.45	5.17	-0.28
Your Score

Scroll the sliders down below to get your own personalized score. Let's suppose you value performance and battery life, and you don't really care about anything else. Then, just set the "Performance" and the "Battery" sliders up to 5 (5+5=10), and then the other sliders down to 0. You'll know what's the best phone for you.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

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