Yes, an example is the ak-105. The smaller round transfers almost as much energy to the target (which is negligible), has less recoil because it's smaller, cheaper because it's smaller, and you can carry more. Plus the fact that the gun itself is more optimized with cheaper materials, better grip, and also more reliability. Even something like the saiga-12k (yes, it's technically an AK) is better because it carries so much more energy that recoil is less of an issue.
TL;DR: the ak-47 is not very good compared to newer models.