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Samsung has unleashed two brand-new smartphones — the Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36.
With a smaller price tag than its top-of-the-line Galaxy S25, S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra, which launched back in January, these mid-range Android devices offer many of the same Galaxy AI features, including real-time transcriptions or translations for incoming calls, bullet point summaries of lengthy PDFs, emails, and webpages.
Elsewhere, Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36 arrive with IP67 water and dust resistance ratings, which means both devices can withstand submersion in one meter of freshwater for up to 30 minutes.
The screen is protected with Gorilla Glass Victus+ toughened glass, which was only available on flagship phones a few years ago.
There's also a 5,000mAh battery cell, which should be enough to endure 29 hours of video playback in Samsung's internal tests. When that runs out, there's support for 45W fast wired charging.
Be one of the first to own the Galaxy A56
Samsung will release its all-new Galaxy A56 in the UK on March 19. If you want to be one of the first to pocket this AI-fuelled mid-range Android handset, you can place a preorder so your device is sent out as early as possible. Galaxy A56 offers a faster Exynos chipset, larger 5,000mAh battery cell, and triple-camera system with Galaxy AI features to supercharge your photos
Galaxy A56
$499
On the front of both Galaxy A handsets, you'll find 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED displays with brightness levels reaching up to 1,200 nits. That's an increase from the (slightly) smaller 6.6-inch touchscreens found on its predecessors, which was achieved by shaving the size of the borders around the display, Samsung says.
Mobile chief at Samsung Electronics, TM Roh said: "The new Galaxy A series marks an important step in our mission of AI for all, by opening Galaxy’s incredible mobile AI experiences to even more people around the world. With these awesome new features and capabilities, we are excited to unlock limitless creativity on the Galaxy A series while ensuring a safe, reliable and fun mobile experience."
Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36 boast a triple-camera system in a vertical-alignment with an improved 50MP main camera, ultra-wide, and Macro lens. The photographs taken by the triple-camera can be enhanced with a slew of new Galaxy AI features, like Object Eraser to remove unwanted people and objects
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Galaxy A36 starts from £399, while Galaxy A56 starts from £499. Both handsets are available to preorder now, with the Android devices available to buy in-store from March 19, 2025.
Out of the box, Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A56 are powered by Samsung's One UI 7, which is based on Android 15. Samsung has extended software support for the next six generations of Android OS upgrades, with a guaranteed six years of security updates too.
Samsung has included faster internals for both mid-range handsets. Its own Exynos 1580 chipset — which boasts double-digit gains for NPU, GPU, and CPU performance — is found inside the Galaxy A56, while the South Korean firm has turned to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 to fuel the Galaxy A36.
To make the most of these more powerful chipsets, Samsung has fitted a larger vapour chamber, comparable in size to the one inside the Galaxy S24+, to disperse heat from the silicon and ensure these devices can maintain top-end performance during intensive tasks for longer periods of time.
The Galaxy A series boasts a powerful new triple-camera system with a 50MP main camera, coupled with an ultra-wide lens, and macro sensor for close-up photography. Both devices sport an improved front-facing 12MP camera capable of 10-bit HDR recording and improved low-light performance for better selfies and video calls.
Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36 land with a beefy 5,00mAh battery cell. Combined with the efficiency gains from the new chipsets, Samsung is making some impressive claims about battery life
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Coupled with these hardware improvements, Samsung has added a slew of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tweaks to improve photos. Best Face makes it easier than ever to capture the perfect group shot by selecting and combining the best expressions or features for up to five people from a motion photo. Whether someone blinked or looked away, Best Face ensures everyone looks their best in a single, seamless shot.
Next up, enhancements to Nightography is now included in the 12MP selfie camera and additional wide camera support to capture stunning content in low-light settings without relying on the LED flash.
Be one of the first to own the Galaxy A36
Samsung will release its all-new Galaxy A36 in the UK on March 19. If you want to be one of the first to pocket this AI-fuelled mid-range Android handset, you can place a preorder so your device is sent out as early as possible. Galaxy A36 offers a faster Qualcomm system-on-a-chip, larger 5,000mAh battery cell, and a triple-camera system with Galaxy AI features to supercharge your photos
Galaxy A36
$399
If you want to remove an unwanted person or object from the background of your perfect shot, Object Eraser is now baked into the Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36. Whether it's an unexpected passerby or a distracting shadow, these can all be wiped with AI to achieve a cleane final image with just a few taps.
Lastly, Galaxy AI will generate a custom filter specifically for you by extracting colours and styles from existing photos to apply for a unique and personalized effect depending on mood and taste. With these intelligent tools, users can refine and enhance their photos effortlessly, bringing a new level of creativity to every shot.
Galaxy A56 is available in a range of colours: Awesome Lightgray, Awesome Graphite, Awesome Olive, Awesome Pink
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Despite all of these new improvements, Samsung has managed to shrink the size of these new handsets. At just 7.4mm thick, the Galaxy A56 is significantly slimmer than the Galaxy A55 launched last year (8.2mm). Not only that, but it's also lighter at 198g compared to 213g.
Galaxy A56 is available in four new colours: Awesome Lightgray, Awesome Graphite, Awesome Olive, and Awesome Pink. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A36 ships in Awesome Lavender, Awesome Black, Awesome White, and Awesome Lime. Both new Galaxy A smartphones are available to preorder now, with the first devices set to ship on March 19, 2025.
