Samsung revitalized its Galaxy A series with a trio of new smartphones. The Galaxy A56, Galaxy A36, and A26 might look confusingly similar at first glance, but they occupy a wide range of prices that probably tops out at $500 plus. Do take note the Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36 are not available in the US, with the Galaxy A26 taking over from where the Galaxy A16 left off There are major differences not only in terms of pricing, but also what you get under the hood. You can read all about the differences in detail here.
Samsung Galaxy A56, A36 and A26: The Entire Series Compared
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| Device | Samsung Galaxy A26 | Samsung Galaxy A36 | Samsung Galaxy A56 |
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| Cameras |
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Display and design
At first glance, it is really difficult to tell the Galaxy A26, A36 and A56 apart. All three smartphones boast the same design with the all-round flat frame and the flat back with an elongated camera module, which houses three cameras across all three devices. We will come to the differences between the cameras in detail later.
The shape of the A26, A36, and A56 all feel the same when it comes to touch – but the A56 with its metal frame is slightly cooler and heavier when held. Due to the choice of material, the A56 can also be distinguished from the other two models by tiny antenna strips in the frame. Incidentally, all three devices are slightly slimmer than their predecessors, with the A36 and A56 now measuring 7.4 mm in height, while the A26 is a tad thicker at 7.7 mm. All three models offer IP67 protection.
The front display for all three devices measures 6.7 inches across diagonally and is excellent at what it does, being Samsung displays. The trio supports the 120 Hz refresh rate, which separates them from other A-series devices in the past. Samsung’s market research has shown this is the most popular display size. If you were to take a closer look, you can discover another tiny difference in the displays: The Galaxy A26 uses a waterdrop notch, while the Galaxy A36 and A56 both feature a punch-hole selfie camera.
The A26 also uses a different display apart from the two “large” A-series models: The Galaxy A36 and A56 can both eke out a maximum brightness of 1,200 nits and offer Vision Booster to improve the display. Unfortunately, we have no information on the Galaxy A26 – apart from simply assuming a significantly lower brightness level here. Unfortunately, we were unable to make a meaningful comparison of the display brightness in the gloomy February weather we experienced.
In the following table, you can view the available colors at a glance. Incidentally, Samsung does not offer exclusive online colors for the A-series, as is the case with the Galaxy S25 series.
| Samsung Galaxy A series colors | |
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| Samsung Galaxy A26 5G |
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| Samsung Galaxy A36 5G |
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| Samsung Galaxy A56 5G |
Performance and connectivity
As usual, all models in the A series receive a minor processor change in each iteration, with some processors being downgraded. The Galaxy A26 switches from the Samsung Exynos 1280 processor in its predecessor to the Exynos 1380 from the Galaxy A35. However, the Galaxy A36, surprisingly, does not make a huge jump by relying on Samsung’s in-house chip, but relies on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 instead, which should not make a noticeable difference for the user. Finally, the A56 gets an upgrade from the Exynos 1480 to the Exynos 1580.
Depending on the memory variant, 128 or 256 GB, the Galaxy A26 and A36 will arrive with either 6 or 8 GB of RAM. The Galaxy A56, on the other hand, will be released in the same two memory options, but always with 8 GB of RAM. By the way, the microSD memory card slot is slowly going the way of the dodo here as only the Galaxy A26 features it.
In terms of connectivity, all three models are similarly positioned: Even though we’ve shortened it here for the sake of readability, the official detailed product name of the A56 is the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G. Similarly, the A36 and A26 also have “5G” in their names, and, of course, also offer 5G connectivity. Unfortunately, we do not yet have the exact Bluetooth and Wi-Fi specifications yet.
Cameras
Since the cameras are even more of a jumbled mess than the variants in storage size and RAM, we have compiled everything neatly in the table below:
| Galaxy A series cameras | |
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| Samsung Galaxy A26 5G |
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| Samsung Galaxy A36 5G |
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| Samsung Galaxy A56 5G |
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The most important difference between the image sensors is actually the 12-megapixel camera located behind the ultra wide-angle lens of the Galaxy A56. This difference could therefore be worthwhile for fans who love to take sweeping, panorama shots. There are also a few other minor differences when you dive deeper:
- All three models can record video in a maximum of 4K resolution at 30 fps. The Galaxy A56 is the only smartphone to offer an additional 60 fps option in Full HD mode.
- The Galaxy A56 is the only device to offer a more advanced night mode and an AI portrait function.
- The Galaxy A36 and A56 can also record HDR movies for selfie videos.
- The Galaxy A36 and A56 offer 10-bit HDR in video mode.
- The ultra wide-angle camera in the A26 offers 13 MP instead of 12 MP, but is strangely expected to deliver poorer image quality.
- The Galaxy A36 and A56 have AI autofocus, although we couldn’t tell any difference with the A26 in our brief hands-on.
- The macro camera in the … who is interested in macro cameras?!
Software
And that brings us to the “Software” section, which boasts a great new feature for the entire A-series. Samsung really beefed up its software update promise and now promises up to six years of operating system updates and six years of security updates for all three devices. That’s really cool, because you will still receive updates on your Galaxy A smartphone when Donald Trump is no longer president, and never again! Keep your fingers crossed!
Incidentally, the entire A series is also receiving the Storage Share feature for seamless file management between your smartphone and Windows computer. The smartphone and the computer appear as folders on each other’s devices and you can access the files stored there directly. The Galaxy A36 and A56 also have enhanced theft protection features. The smartphone locks itself automatically if it detects that someone has snatched it from you.
What about AI?
Yes, a whole slew of AI from the Galaxy AI universe makes it onto the entire A series, although it is dubbed “Awesome AI” and not “Galaxy AI”. Why? Presumably not to dilute the term “Galaxy AI” from a marketing perspective with the trimmed-down AI features compared to the flagship models.
The AI features on the …
… A26, A36 and A56:
- The most popular AI feature on Samsung phones, Circle to Search. Circle something on the display to search for it.
- Object eraser for photos. According to initial reviews, it doesn’t work quite as well as on the S series, but bear in mind this was tried on pre-production devices.
… A36 and A56:
- Advanced photo filters to turn your photos into comic strips or oil paintings.
… A56:
- Auto Trim in the video editor to automatically divide longer videos into short clips for video editing
- Best Face to replace unflattering facial expressions in group photos or to reliably create group selfies from hell from the opposite direction.
Battery and fast charging
There’s not much to say about the battery, but at the very least, there’s good news: All three devices boast a 5,000 mAh battery capacity. The Galaxy A56 and A36 each charge with a maximum of 45 W, while the A26 settles for 25 W. Wireless charging is still reserved for the S series.
Price and availability
All three smartphones will be available in stores from calendar week 12 – i.e. from March 21 at the latest. As usual, with Samsung, there will be another early bird promotion where you get to enjoy double the memory for free. This promotion is expected to run until 20.04.2025. Hence, if you were to make an early decision, you might end up with a sizeable amount of savings. if you decide early, you can save a lot here, as can be seen in detail below. All pricing are in Euro (€), as apart from the Galaxy A26 5G, the Galaxy A36 5G and A56 5G will not be released in the US.
| Memory variants and prices | |
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| Samsung Galaxy A26 5G |
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| Samsung Galaxy A36 5G |
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| Samsung Galaxy A56 5G |
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And if you’re a genuine Galaxy A fan, you may have pleasantly noticed that Samsung hasn’t increased the prices compared to last year’s release.
Initial impressions
The Galaxy A smartphones are a wildly popular smartphone range for many people worldwide. When you pick up the handsets from the Galaxy A series, it’s no surprise that Samsung’s Galaxy A series is incredibly successful. Sure, some of Xiaomi’s Redmi devices feature 200-megapixel cameras and the Poco models boast significantly more powerful chips. Nothing has a more unusual design and Google has incredibly good cameras. But that’s the secret sauce: Samsung’s devices can do everything well without coming up majorly short in any department. In 2025, they simply do everything a little better and even get a few crumbs from the S series, such as the software policy updates and AI features.
We are currently awaiting the first review units from the A series. You can find out how the three models fare in their respective detailed reviews and the various benchmarks in the coming weeks on nextpit.com, so stay tuned!
