At a time when smartphone manufacturers are replacing their genuine budget-friendly options with more expensive but still less-than-flagship devices (*cough* iPhone 16e *cough*), Samsung’s Galaxy A series continues to represent the sweet spot between affordability and long-lasting, desirable hardware.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 has remained a feature of our best cheap phones list for almost a year, and its newly announced successor, the Samsung Galaxy A56, further improves on the A-series formula by throwing new AI tools, faster charging speeds, and slick new design tweaks into the mix.
I went hands-on with Samsung’s latest mid-ranger – as well as the similarly-specced Galaxy A36 – at a recent briefing event, and I’m confident that Samsung has, for the most part, made the right moves in terms of both upgrades and compromises. Might the Galaxy A56 be a better-value proposition than the Samsung Galaxy S25 this year? It’s certainly a possibility.
Let’s start with what’s not changed versus the Galaxy A55. Like its predecessor, the Galaxy A56 packs a 5,000mAh battery, an IP67 water resistance rating, and a three-lens rear camera setup comprising a 50MP main lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 5MP macro lens. In literally every other area, the Galaxy A56 is a better phone.
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Visually, this year’s model is different in a few ways. Firstly, its three rear cameras are encompassed in a black, pill-shaped island, where the A55’s lenses stand alone. The A56 still has flat aluminum edges, but its power and volume buttons are now raised, rather than lying flush with the rest of the body.
Personally, I’m all for these changes, and the Awesome Lightgrey (read: white) model I handled in my briefing session felt particularly premium. The A56’s new camera module eliminates that cheaper, common-among-knock-off-phones look that the A55’s standalone cameras have, and it also helps differentiate the A56 from the Galaxy S25.
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Samsung has bumped up the size of the A56’s display, too. It’s now a 6.7-inch FHD+ panel (versus 6.6 inches on the A55), meaning the A56 shares a display size with the Galaxy S25 Plus. You also get a higher peak brightness with the A56, specifically 1,200 nits in High Brightness Mode (HBM) and up to 1,900 nits in direct sunlight. Sure, that’s not as good as the very best Samsung phones (the Galaxy S25 boasts a 2,600-nit peak), but it’s pretty good going for a mid-range handset (the pricier iPhone 16e tops out at 2,000 nits).
The real feather in the cap of the A56, though, is its software provision. It’ll come with One UI 7 out of the box, becoming the first non-Galaxy S25 handset to do so and giving you access to features like the Now Bar and in-depth Home Screen customization.
AI tools including Circle to Search and Object Eraser have been upgraded with new functionality on the A56, while the other software features like Custom filters, Read Aloud, and AI Select have been drafted over from the Galaxy S25.
The cheaper A36 gets these features, too, but the A56 also benefits from Auto Trim, which lets you edit and create video montages at the touch of a button, and Best Face, which is essentially Samsung’s version of Google’s Best Take feature.
That said, the Galaxy A56 doesn’t have Galaxy AI. Not officially, anyway. Samsung says its new A-series handsets use Awesome Intelligence, not Galaxy AI, with the latter reserved for its flagship S-series devices. Of course, some software tools exist in both feature sets (see Circle to Search and Object Eraser), but Samsung is keen to avoid throwing all of its smartphones into the same software basket. The message is clear: if you want the best software (think Live Translate and Instant Slow-mo) go for an S-series model. Awesome Intelligence is a step down, but for all intents and purposes, it’s Galaxy AI Lite.
The Galaxy A56 does, however, match its flagship siblings in the longevity department. Samsung is promising a generous six years of OS updates and six years of security updates for its latest mid-ranger, which is an improvement on the four-year commitment made to the A55. The same is true of the A36.
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Bizarrely, the A56 actually bests the Galaxy S25 in one key area: wired charging speed. Where the S25 is stuck with a 25W wired charging cap, the A56 tops out at 45W. There are no wireless charging capabilities to speak of, but it’s quite something that you’ll get Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra-level charging speeds on the A56.
There are, of course, other compromises. The A56’s uses a Samsung Exynos 1580 chipset, which is an objective improvement on the A55’s 1480 brain, but a far cry from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, which powers most of the best Android phones in 2025. Web browsing, social media scrolling, and light mobile gaming are the order of the day here, though the A56’s 8GB RAM capacity (which can be boosted to 12GB in select, as-yet-unconfirmed regions) should keep its Awesome Intelligence features running… awesomely?
The phone’s display bezels, too, are a major giveaway that this is indeed a mid-range handset and not a flagship device. The A56 is a looker from the back, but its lower-end price tag is more evident from the front.
That said, for those who don’t care about wafer-thin display bezels, range-defying telephoto cameras, and benchmark-breaking power, the A56 looks set to be an excellent option. The Galaxy S25 is, of course, the better phone, but Samsung’s latest mid-ranger boasts strong enough specs to warrant consideration as a potentially better-value handset. Stay tuned for our full review, where we’ll share a definitive verdict one way or the other.
As for its price, the Galaxy A56 costs £499 in the UK, which marks a slight increase on the £439 starting price of the A55. It’s available to pre-order now, and shipping begins on March 19. We’re still waiting to hear official price information for the US and Australia, but Samsung has confirmed that the phone will be coming to these regions later in the year.
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axel.metz@futurenet.com (Axel Metz)
