Samsung has recently announced a trio of mid-range smartphones in the form of Galaxy A56, Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A26, with the main focus being AI features and enhanced durability. These three phones feature several identical specs on paper, including 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 5,000mAh battery and IP67 ingress protection.
New Mid-Range Galaxy Smartphones
The new Galaxy A series integrates AI capabilities under the “Awesome Intelligence” umbrella, offering features like Google’s upgraded Circle to Search, where users can quickly identify phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs directly from the screen. The feature also allows for instant music recognition without switching apps.
The camera system includes a 50MP main lens across all three models – both A56 and A36 feature 10-bit HDR recording for their selfie shooters, while the former also features a 12MP ultrawide sensor at the rear along with upgraded low-light capabilities (the A36 and A26 shares the same 8MP ultrawide sensor instead). The A56 also gets the exclusive Best Face feature out of the trio, which allows users to combine expressions from multiple shots for the ideal group photo.
Internally, the Galaxy A56 is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 1580 SoC, while the Galaxy A36 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 SoC; the spec sheet hasn’t been published for the A26 locally, but we’re likely looking at the Exynos 1380 SoC powering that model. Storage and memory options range from 6+128GB for the A26 and A36, up to 12+256GB for the A36 and A56. Samsung promises six generations of Android OS and One UI upgrades starting with Android 15 (One UI 7) out of the box, along with six years of security updates for all three models.
The A56 and A36 also include 45W fast charging, as well as support for Digital Key, an NFC-based (or UWB for select devices) technology that allows the phone to act as car keys, though this feature will be rolled out in limited regions – Malaysia not being on the list – for now. For durability, all three models will feature Gorilla Glass Victus+ at both sides of the device, while A26 in particular features upgraded ingress protection to IP67, in line with its bigger siblings.
Finally, the colors: the Galaxy A56 is available in Awesome Lightgray, Awesome Graphite, Awesome Olive, and Awesome Pink, while the Galaxy A36 comes in Awesome Lavender, Awesome Black, Awesome White, and Awesome Lime colors. Finally, the Galaxy A26 is featured in Black, Mint, and Peach Pink. They will go on sale starting March 18, 2025, but no pricing has been announced at the time of this writing.
Pokdepinion: I kind of wished there are some visual changes apart from colors though.
