Forget the $599 iPhone 16E: Samsung's New Galaxy A Phones Are Truly Affordable

Yahoo

02-03-2025

Samsung has debuted its latest midrange phones, the Galaxy A36 and A26, which have larger displays, more powerful processors and, inevitably, new AI features. The phones cost $400 and $300, respectively, and go on sale in late March.
The company also unveiled the Galaxy A56 phone, priced at $500, which will be available later this year. The A56 has a bigger display than last year's Galaxy A55, new AI capabilities and camera improvements, Samsung says.
Arriving on the heels of the $599 iPhone 16E, Apple's idea of an affordable phone that's far from cheap, all three new Samsung Galaxy A phones seem to prove a phone-maker can still make a device that's truly affordable and flexes new features like Android 15 and One UI 7. All the phones are built to last, with six years of OS and security updates, Samsung's Knox Vault for device security and privacy, and an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance.
Samsung's announcement comes just ahead of Mobile World Congress" target="_blank in Barcelona. Here's everything to know about the Galaxy A36, A26 and A56.
At 8.2mm thick and 196 grams, the Galaxy A36 5G is thinner and lighter than last year's A35 5G, which was 7.4mm thick and weighed 209 grams. Like last year, the phone packs a 5,000 mAh battery, but now features 45-watt super fast charging, which Samsung says can charge the phone nearly 70% in 30 minutes. (CNET will test this once we check out the devices ourselves, so stay tuned.)
Thinner bezels bump the display to 6.7 inches, compared to the A35's 6.6 inches. The A36 features a 120Hz refresh rate, and an increased peak brightness of 1,900 nits, ideally making it easier to see the screen even if you're in a brightly lit environment. Both the front and back feature Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus Plus, which Samsung says improves durability. The company says they're all "FHD+" resolution, which usually means 2,220x1,080 pixels.
Cameras get an upgrade, too, with support for HDR video recording on the 50-megapixel main camera. Like last year's phone, the A36 also features an 8-megapixel ultrawide and 5-megapixel macro camera. The front camera goes from 13 to 12 megapixels, but supports 10-bit HDR video recording. It's worth noting that more megapixels doesn't automatically mean a better camera.
HDR support can help images and videos have a wider dynamic range (the difference between the brightest parts of an image and the darkest parts) and look more detailed and colorful. For nighttime shots, Samsung says larger pixels serve up sharper, more vibrant images with minimal noise, even in extremely low light -- larger pixels can gather more light and have less image noise. Stay tuned to CNET's tests to see how the camera performs.
You'll find AI features on the A36 like Google's Circle to Search, which can now also translate on-screen text and identify music. Samsung debuted these new capabilities on its flagship Galaxy S25 lineup in January. AI-powered photo editing tools include an enhanced Object Eraser that now lets you select multiple objects to be removed, and a Filter feature that lets you create a custom filter based on any photo. For example, if you have a shot of a sunset and you like the tone of the image, you can apply that filter to other photos, too. Edit Suggestion will use AI to analyze an image and serve up recommendations to improve it, like removing shadows or reflections.
The A36 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor, versus the Exynos 1380 featured on the Galaxy A35. It comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Samsung says there's also a larger cooling system to better dissipate heat and optimize for gameplay and streaming.
The Galaxy A36 will be available on March 26 in black and lavender. An exclusive lime version is also available through Best Buy.
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The (even cheaper) Galaxy S26 is also thinner than its predecessor, measuring at 7.7mm compared to the Galaxy A25's 8.3mm. It also gets a bigger FHD+ display, thanks to reduced bezels, matching the A36's 6.5 inches. It shares a 120Hz refresh rate.
While last year's A25 featured a glass front and plastic back, the A26 steps things up with Gorilla Glass Victus Plus on both the front and back, just like the A36. The frame remains plastic. Like last year's model, the A26 features a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera, 8-megapixel ultrawide camera and 2-megapixel macro camera, as well as a 13-megapixel selfie camera.
Despite the lower price, you'll still get AI features like Photo Edit Suggestion and Object Eraser, as well as Circle to Search. The A26 runs the Exynos 1380 chipset, and comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It also has expandable memory up to 2TB, and packs a 5,000 mAh battery.
The A26 will become available March 28, and is only available in black.
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To complete the trio, the Galaxy A56 has a 6.7-inch display and a 5,000 mAh battery, which, like the A36, supports 45-watt charging. The A56 is powered by the Exynos 1580 chipset and also has a larger vapor chamber to help you play games and watch videos for longer.
The A56 has a 50-megapixel wide camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 5-megapixel macro camera. The selfie camera has a 12-megapixel sensor compared to the Galaxy A55's 32-megapixel front-facing camera, which took either 12- or 8-megapixel images after pixel binning. The selfie camera also gets 10-bit HDR support, and a Low Noise Mode helps to take sharper low-light photos, Samsung says.
A feature only available on the A56 is called Best Face, which can help you nail a group photo by choosing the best expressions on up to five people and then combining them into one image. This is similar -- in name and in execution -- to Google's Best Take feature on the Pixel series. The A56 also gets an enhanced Object Eraser and Filter capabilities.
Samsung hasn't yet shared color options for the A56, and has only said it'll be available later this year.