Samsung Galaxy A56 unveiled with AI, better specs, and a familiar look
Samsung also announced the cheaper Galaxy A36 and A26
📱 Samsung has announced the Galaxy A56, A36, and A26 during MWC
👀 The A56 is the most powerful and will compete against the iPhone 16e
🤖 It comes with slightly upgraded specs compared to the A55, a familiar design, and AI
📅 The phone is priced at $499 and launches later this year
The iPhone 16e just launched last week, but it’s time for its competitors to arise. Samsung has announced the Galaxy A56, its latest mid-range phone that promises better performance and more AI compared to the A55, all for the same $499 price. Samsung has also announced the cheaper Galaxy A36 and A26 to round things off and give those on a budget something new.
The Galaxy A56 was leaked over the past couple of months which left little to the imagination, but the phone is here now, and the big focus is - you guessed it! - AI. Samsung is dubbing it “Awesome Intelligence” on the A56 to make it sound more appealing to average users, but it’s similar to most other AI feature sets we’ve seen on phones like the Pixel 9 and iPhone 16.
There’s Best Face which analyzes burst group photos and lets you merge them to ensure everyone’s facial expressions are what you want (think Best Take on the Pixel), an updated Object Eraser, Circle to Search, and Google Gemini, among other smaller features. It’s a fine list, but it probably won’t be the reason you buy this phone.
For $499, the Galaxy A56 gets you a 6.7-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, triple rear cameras (50MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, 5MP macro), an Exynos 1580 chip, up to 12GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage. There’s also a 5,000mAh battery, Android 15, and an IP67 certification.
With the Galaxy A36 and A26, you get twin 6.7-inch LCD displays and the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor. There’s a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultra-wide on both, as well as a macro camera. You can configure both with 256GB of storage, but the A26 is limited to 8GB of RAM. You’ll also get 5,000mAh batteries and the same IP67 certification.
The Galaxy A56 will face off against the iPhone 16e and rumored Pixel 9a when it launches later this year. In the meantime, you’ll be able to get the Galaxy A36 from Best Buy in North American on March 26. The Galaxy A26 will launch two days later and be priced at $299.
We’ll have a lot more to say on this phone once we get our hands on it, so be sure to subscribe to The Shortcut and be the first to know when our Galaxy A56 review drops.
Max Buondonno is Editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.