Samsung Galaxy A56 hands-on review: Causing trouble for the Google Pixel 8a

Samsung surprised us by launching a trio of budget phones just in time for Mobile World Congress 2025, and the best of the bunch figures to be the Samsung Galaxy A56 — a potential contender to be one of the best cheap phones of 2025.

The Galaxy A56 heads a lineup of new Galaxy A phones that includes the Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A26, and you can read details of the Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A26 specs elsewhere. Here, I'm going to focus on the Galaxy A56 and why you'll want to give this new phone a look — once it arrives in your particular region, of course.

The Galaxy A56 replaces the Galaxy A55, which skipped a U.S. release last year. That doesn't sound like it will be the case with the A56, though it will ship later than the the A36 and A26, which are set to arrive toward the end of this month.

Upgrades to the Galaxy A56 cameras, chipset, battery, charging and AI features plus a more luxurious finish and still low prices highlight the new head of the Galaxy A lineup. We'll save our full judgment for our eventual review, but for now I can take you through all the big changes I learned about and tested during a recent hands-on session with the Galaxy A56.

Samsung Galaxy A56: Specs

Samsung Galaxy A56 hands-on: Price and availability

Samsung will charge $499/£499/AU$699 for the Galaxy A56, with only one 256GB storage option available. That puts the the Galaxy A56 on par with the $499 Google Pixel 8a, though that phone offers just 128GB storage at that price. Other midrange phones like the OnePlus 13R and the just-released iPhone 16e start at $599.

While the U.S. will have to wait until later this year for the Galaxy A56, shoppers in Europe can pre-order the phone starting March 2. Open sales come a little later, commencing March 19 in Europe and March 27 in Australia.

Samsung Galaxy A56 hands-on: Design and display

After uniting the general design of the Galaxy S and Galaxy A series last year, Samsung's elected to go in a different direction once more for the latest Galaxy A models. This is mostly seen in the new camera design, which no longer features separately-embedded lenses like the Galaxy S25 series. Instead, the Galaxy A56 cameras get their own single vertical block to house all three rear cameras.

The Key Island, introduced on last year's Galaxy A phones, is still here, though, lifting the power and volume buttons away from the rest of the side rail. I'm still not sure what benefit this offers beyond a unique silhouette, but it doesn't spoil the feel of the phone.

The Galaxy A56 carries an IP67 dust/water resistance rating, and has Gorilla Glass Victus Plus on the front and back to ward off physical damage. It also has metal sides (compared to plastic on the other A models) to make the phone feel more premium than its cost would have you expect.

Samsung has stuck to the same 6.7-inch FHD+ panel as the Galaxy A55 for the Galaxy A56, except with slimmer bezels. They're not symmetrical, but that's a relatively inoffensive sacrifice to make to save costs. It means that Samsung's phone will continue to offer more screen space than the Pixel 8a, which offers a more compact 6.1-inch panel.

Samsung rates the displays of the Galaxy A56 as 1,200 nits in high brightness mode, with a peak of 1,900 nits. I could make out the screens clearly under the bright studio-style lightings of the hands-on zone, but without natural daylight or other phones to try them against, I can't say how accurate or effective these alleged brightnesses are.

Samsung brands all the Galaxy A56's colors with an "Awesome" moniker, but to save you time, the four color options in normal language for the A56 are graphite, light gray, olive and pink.

Samsung Galaxy A56 hands-on: Cameras

There's a new 12MP ultrawide camera on the back of A56, and a new 12MP selfie camera on the front. The other cameras remain unchanged from the Galaxy A55 — a 50MP main camera and a 5MP macro camera.

Despite a mix of old and new cameras, there are other changes to note. The A56's main camera has gained a better AI-powered ISP (image signal processor) to help with low-light shots, and the new front sensor should improve low-light selfies while adding support for HDR video.

The Galaxy A56 also gets an AI portrait upgrade to help focus the shot and enhance common elements like your subject's face, skin and hair but also the sky and grass in the background. I quite liked the look of the shots I took during my brief test of the Galaxy A56, especially the selfies, so I have faith that it will be able to keep up with the Google Pixel 8a's excellent photography.

Samsung Galaxy A56 hands-on: Performance

Samsung has placed an Exynos 1580 chipset in the Galaxy A56, along with 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage by default, at least in the U.K. That's an impressive amount of storage considering that some flagship phones costing hundreds of dollars more than the Galaxy A56 start out with 128GB of storage.

That said, Samsung will offer a 128GB version of the Galaxy A56, but only to business customers.

Last year's Galaxy A55 used an Exynos 1480 chipset, which lagged behind the Tensor G3 silicon that powers the Pixel 8a in both CPU and graphics testing. We'll see if the Exynos 1580 can level the performance playing field.

To keep performance stable, the Galaxy A56 has been given improved vapor chamber cooling, with a chamber the same size as the one in last year's flagship Galaxy S24 Plus. The Galaxy A line's not been known for its gaming prowess in generations past, but more consistent experiences using games or other demanding apps are welcome.

Samsung Galaxy A56 hands-on: Battery and charging

The Galaxy A56 carries a 5,000 mAh battery, the same size as you'd find in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Battery life should once again be rather impressive, at least for phones of this price.

Remarkably, the Galaxy A56 supports up to 45W charging just like the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra, meaning much speedier charging than previous models assuming you have a compatible charger to use. It'll make anyone who bought the standard Galaxy S25 jealous, since that flagship is still limited to 25W charging like older Galaxy A models are.

Samsung Galaxy A56 hands-on: Software and AI features

Galaxy AI isn't officially available on the Galaxy A56, instead we get "Awesome Intelligence," which comprises some of Galaxy AI's basic features. For instance, Circle to Search is back with improved features like the ability to search phone numbers, email addresses, URLs and even songs.

Samsung's updated Object Eraser will let A56 users tidy up photos, and a filter creation tool lets you apply the style of one photo to another, with manual adjustment options too.

The A56 gets a few tools to itself compared to the other new Galaxy A models, like Best Face image editing to put you and your friends' best expressions together in one photo or the option to automatically cut and assemble video clips together for you with Auto Trim.

Samsung starts the Galaxy A56 out with One UI 7, the Android 15-based OS that redesigns a lot of the interface of previous Samsung software to make something fresh and practical. Looking to the future, the A56 will get six generations of Android updates and six years of security updates. That's not as good as the seven years promise offered for the Galaxy S25 series, or the rival Google Pixel 8a, but that's still pretty generous for a budget phone.

Samsung Galaxy A56: Outlook

I'll need to spend more time with the Galaxy A56 to get a definitive feel for how this phone fits into the midrange landscape. But at first glance, the changes from last year's Galaxy A model seem substantial enough to make it an appealing option for anyone looking to maximize value. The Galaxy A56 could also attract flagship phone shoppers who aren't fussed with AI, super-powered photography or maximum performance but want a quality handset that'll last them for years to come.

This is a crowded part of the smartphone market though, highlighted by the Pixel 8a currently, with the Pixel 9a reportedly on its way. Google has been consistently on top with its budget models, giving the Galaxy A56 a tough challenger to go up against.

You'd also have to consider the OnePlus 13R and iPhone 16e to be rivals, even if they cost $100 more than the Galaxy A56. And that's before we consider the Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro, both of twhich should be launching very soon and could undercut the Galaxy A56.

In other words, even if the Galaxy A56 performs well in our testing, it could be crowded out by some high-quality competition. So check back soon to see how things shake out.

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