Samsung Galaxy A56 Review: Smart on features, but is it worth Rs 41,999-47,999?

Samsung Galaxy A56 Review: Last month, South Korean tech major Samsung launched the intended successor of Galaxy A55, i.e., Samsung Galaxy A56. The new smartphone under the Galaxy A Series, also referred to as “Awesome Intelligence” Series by the company, comes loaded with several AI features and upgrades. These upgrades look promising on paper, but do they live up to expectations? Read on to learn about it in detail.

Samsung Galaxy A56 Review: Price, Colours, Variants

The smartphone is available in three variants—12GB + 256GB, 8GB + 256GB, and 8GB + 128GB, priced at Rs 47,999, Rs 44,999, and Rs 41,999, respectively. The Samsung Galaxy A56 comes in three colours: Awesome Olive, Awesome Lightgray, and Awesome Graphite. Here we are using the 8GB + 256GB variant of the device in Awesome Olive colour.

Samsung Galaxy A56: Design

The Samsung Galaxy A56 feels premium in hand. Its side frame is made of brushed aluminum, while Gorilla Glass Victus+ protects both the front and back. Weighing 195 grams and measuring just 7.4mm thick, it is the slimmest Galaxy A series smartphone to date, alongside the Galaxy A36. On the back, it features a slightly raised linear floating camera module. Despite its size, the phone doesn’t feel too heavy. However, it isn’t considered compact, and you’ll likely need to use both hands most of the time. It comes with an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance; however, at this price range, I believe it should offer IP68 or even IP69 ingress protection.

Samsung Galaxy A56: Display

The Samsung Galaxy A56 boasts a 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with 1200 nits brightness and 120Hz refresh rate, complemented by stereo speakers for rich audio. However, going by the price range, it should have a minimum of a 1.5K resolution display. Also, the bezels are quite big on the display, which affects the viewing experience. The screen-to-body ratio is 87.80 per cent. It has an in-display optical fingerprint scanner.

The multimedia experience is smooth. Also, the smartphone has a speaker at the bottom, which is loud enough. We watched content using popular apps like YouTube and Netflix on the device, and the experience was quite good. The vibrant colours and deep blacks of the AMOLED display made the content look rich and detailed, while the stereo speakers added crisp, clear audio.

Samsung Galaxy A56: Battery

The Samsung Galaxy A56 is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that supports a 45W charging power and Super-Fast Charge 2.0 technology. Since the box doesn’t contain the charging adapter, we charged the device using a different 45W charger, and it took about 1 hour and 13 minutes to charge from 0 to 80 per cent. If your smartphone usage involves social media browsing, watching content, making calls, or clicking photos, the device’s battery will run for about 9-10 hours. 

Samsung Galaxy A56: Performance and Software

The Galaxy A56 comes with the latest One UI 7 software based on Android 15. The company promises six generations of Android OS and six years of security updates. Also, it is powered by the Exynos 1580 chipset. During testing, the device did not show any lag while multitasking or using multiple apps in the background. 

It has good lock support, a Samsung app that allows extensive customisation of the One UI interface on Samsung Galaxy devices. And for safety and security, it has Knox Vault. 

This device comes with several AI features like circle to search, which requires an active Internet connection to work, while several others—like the AI object eraser, AI edit suggestions and AI best face, and My Filter—don’t need Internet, ensuring privacy. 

The most notable one is perhaps the AI Select, a feature that uses AI to select and extract information from images, text, or media. It can grab any text appearing in a photo, make a photo clipping, create GIFs from Instagram reels, or make wallpaper using a photo you have open on the screen.

However, some features are missing in the One UI 7 software, like App Lock and Internet speedometer.

Samsung Galaxy A56: Camera

Boasting a triple-camera system, the Galaxy A56 5G features a 50MP main lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 5MP macro camera. We felt that the main camera produces somewhat disappointing photos, even in favourable lighting conditions. While the photos are detailed and the colours vibrant, image quality deteriorates significantly when shooting indoors.

However, the selfie camera captures close-to-natural skin tones and handles HDR well in both normal and portrait modes. An ultra-wide option is also available on the front camera, which is a welcome addition for group selfies.

Samsung Galaxy A56: Things That We Feel Could Have Been Better

To sum up, here are a few things that we feel could have been better:

• A56 is still at IP67; however, at this price range, we feel it must be with IP68/69 ingress protection
• It boasts a 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display; however, at this price range, we felt that it should have had a minimum of a 1.5K resolution display
• No charger is included in the box
• The main camera should be better at this price range 

Now, how apt is the price? 

In our opinion, there are a good few options in the market that offer comparable (or at least comparable) features in the same price range. But, a true Samsung fan may find everything just in order to cherish using the all-new Galaxy A56!