The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G, successor to the A55 5G, was launched by the brand a few weeks back with a starting price of Rs 41,999. The device comes with an upgraded Processor along with new colours as well. Here’s our review of the most powerful A-series device from Samsung and whether you should consider buying it at its price point or not.
Design & Display
The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G retains the same metal frame from its predecessor but implements it in a slightly refined manner. The device is slightly slimmer and noticeably lighter than the Galaxy A55 5G. The flat metal frame feels as premium as the Galaxy S25+ in hand. Even the key island on the Galaxy A56 5G is slightly flatter than the Galaxy A55 5G and no wonder it looks much better this year.
The buttons have a tactile feel to them when clicked and the overall form factor is quite likable. The rear design has also been refreshed with a singular camera module housing the three Sensors instead of each sensor being individually stacked. The all-black camera module is a welcome design change that enhances the look of the phone.
The olive shade we got looks excellent and unlike any colour I have seen on a Samsung phone. Because it’s glass on the back, protected with Gorilla Glass Victus+, it does attract some fingerprints which are fortunately not visible as it’s a light shade of green.
The Haptics of the device are similar to last year and they somewhat still feel weak. While they are precise and tight, they definitely won’t be able to notify you of calls if in your pocket because they never did for me. The speakers, on the other hand, are impressive, both in terms of loudness and depth. You do get some amount of bass while the music and vocals in a song are also given equal importance.
Overall, Samsung has done a commendable job in making the phone look and feel more premium than last year’s A55, and it certainly delivers on that front. While there’s room for improvement in haptics, we had no other complaints regarding the Galaxy A56 5G’s design and build quality.
Speaking of the display, it’s a 6.7-inch 120Hz Super AMOLED panel with a full-HD+ Resolution (1080 x 2340 pixels), Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection, and 1900 nits peak brightness.
This is a gorgeous panel and excels at every aspect you could think of for a smartphone display at this price. It’s smooth, sharp, vivid, with great viewing angles, and packs enough brightness under direct sunlight for a clear viewing experience.
Watching videos and movies on this display was a treat to the eye. What could have been improved are the bezels. While they are decently thin on three sides, the thicker chin detracts from an overall great aesthetic appeal. Brands like Nothing have managed to equip their devices with displays that have even bezels on all sides and are priced cheaper than the Galaxy A56 5G.
The optical fingerprint scanner works as it should without any hiccups to complain about.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy F16 5G Launched in India: All Details
Software and Performance
The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G is powered by the new Exynos 1580 Chipset that’s paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Last year’s Exynos chip did well in most areas and so did the Exynos 1580 in the Galaxy A56 5G.
The chip didn’t overheat and handled titles like Call of Duty Mobile at medium graphics with a consistent frame rate. Even while gaming, the back of the device remained surprisingly cool. For those who need benchmarks of the chip, the Exynos 1580 scored 1306 points in single-core tests and 3877 in multi-core tests. In the GPU department, the chip scored 6924 points.
By the benchmarks, you can make out that the Exynos 1580 is not a flagship chip by any means and does not even come close to the likes of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, 7+ Gen 3, 8s Gen 3, etc., which are chipsets available at this price point in other devices. It scores slightly above the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra in the Poco X6 Pro which scored 1184 in single-core and 3889 on multi-core tests. The chip also scores higher in all tests than the Exynos 1480.
Again, the chip is not tuned for gaming but for smooth daily use and it delivers on that front. Paired with One UI 7, the device performs exceptionally smoothly in daily use, such as while scrolling through apps, switching through them, browsing the web, etc. It’s snappy and fluid at the same time. While I did notice micro stutters in animations at times, I think those can be ironed out with future software updates.
Speaking of One UI 7, we have already praised the update enough in the Galaxy S25 series reviews and on the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G, it recreates the same experience to some extent. You do get some basic Galaxy AI features in the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G but not under the Galaxy AI section. Instead, there’s a section called “Intelligent Features” under the Advanced Features section in the Settings App that houses these features.
The features include Object Eraser, Best Face, Edit suggestions, custom filters, auto-trim, AI select, Google’s Circle to Search, and Read aloud. Features like Now Brief, AI wallpapers, etc. from the S25 series have all been left out.
Aside from these, the Now Bar is there which can show you ongoing activities like the Media Player, even on the lock screen and Always-on display. However, its positioning is a little awkward compared to the S25 series because the fingerprint scanner is placed lower in the screen in A-series devices than the S25 series due to which the Now Bar is placed above the fingerprint sensor.
Other One UI 7 features like the separate Quick settings and Notifications Shade, support for animation tuning via the Home Up Good Lock module, smoother and parallel animations, and more, are available for users to explore.
It does come with some amount of bloatware pre-installed which is given as it’s an A-series device. This includes apps like Truecaller, Snapchat, MapmyIndia, Glance lock screen, and more.
The device has been running on the January 2025 security patch out of the box and we haven’t received any update on our unit since unboxing. Due to that, we also haven’t been able to test whether the device supports seamless updates because the Galaxy A55 5G was the first Samsung phone to do so.
The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G is promised to receive 6 generations of Android OS updates and 6 years of security patches which is a standout offering by Samsung as no other brand is offering such an update policy for their device at this price point.
Connectivity performance, including that of NFC, 5G, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth, remained optimal. The device did get slightly warm when on 5G and under direct sunlight but that’s normal behavior for most devices.
Battery
The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G runs on a 5000mAh battery with 45W fast charging. That’s the same as the Galaxy A55 5G but the battery life seems to have improved slightly, likely due to the chip upgrades.
I could squeeze out a better runtime for my usage pattern, where the device could easily get me through 24 hours of use with about 6.5 to 7 hours of screen-on time. I could even touch 7.5 to 8 hours when I was watching videos on the device and these numbers are excellent.
These stats include Wi-Fi use, Always-on display turned on for the majority of the time, chatting on WhatsApp, some calling, browsing Chrome, scrolling through Instagram and X, and more. With moderate use, the device can even touch the 2-day mark.
The device took an hour and three minutes to charge from 6% to 100% which is not the best when compared to competitors.
Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G gets a triple cam setup including a 50-megapixel f/1.8 primary shooter, along with a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide snapper and a 5-megapixel macro camera. The front-facing camera includes a 32-megapixel f/2.2 sensor for selfies and video calls.
The A56 5G captures stunning photos in daylight, delivering excellent detail and vibrant colors. Samsung’s signature color tuning is evident, same as last year’s Galaxy A55 5G. The dynamic range is impressive, ensuring well-balanced highlights and shadows, making for an overall solid shot.
Ultra-wide angle photos don’t show a major colour shift over shots from the main sensor and the detailing and sharpness of the shot is great. Similar to last year’s issue, though, the EDGE distortion in these photos is poor and the shots lose significant details on either side.
Portrait photos are equally impressive, with a natural-looking bokeh effect and highly accurate edge detection. The subject stands out seamlessly against the blurred background, while the level of detail remains excellent.
Photos shot under artificial lighting look impressive once again, but the colours don’t look as natural or lifelike as they are. The overall tone of the shot is on the cooler side, giving them a slight blue hue. You can notice the difference between the colours of the plant in the regular and macro shots clicked under artificial lighting as shown above.
Speaking of macro photos, they have a decent amount of detailing but I didn’t find myself using the macro mode much, apart from when I had to test it.
Low-light photography is well handled by the sensor where the detailing doesn’t take a hit but the colours slightly do. However, Samsung has done a great job at eliminating noise from such shots.
When Night mode is turned on, the brightness of the scene shoots up while the images come out sharp.
When it comes to selfies, the front-facing sensor on the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G delivers excellent results. It maintains a good dynamic range, well-balanced colors, and impressive sharpness and detail, ensuring high-quality shots.
