Samsung Galaxy A56 5G: The king of the mid-range may be faltering
The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G presents itself as a solid further development of the mid-range class. It comes in two storage variants with either 128 or 256 GB of internal storage, costing around $370 and $410 respectively—originally, its MRSP was higher. Visually, the A56 sets itself apart through its new design with a brushed aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the front and back, as well as an IP67 certification. It's become slightly bigger, but also slimmer and more lightweight compared to its predecessor, with an improved display-to-surface ratio of 88% thanks to its narrower bezels.
From a tech standpoint, the A56 has to do without a microSD card slot but in return, it continues to offer standards such as Wi-Fi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and USB 2.0. In terms of software, it runs Android 15 and One UI 7.0, and is set to be supplied with updates until March 2032. A slimmed-down AI function, "Awesome Intelligence", allows users to make use of image editing functions and features such Circle to Search or Gemini.
Its camera setup unfortunately continues to show little progress. While its front-facing camera delivers improved shots thanks to its new sensor, the triple-camera on the back is the exact same model as before. Its picture quality is solid, but the lens struggles with details and in low-light conditions. It now supports HDR video—on the front and on the back. Its digital zoom is still usable up to a 2x magnification, but anything beyond that makes the image quality suffer.
The phone's display has grown in size to 6.67 inches and boasts a high brightness of up to 2,001 cd/m². Despite a slightly lower pixel density, its display still looks super sharp. The Galaxy A56 is powered by the new Exynos 1580 with 8 GB LPDDR5 RAM. It offers noticeable performance improvements during everyday use and scored ahead of lots of competitor devices during the benchmarks, however, it still lags behind high-end SoCs like the Apple A18. The cell phone's 5,000 mAh battery ensures long runtimes and can be charged in around 71 minutes at up to 45 watts using a cable—it unfortunately doesn't support wireless charging.
So, is this enough to keep up with the competition from Xiaomi, Apple, Google and co? A clear yes and no: In view of its MRSP, Samsung should be offering more, especially when it comes to the phone's performance and main camera. However, as its price is rapidly sinking, the Galaxy A56 proves to be a very attractive total package.
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