Samsung Galaxy A56 5G review – sets a new standard for mid-tier smartphones

Samsung has set a new and higher standard for mid-tier smartphones with the release of the Galaxy A56 5G which is packed with features and AI you’d expect to find on a more expensive flagship device.

Priced at $699 (128GB storage) and $799 (256GB), the Galaxy A56 offers remarkable quality and value.

It has a simple yet sleek design with a metal frame and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus along with IP67 rating for dust and water resistance.

In the hand, the Galaxy A56 certainly feels premium with great build quality.

The side buttons are all located high on the right edge which gives users plenty of room to grip the phone without an accidental press of a button.

The device has a 6.7 inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display (1080 x 2340 resolution) which looks crisp and bright with up to 1200 nits Vision Booster so that you can see and enjoy your content comfortably in any lighting conditions.

The device is powered by the Exynos 1580 octa-core processor and is backed by a cooling system to make it possible to multitask, stream content and play the latest games smoothly and seamlessly.

The Samsung Galaxy A56 is running Android 15 at its core but also includes Samsung’s latest One UI 7 user interface which gives it a fresh look and easy navigation of the device and its features.

It’s the same OS Samsung uses in its Galaxy S range of smartphones.

Samsung says it will support up to six generations of OS upgrades as well as six years of security updates So you can rest assured the device will last you a long time.

Naturally, this is also compatible with other Galaxy devices in the Samsung ecosystem including Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Ring.

And the Samsung Galaxy A56 also has AI onboard.

Samsung calls it Awesome Intelligence and while not being as rich and powerful as the flagship Galaxy AI, it’s still remarkably useful for a phone of this price.

It includes Circle to Search with Google along with the number of photo editing tools including Object Eraser to remove any unwanted people or things in your images.

Motion Photos ensures you get the group shot just right with the ability to choose your favourite faces which the phone captures in a burst when the image is taken.

And on the video side it’s super easy to make highlight reels to share on social media.

Speaking of the cameras, the Samsung Galaxy A56 has a triple rear system comprised of a 12MP ultra-wide, 50MP wide-angle and 5MP macro camera.

The images we took with the device in good light were sharp and bright with accurate colours.

One downside is no optical zoom – the best you can do is up to 10x digital zoom.

And on the front is a 12MP selfie camera which not only takes great images but also videos in Super HDR to ensure optimal quality and contrast.

The camera system also can handle low light conditions so you still getting high resolution and low noise thanks to Samsung’s Nightography feature which manages to drag a lot more light into the sensor when it appears there is none.

We’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy A56 for the past couple of weeks as our daily driver and the battery lasted well into a second day on a full charge of the 5000mAh battery.

One thing it doesn’t have is wireless charging and this is something we missed because we were unable to take advantage of the wireless charging offered in our car whenever we were driving.

But in the end, it didn’t matter because the battery life was long enough to get us through the day and into the next even without those mini charging sessions while we were driving.

The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G is available now and priced at $699 (128GB) and $799 (256GB).

VERDICT

The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G is an excellent smartphone that certainly looks and acts more premium than its mid-tier price tag. If you’re looking for a well-built, high quality, feature-packed, great value mid-tier device, the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G should be at the top of your list.