Here comes the new Galaxy A36! There are a few changes compared to the previous generation. There are a lot of similarities compared to the A56, so there will be drawing some comparisons.
Design
Looking at the phone itself, the Galaxy A36 is practically having the same design as the A56. We have the Key Island as well, though the frame seems to be made out of plastic, just like the Galaxy A35.
The camera bump at the back is more or less the same as the A56, though there is just one big piece covering all the camera lenses. Just like the Galaxy A56, my intrusive thoughts won over me and I tried to pry off the camera cover. I did not actually pry it out, but yes – you can actually pry it out. Disclaimer again: I’m not responsible for what happens after prying it out.
Camera
Since we’re here, let’s now talk about the cameras. The Galaxy A36 uses the same cameras as the A35 from last year – but the chipset has been changed from Exynos to Snapdragon – hence the ISP is also different. And oh boy, I have a lot of things to say about it.
I took the phone to Taiwan to take pics since we’re reviewing it anyway. To have a look at all the pictures and videos taken with the Samsung Galaxy A36, watch our video at the top of this review.
Performance
And I also think the choice to use the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is a mistake. You see, the A35 from last year was the A54’s chipset – and Samsung should’ve just used the A55’s chipset on the A36, but they did not. And hence, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 being a disappointing choice.
It’s generally smooth enough to navigate around the system, but it’s a different story when it comes to the gaming performance. In short, 60fps is unachievable in Genshin Impact even at the lowest graphical settings, and Zenless Zone Zero is also stuttery at the lowest graphical settings. But then again, it can handle simple games like PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile, so it truly depends on what games you’re playing.
Battery life
Does the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 offer good battery life then? Well, not exactly. This A36 has the same 5,000mAh battery capacity as the A56 and yet it lasts about an hour less in our standardized battery life test. So yes, the Exynos 1580 is more efficient than the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3. Surprising, I know.
Charging speed
As for the charging speed, the new A36 actually got upgraded to 45W and it takes around 72 minutes to charge from 15% to completion. But it has the same behavior as the Galaxy A56.
It’s only the first few minutes or so where it shoots up to around 43W for a short while before dropping back to 15W.
I still honestly think that Samsung can push the wattage higher to achieve must faster charging since the temperature is around 37.5°C at most. Some other phones we tried can even go up to 42.5°C.
Maybe Samsung can change the charging behavior via a software update – but this is what we have now.
Screen
The screen is also basically the same as the Galaxy A56. It’s using a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen with 2340×1080 pixels in resolution and goes up to 120Hz refresh rate, and also has a maximum auto brightness of around 1150 nits.
We also have four different screen color modes available – and they behave the same too. Cranking up the vividness level will increase the DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. For this phone though, when we do crank it up to the maximum vividness level 3, both sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut coverages goes nearly 100%, just as expected.
Software
As for the software, it’s once again basically the same as the Galaxy A56. The fingerprint scanner is located lower – which I still think is not a good location, and the Now Bar has to be moved higher.
The Now Bar animations are still a bit jarring like the Galaxy A56, but not a big deal anyway.
The Now Brief feature is also missing on the A36, but other than that – all other features are present on the A36.
Once more, you can check out our other video where we go through how I set up my Samsung devices. Most of those things apply to the Galaxy A series too.
A few more things to mention
And a few more things to mention – the Galaxy A36 uses a USB 2.0 port at the bottom and does not have display output capability – and it also no longer has the microSD card slot. Once more, I have no idea why Samsung removed it.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A36?
So, should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A36? I think this is a tough question to answer. At the price of RM1,499, I think this is actually quite expensive – particularly because of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3. If Samsung opted for the Exynos 1480, I’d say it’s a much better deal.
I think the biggest reason to buy the Galaxy A36 is because of One UI 7. Even with the Now Brief missing, One UI 7 is superbly powerful thanks to features such as the Modes and Routines and Samsung Wallet.
Where to buy? (Affiliate links)
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