Samsung Galaxy A56 5G review: Look and feel will win you over, but is it enough? – Mint

Samsung recently launched the Galaxy A56 5G in India with the latest Exynos processor, a vibrant AMOLED display, a revamped design and the latest One UI 7. I have been using the Galaxy A56 for the past month and here’s a comprehensive look at how the phone holds up in everyday use.

Inside the box:

Inside the box of Galaxy A56, you get the device itself, a SIM ejector tool and a USB cable wrapped inside a paper covering and some documentation that noone ever reads. This is pretty similar to other Samsung devices in the past including the Galaxy S25 series where you’ll have to purchase a compatible fast charging adapter or make do with slow charging using 3rd party chargers (more on this later).

Design:

The Galaxy A56 5G comes with a glass sandwich design with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection on both the front and back. The frame is made of aluminium with curved edges just like the Galaxy S25 lineup.

However, the A56 does not totally imitate Samsung’s pricier offerings in terms of design and stands in its own league with a pill shaped camera cutout and minimalistic yet distnict colour options.

The Galaxy A56 gives a premium in-hand feel owing to its aluminium build and tactile buttons. It doesn’t hurt that the phone is actually pretty slim at 7.4mm and weighs just shy of 200 grams (198 to be precise).

I received the Olive colour variant for review which goes with my taste but in case you find this colour a little bland there are three more colour variants: Pink, Graphite and Lightgray.

The new Samsung mid-ranger comes with an IP67 rating, which, while not being top of the line, still guarantees protection till 1 meter of submersion under water for up to 30 minutes.

Display:

The Galaxy A56 comes with a 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass protection on top. It features a peak brightness of 1200 nits in High Brightness Mode (HBM) which translates to it being legible not just in indoors but even in bright outdoors.

The display on Galaxy A56 comes with thick bezels on all three sides with a chunky chin at the bottom. This isn’t something I am a big fan of given that even mid-range phones these days come with pretty slim bezels. However, the Samsung mid-ranger tends to come out slightly on top when you compare it with the likes of recently launched Pixel 9a which has similar bezels and poorer display protection.

Software:

Galaxy A56 runs the latest One UI 7 based on Android 15, and Samsung has promised 6 years of OS updates and 6 years of security patches with the device.

The One UI 7 on the Galaxy A56 is very similar to what we have already seen on the Galaxy S25 series with the same snappy animations, Now bar, bolder icons and widgets, and a redesigned notification system.

What’s not so great is that the One UI on the Galaxy A56 comes with tons of bloatware and ads, not only on the home screen but also on the lock screen (glyph interface). Given my limited experience with the Galaxy A series in the past, I was surprised by the amount of clutter on a premium mid-ranger and this is something Samsung should get rid of in the future.

That said, the One UI 7 is the best Android experience you can get right now. Don’t get me wrong, Oxygen OS15 is still a close second, but the One UI 7 just feels more fluid and easier to customise, even for a layman.

Over time, I grew fond of the many changes that the One UI 7 allows users to make, including the ability to match the color of the wallpaper to the notification tray and app icons, as well as the ability to customize the size and color of the lock screen widget to suit your personal aesthetic.

There are a few AI features that are carried over from the Galaxy S25 series, including Best Face (choosing from a variety of facial expressions for the image), Object Eraser, Auto Trim for videos and Read Aloud, but I’m not entirely sure they deserve the moniker ‘Awesome Intelligence’.

Performance:

Galaxy A56 is the first Samsung smartphone to be powered by the Exynos 1580 based on the 4nm processor and paired with the Xclipse 540 GPU. This is a powerful setup that can handle most day-to-day tasks with ease. It can also handle a bit of light gaming, but anything more is a bit of a stretch.

Looking at the benchmarks, the phone gets a score of 9,21,658, which is well above the score of the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, but below the number of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 or the Dimensity 8400.

On GeekBench, the phone gets a single-core score of 1348 and a multi-core score of 3869. I tried to run the 3D Bench Wild Life Extreme Stress test on this device several times, but it kept failing due to an error message.

Credit where it’s due, Samsung seems to have done a good job of keeping the heat at bay with this processor. There were no problems with excessive heating during gaming or benchmarks.

However, there were some frame drops to be noticed during extended gaming sessions, suggesting that the phone is definitely not a good bet for the gamers out there. Moreover, BGMI doesn’t currently support ‘Ultra’ or ‘Extreme’ frame rates, and the maximum you can set is in the HDR setting.

Camera:

Getting the specs out of the way, the Galaxy A56 5G comes with a 50MP primary shooter with OIS and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens. Unfortunately, there is no telephoto lens on the Galaxy A56 and the third camera slot is filled by the 5MP macro lens. On the front, there is a 12MP selfie shooter.

We’ll get to the rear cameras later, but first let’s talk about the 12MP selfie shooter. Don’t just go by the resolution, this is probably the best selfie camera you can get in this price range with plenty of detail retention and close to natural tones. There’s also an option to go for warmer tones if you prefer that.

The 50MP primary shooter is capable of some nice looking daylight shots with excellent detail retention and a good dynamic range. However, there is no telephoto shooter, meaning that images tend to lose detail as you zoom in, which is also limited to 10x.

The sensor’s night-time performance is a hit or miss, with decent dynamic range and white balance, but the darker images tend to lose some detail and there is a noticeable halo effect around artificial light sources.

Portraits under artificial light are fine, but the sensor can sometimes miss skin tones and even oversharpen images a little more than one would like. There were also some noticeable problems with edge detection when taking portraits in artificial light.

The ultra-wide-angle camera actually performs better than I expected for a 12MP shooter. There is a slight loss of detail when switching from the primary shooter to the ultra-wide-angle lens, but the final images retain pretty much the same colour tone as the main lens. Even at night, the ultra-wide-angle lens holds up well, but noise tends to increase with the 12MP lens, and the halo effect around artificial light sources is even more pronounced.

Verdict:

Priced at ₹41,999 for the base variant, the Galaxy A56 offers a compelling package with its visually appealing yet minimalist design, responsive and feature-packed software, a capable camera system, and an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance.

However, the device does come with some compromises. The presence of bloatware and adware in the UI is concerning at this price level, and the thick bezels around the display detract from its overall appeal. Moreover, while the Exynos processor handles daily tasks well, it can struggle under prolonged gaming, and the 5,000mAh battery falls short compared to the competition.

Despite its flaws, though, the Galaxy A56 is still an excellent choice for someone looking for a well-designed, reliable smartphone from a trusted brand without the price tag of a full-fledged flagship phone.