Samsung Galaxy A56 first impressions

Samsung’s high-end smartphones look good, and the same can be said of the Galaxy A56. It’s a big smartphone that matches up to premium big-screen options in size, with a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display. With a resolution of 1080x2340 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and peak brightness of 1900 nits, it’s a decent display that is par for the course as far as smartphones priced at over Rs. 40,000 go. You also get Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection, plus a basic always-on display mode.

 

 

 

 

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The Samsung Galaxy A56 gets a flat screen and easy-to-grip sides; I quite like the brushed look and feel of the aluminium frame. At the back is glass, with a glossy but minimalist look which gives the A56 an air of sophistication. The triple-camera setup at the back does stick out a bit, but  I didn’t really mind how it felt.

While you might expect big-name chipsets on flagship devices, the Samsung Galaxy A56 goes with the in-house Exynos 1580 processor. On spec, it’s a decent chipset that handles the functionality and feature set of the smartphone well enough, including enabling 5G and dual-SIM connectivity, Wi-Fi 6, and more.

The Galaxy A56 runs on OneUI 7 which is based on Android 15. While this is decent, I did have a few issues with bloatware on the phone, including apps such as Glance which takeover the lock screen and can’t be easily turned off. It’s a less-than-ideal software experience despite the same core software package, which is where S-series devices tend to do a better job.

ALSO SEE: Samsung Galaxy S25+ review

The phone has a 5000mAh battery with support for 45W wired charging though the USB Type-C port. You get up to 256GB of storage on the phone, as well as up to 12GB of RAM - the configuration of the unit sent to be for review. There are some AI features on the phone - interestingly called ‘Intelligent features’ instead of Galaxy AI - but these are fairly simple and not really in focus on this phone.

The Samsung Galaxy A56 gets a triple-camera setup, much like high-end devices. You can even expect decent performance from the 50-megapixel primary camera and 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, but I quite liked that the phone comes with a dedicated 5-megapixel macro camera as well. This adds a bit of versatility to the camera setup, allowing for a wider range of capabilities than typical options in this price segment.

Camera performance is decent, and the dedicated macro mode does a good job for those kind of pictures. The ultra-wide does an impressive field of view which gets a lot of subject matter in the frame, while the main camera is reliable for everyday point-and-shoot photography.

The Samsung Galaxy A56 isn’t a glamorous smartphone, but it’s a decent smartphone at first glance nonetheless. Decent build quality and looks, a good display, a practical and versatile camera system, and all the important specifications make this well worth considering if you have a budget of under Rs. 50,000.

While the software was a bit underwhelming because of the bloatware, and the peak charging speed of 45W may be disappointing as compared to the competition, for the large part the Samsung Galaxy A56 seems to be a solid offering for the price.