At an event held in Pakistan yesterday, Samsung officially launched the “Awesome” Galaxy A trio in the region. The long-awaited Galaxy A56, A36, and Galaxy A26 are now available in the local market. The company showcased the phone’s AI features, cameras, and design at the event, so here’s what you need to know.
Samsung’s new AI, which is conveniently dubbed “Awesome Intelligence,” is a collection of several high-end tools, which we only saw in the Galaxy S series until this point. It officially brings system-wide AI integration to all Galaxy Ax6 phones.
Awesome Intelligence is almost the same as Galaxy AI and should give you a doorway to options like Circle-to-Search, Smart AI Object Eraser, Best Face, Custom filters, improved Nightography, and many other tools. Of course, AI isn’t all the series improved. There are some design and hardware improvements as well.
Samsung Galaxy A56
This phone has been upgraded from plastic to an Aluminium Shell. The metal middle frame has a glass back and Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the front. The display specs are the same as last year, with 1080p resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate on a 6.7” Super AMOLED panel. Its brightness has been upgraded by up to 1900 nits with HDR10+.
The aluminum chassis has an IP67 rating, so it’s safe to drop it in water. The body itself is only 7.4mm thick, and there’s a 5000mAh battery inside it. Rather than using the old 25W input, Samsung upgraded the A56 and A36 to 45W charging. That’s double the input support over A55.
Camera-wise, there are no hardware upgrades, but the 50 MP main unit on the back is still solid with OIS, and now it has Best Face feature and grain-free Nightography modes. The rear second lens is a 12 MP Ultrawide, and the third is a 5 MP macro.
The selfie camera is 12 MP, and it does 10-bit HDR recording, so the video quality should be much better. Samsung Galaxy A56 comes with Exynos 1580, Android 15, WiFi 6, and up to 6 years of OS support, and its price tag in Pakistan is Rs 138,999/- for the 256 GB trim.
Samsung Galaxy A36
Some hardware specs are tuned down, but the Galaxy A36 is every bit as great as the Galaxy A56 in most categories. It uses the same display with 1080p resolution, 1900 nits brightness, and a 6.7” diagonal size. A 120Hz refresh rate and even the Gorilla Glass Victus+ are available here. However, the phone might be less durable due to the traditional plastic build.
A36’s bezels are thicker, but the phone’s profile is the same as A56 at 7.4mm. It’s also certified IP67 for water resistance. We also learned that A36 has a 5000mAh battery and 45W charging, but it powers the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip here. The performance will be relatively slower on this device.
Even though it is less powerful, this phone can still run all the Awesome Intelligence features available on its One UI 7 build. There’s even the same 6-year OS support promised with A36. It also has WiFi 6, under-display optical fingerprint ID, and NFC.
A 50 MP main camera with OIS lies on the back. An 8 MP rear lens gives you an ultrawide mode, and the tertiary shooter is a 5 MP macro. It even borrows the 12 MP selfie sensor from A56 with 10-bit HDR 4k 30FPS recording. The Galaxy A36 is priced at Rs 119,999/- in Pakistan.
Samsung Galaxy A26
It’s a lower mid-range model, which comes with an old Exynos 1380 chip and a notched 6.7” AMOLED panel. The display looks outdated. It does, however, bring an FHD+ 1080p resolution with a peak 120Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass Victus+ for screen reinforcement.
Galaxy A26 has an SD card slot, while the others don’t. The base trim for this phone is also 6 GB with up to 128 GB of storage. Apart from using the standard WiFi 5 instead of WiFi 6, there’s also no super fast charging for the Galaxy A26. You can only recharge its 5000mAh battery with a 25W charger.
It has a side fingerprint reader on top of the power key. It relies on a 50 MP main OIS shooter for primary use, an 8 MP second sensor for ultrawide, and a 13 MP front cam for selfies. The A26 can also take magnified shots with a 2 MP macro lens.
This newcomer brings NFC, IP67 rating, and Android 15 One UI 7 out of the box. The software support for Galaxy A26 is also extended to 6 years. With all these features, the Galaxy A26 sets a solid base for the series, priced at Rs 84,999/- only.