First Impressions: Samsung Galaxy A56 5G Review

Introduction

Samsung’s Galaxy A56 5G is here to take on an increasingly competitive mid-range market – but can it really stand out in 2025?

The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G offers several upgrades, including a thinner design, larger screen, faster charging, and, of course, a faster processor. However, it’s also more expensive. At an increased £499 compared to its £439 predecessor, Samsung has its work cut out to tempt consumers this year.

Does it have what it takes to be one of the best mid-range phones in 2025? While I’m not yet ready to deliver my final thoughts, I got to spend a bit of time with the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G ahead of today’s reveal, and here’s what I think so far. 

Design and screen

• Similar design with a thinner build
• Larger 6.7-inch AMOLED display
• IP67 dust and water resistance

Put the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G next to last year’s Samsung Galaxy A55 5G and you might struggle to tell the difference – at a glance, anyway. But while this year’s mid-ranger sports the same overall look as its predecessor, a handful of meaningful changes make it a little more tempting.

The most noticeable change is the slimmer design, which drops from 8.2mm to just 7.4mm – an impressive feat for a phone with a fairly large 6.6-inch screen and a 5000mAh battery.

That does make a difference to the in-hand feel, especially when combined with returning elements like a combination of glass and metal on both the front and rear. Many mid-rangers stick with the plastic alternative to save on manufacturing costs, and as a result, the A56 5G feels more premium than its £499 price tag suggests. 

The other notable difference is a slight increase in screen size, from 6.6 to 6.7 inches. However, the phone isn’t any taller or wider as a result, achieved instead by slimmer bezels. It’s not anywhere close to the super-slim bezels of the OnePlus Nord 4, but next to the super-chunky bezels of the Google Pixel 8a, it’s pretty sleek in comparison. 

It’s not just bigger, either. The Galaxy A56 5G has a boosted 1900nits peak brightness and up to 1200nits in HMB, which should make it a little easier to use in outdoor environments. It certainly popped during my short hands-on time under exceptionally bright indoor lighting, anyway, with super-smooth scrolling aided by the (adaptive, but not LTPO) 120Hz refresh rate. 

It’s set to be available in fun shades – Awesome Graphite, Awesome Light Gray, Awesome Olive and Awesome Pink – alongside the regular black and white options for those who want a more understated look. 

Durability is important with glass on both the front and rear, so Samsung has once again decided to use Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both. It’ll also survive the wind and rain with IP67 dust and water resistance. 

It’s not the IP68 we’ve begun seeing creep into the mid-range market, but unless you plan on dunking your phone in water, it shouldn’t make much of a difference in day-to-day use. 

Performance and software

• Exynos 1580 power
• Same camera hardware as Galaxy A55 5G
• Some AI smarts, but not Galaxy AI smarts

Samsung might’ve purged its in-house Exynos chipsets from its flagship Galaxy S25 range, but it’s still going strong, as far as the Galaxy A56 5G is concerned. The newer Exynos 1580 processor replaces last year’s 1570, with Samsung claiming an 18% boost to CPU speeds, a 17% uptick to GPU speeds and a 12% increase in NPU smarts as a result.

The Exynos 1580 isn’t going to compete with the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy found in the Galaxy S25, but it should hold its own in the mid-range market – especially when combined with a 15% larger vapour chamber to keep the chipset cool when gaming. 

We’ll know for sure once we get a sample back to the Trusted Reviews towers for full testing and benchmarking.  

Beyond the inclusion of a new chipset, however, things look pretty familiar. 

The A56 5G once again features an OIS-enabled 50MP f/1.8 primary camera, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 5MP macro. The latter is a particular disappointment, given its niche focus and the price increase from this year’s model. A more helpful lens, like a telephoto, would’ve been a nice upgrade here.

Samsung has boosted the ISP to improve the quality of images captured, which also powers a new low-noise mode on the front-facing camera in low-light conditions. That front-facing camera looks like a downgrade on paper, dropping from 32MP to just 12MP, but Samsung claims that the ‘Video HDR’ camera provides richer colours and tones when recording. 

The battery also remains unchanged, but given that the 5000mAh cell matches that of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it’s not a huge complaint. That said, we’re starting to see mid-rangers with later batteries, like the 6000mAh cell found within the Poco X7 Pro, so it’s not exactly a stand-out feature either.

The boost from 25W charging to 45W charging is a nice addition that should reduce the amount of time spent tethered to the charger. Given that the battery and fast charge capabilities mirror the S25 Ultra, that could translate to similar charge times – but we’ll have to verify that once we begin our in-depth testing.  

The Galaxy A56 5G is also set to offer the upgraded OneUI 7 based on Android 15 out of the box, despite still being in beta testing for high-end phones like the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy Z Fold 6. 

We waxed lyrical about the update in our Galaxy S25 Ultra review if you want to find out more, but it essentially offers a redesigned UI with new icons, animations and more that give it a refreshed look and feel.

There are even a handful of AI features on offer, including Google Circle to Search, auto-trim AI video editing, AI smarts that replicate the filter of any photo shown to it, and upgraded object eraser functionality. To be clear, this isn’t full Galaxy AI support, rather a light smattering of AI features, but it’s still nice to see.

Things should continue to improve over time too, with Samsung committing to six OS upgrades that’ll take the mid-ranger all the way to OneUI 13 based on Android 21. It’s a year off the seven-year promise of the Pixel 8a, but remains one of the best at any price point. 

Early thoughts

The Samsung Galaxy A56 5G represents a minor upgrade to Samsung’s popular mid-ranger, taking an already-successful formula and tweaking it ever-so-slightly. The thinner build, larger screen and faster charging are solid additions to the roster, even if it’s more expensive as a result.

However, elements like underwhelming auxiliary cameras remain unchanged – and that could be a bit of a misstep when the 2025 mid-range market is looking more competitive than ever. That said, I’ll save my final thoughts for the full review in the coming days.