The Galaxy A56 is the worst mid-range phone I used in 2025

There are plenty of contenders for the best phone of 2025; I enjoyed using the Vivo X200 Pro, Xiaomi 15 Ultra, Find X8 Ultra, Honor Magic 7 Pro, and the Find N5. What really stands out is the gains made by budget phones; devices like the POCO X7 Pro and Nothing Phone 3a showcase just what’s possible when brands pay attention to the budget category.

Similarly, mid-range phones have never been better, with the OnePlus Nord 4, OnePlus 13R, and Pixel 9a delivering standout cameras and powerful hardware. At the other end of the scale is the Galaxy A56; Samsung’s latest mid-ranger has incremental upgrades, and while it looks a little different to its predecessor, it has the same foibles. In a year of strong options, the Galaxy A56 is the worst mid-range phone on sale today.

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Samsung never really offered a strong hardware package with its A series devices, instead positioning these phones as “all-rounders.” As such, the Exynos 1580 on the Galaxy A56 is considerably slower than other mid-range phones, and this is immediately evident when you push the hardware — it just doesn’t do a good job with gaming, and I noticed some lag after a week of use even with the optimized One UI 7.

I was holding out for Samsung to make considerable changes in this area. That isn’t the case, and the A56 continues to be just as middling as its predecessors — the hardware just isn’t good enough for a phone that costs $499. The one positive change is that the panel gets brighter, and it does a good job with HDR content. However, it doesn’t get as bright as the Nord 4 or the Phone 3a Pro in daily use.

Another uptick has to do with the visual aesthetic; Samsung tweaked the design at the back, introducing an oblong camera island that looks clean. The phone has a metal mid-frame and glass back, and has a better in-hand feel than some of its predecessors. You also get Samsung Knox, and there’s IP67 ingress protection.

Samsung is doubling down on AI, so the A56 gets Best Face, Instant Slo-mo, and auto-trim features. However, you don’t get the entire Galaxy AI suite of utilities — you’ll need to buy the Galaxy S25 series to unlock the extras. Google did a much better job porting over most of its AI utilities into the Pixel 9a, and if you’re ready to dive into AI-assisted features, that’s the mid-range phone I recommend.

The Galaxy A56 has the same 5000mAh battery as last year, and counter to every other phone I tested in 2025, the battery doesn’t last as long as its predecessor. I still got a day’s worth of use at times, but push the device to any extent, and you’ll need to plug it in before the night’s out.

Samsung switched to 45W charging, but it still takes the A56 well over 75 minutes to charge the battery, and it is one of the slowest-charging mid-range phones around — only the Pixel 9a takes longer. Samsung doesn’t use silicon-carbide battery tech either, and that means yet another year where the A56 doesn’t quite measure up to its rivals.

Then there’s the cameras; the phone has a good selfie camera, and while there’s no autofocus, it does a decent enough job in well-lit scenarios. The main 50MP camera proved to be inconsistent, and the quality of the images I got out of the device just didn’t hold up with other mid-rangers. Similarly, the auxiliary cameras just aren’t worth the bother, and Samsung really needs to take a page out of Nothing’s playbook and focus on delivering two great cameras on its devices.

I shared these findings with a Samsung India representative, and was told that the brand jotted down the feedback and would get back to me if there’s anything to share. Considering my previous interactions with Samsung over the years, I doubt anything would come of it.

Having tested all Galaxy A series devices going back to the original Galaxy A5, and A7, I’d like to think that I have a decent understanding of Samsung’s mid-range Galaxy A portfolio. In recent years, the brand started to rest on its laurels, basically rehashing the same device with little to no changes. That allowed its Chinese rivals to catch up, and with the Galaxy A56, we’re at a point where it doesn’t make any sense to buy the device when there are much better alternatives available.

I know that a big allure with Samsung’s phones is the familiar software, but even with One UI 7, the phone just doesn’t do enough to justify its $499 asking price. While Samsung didn’t have much in the way of rivalry in the U.S., that isn’t the case now — the Pixel 9a and OnePlus 13R deliver a better experience in just about every area, and they cost the same as the A56. If you’re outside North America, you should consider taking a look at the POCO X7 Pro or the Nord 4 in addition to the aforementioned devices.