Price

Galaxy A56 256+8GB – N577,000
Galaxy A56 128+8GB – N617,000

The Samsung Galaxy A56 is the latest addition to the company’s A-series lineup, designed to bring AI marketed as Awesome Intelligence to a more affordable price point than flagship models. While it doesn’t carry the premium branding of the Galaxy S-series, the A56 offers a solid balance of durability, display quality, camera performance, and software support, making it a strong contender in its segment. With an improved design, a six-year update promise, and some flagship-level features, does the Galaxy A56 justify its price? Let’s find out.

Design and Display

The Samsung Galaxy A56 design is almost identical to its predecessor, the Galaxy A55. The only differentiating aspects are the colour options and the new ‘Grouped Linear floating camera island,’ which replaces the individual camera rings with a sleek, black pill-shaped module housing three sensors. This module protrudes slightly from the frame by a few millimetres and features a chrome-finished edge that doesn’t connect to the glass back panel, creating a distinctive floating effect. The protruding camera module will make the device wobble when it’s lying on a flat surface, and you will need a case to balance it to some extent.

The Samsung Galaxy A56 is available in three colour options: Awesome Olive, Awesome Graphite, and Awesome Light Gray. The Awesome Olive variant has a subtle, refined look and does a great job of concealing fingerprints and smudges on its glossy glass panel. For durability, the handset features Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both the front and back, offering enhanced resistance against scratches and drops. The handset is even IP67 water and dust resistance certified.

The smartphone is lightweight and slimmer than its counterpart; however, it is not quite compact. The Galaxy A56 measures 162.2mm and 77.5mm in length and breadth, respectively, making it relatively broad. Be that as it may, its flat edges make the device comfortable to hold. The phone also sports a Key Island for the volume and power buttons, making them easy to identify. As for I/O, the A56 sports a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer on the bottom edge, along with a speaker grille. The Samsung smartphone provides stereo speaker output, and the speakers get decently loud with minimal distortion at high volume levels.

Display-wise, the Samsung Galaxy A56 sports a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED panel with FHD+ resolution, up to 120Hz refresh rate, and a centre punch-hole for the selfie camera. The display supports 1,900 nits of peak brightness, ensuring decent visibility outdoors under direct sunlight while reading text and navigating between screens. However, its viewing experience is not as immersive as, say, the OnePlus 13R, which offers relatively thin bezels and superior peak brightness. Nevertheless, the Samsung Galaxy A56 delivers punchy, vibrant colours that can be customised to individual preferences via the settings menu. The smartphone also offers impressive viewing angles and a strong contrast ratio, ensuring deep blacks. While the smartphone lacks HDR playback for enhanced contrast, brightness, and colour accuracy, it’s Widevine L1 certified to stream content in FHD resolution, allowing Full HD streaming on platforms like Netflix.

Cameras

In terms of optics, the Samsung Galaxy A56 sports triple rear cameras with a 50MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultrawide lens, and a 5MP macro unit. Up front, it sports an upgraded 12MP snapper for selfies and video calling. The handset is capable of shooting videos at UHD (4K) at 30 frames per second, with sufficient stabilisation, good auto-focus speed, and near-accurate colour rendering.

In still photography, the Galaxy A56 excels in detail preservation, natural colour accuracy, and well-balanced exposure with its primary camera. While there is room for improvement in colour accuracy, especially with ultrawides, low-light detail retention, and portrait processing, the handset is a strong contender in its segment.

The device also allows users to customise an image’s background by adjusting the focal length for a bokeh effect. Additionally, it includes Auto Trim, enabling quick and easy video edits in both vertical and horizontal formats, and Instant Slow-Mo, allowing users to slow down any video with a simple long press.

The Galaxy A56 produces more natural-looking images compared to the Galaxy A36, which boosts greens for extra vibrancy. Additionally, the A56 offers superior noise reduction and maintains consistent focus across the frame, resulting in sharper, more balanced shots.

Performance and Software

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy A56 rocks the in-house Exynos 1580 SoC paired with 8GB/12GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB storage. We received the top 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant for review. The performance remains modest both in synthetic benchmarks and real-world tests. The handset might not entice power-hungry users but has plenty to offer to casual everyday users.

When it comes to software, the Samsung Galaxy A56 boots One UI 7 layered atop Android 15 out of the box, offering the same experience as the flagship S-series lineup. The handset also boasts some of the Galaxy AI tools to further enhance usability, including Circle to Search for easy screen searches and AI Select, which provides different options depending on the screen content.

The smartphone also offers Samsung’s Pay feature and Knox security, among other things. While it comes with a fair share of pre-installed apps, most of them can be uninstalled for a relatively cleaner UI. Besides that, the A56 sets a new benchmark in the industry by offering six years of major OS and security updates, keeping your investment relevant until at least 2031.

Battery and Charging

The battery holds up well for everyday tasks like streaming, browsing, and social media scrolling, but not for heavy usage. Regular users can expect all-day battery life, and in our experience, the device still had 20-25 percent charge remaining by bedtime after a full day of use. The Samsung Galaxy A56 may not offer the quickest charging speeds, but it can replenish an almost-dead battery to 100 percent in approximately an hour. The device supports 45W fast charging; however, like other Samsung models, a compatible charger must be purchased separately.

Final Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy A56 is priced in Nigeria at [insert price], which seems a bit high for its specifications. However, the real strength of this smartphone lies in its software. The six years of major OS and security updates ensure longevity, a rare offering in the mid-range segment. Furthermore, the Galaxy A56’s advanced processing capabilities, combined with AI-powered camera tools, give it an edge.

The device also stands out for its durable design, with an IP67 rating and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection, along with the new floating camera island, which adds a unique touch. While power users might not appreciate it, the Galaxy A56 delivers reliable performance and solid battery life for everyday use. Additionally, its display and audio setup make it an excellent choice for content consumption.

For those seeking a future-proof mid-range smartphone with long-term software support, a durable build, and AI-driven enhancements, the Galaxy A56 is a compelling option.

Full Specifications.