Samsung Galaxy A36 5G review: Missed the memo that mid-range can be exciting

The Galaxy A series is where you turn when you want some of that Samsung Galaxy S main character energy, but are unwilling or unable to pay top dollar for the privilege.

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G sits right in the middle of this most mid-range of series, offering a broadly similar experience to the Galaxy A56, but for £100 less.

We found the Samsung Galaxy A56 to be a fairly modest addition to the market, and one that didn’t quite do enough to lift it into the elite mid-range tier. Can this cheaper alternative achieve a better mix of value and performance?

Note: Our Galaxy A26 review sample was supplied by Three UK, but it had no say in how we reviewed the device.

Design & Build

• Plastic frame and rear
• Gorilla Glass Victus+
• 195g
• IP67 rated

The Samsung Galaxy A36 broadly follows the design of last year’s Samsung Galaxy A35. Aside from the new joined-together camera module, as seen on the Samsung Galaxy A56, it looks and feels much the same as its predecessor.

It’s slimmer than before at just 7.4mm thick (compared to the 8.2mm A35), while at 195g it’s a not inconsiderable 14g lighter. The display bezel, too, is a little slimmer than before, though it still features a telltale thicker chin that tells you you’re dealing with a cheaper phone.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Talking of which, you’re once again dealing with an all-plastic construction. The Galaxy A36 lacks the more premium feel of the Galaxy A56, which has a metal frame.

Samsung has kept the IP67 certification, which is good to see. It means that the Samsung Galaxy A36 is more watertight than most phones at this price. The Honor 400, for example, only manages an IP65 rating.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

It’s very difficult to make out from my photos, but my test model comes in a colour known as ‘Awesome Lime’. This isn’t a deep green, but rather a kind of off-white with a slight greenish tinge from certain angles.

You can also specify it in Awesome Lavender, Awesome Black, and Awesome White, though I would have liked to have seen some bolder colour options.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.7-inch AMOLED display
• 1200 nits (HBM) and 120Hz
• Decent stereo speakers

Samsung has improved the display with its latest mid-ranger, which is always good to see. It’s a (slightly) larger 6.7-inch AMOLED with an FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.

One of the issues I had with the Galaxy A35 was that its screen didn’t quite get bright enough. Samsung has addressed this by bumping the maximum brightness (auto-brightness mode) of 1200 nits – up from 1000 nits in the Galaxy A35.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Sections of the screen will also hit 1900 nits during HDR content. Image quality is strong, with Samsung’s usual vibrant colours (which I toned down by switching from Vivid to Natural) and deep blacks.

All in all, it appears to be a dead match for the more expensive Galaxy A56, which is always nice to see.

That vibrant picture is accompanied by a proper set of stereo speakers. They’re excellent for a phone at this price, offering decent clarity and volume, and strong separation between the channels.

Specs & Performance

• Snapdragon 6 Gen 3
• 8GB RAM
• 256GB storage

Samsung hasn’t supplied quite as much of a performance boost as I would have liked for the Galaxy A36.

There’s a new Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor onboard, but our benchmark tests didn’t reveal a particularly pronounced boost over the Galaxy A35 and its Exynos 1380.

You do get 8GB of RAM with the sole UK model, up from 6GB, which is welcome. Nonetheless, the raw numbers suggest that this year’s model is treading water.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Given that we weren’t particularly impressed with the performance of last year’s model, this isn’t a very positive thing to be reporting.

Sure enough, I found the Samsung Galaxy A36 to be a little wallowier than I would have liked, with a noticeable degree of stutter when waking the phone or bringing up a timer through Bixby.

We’re not talking about huge amount of slowdown here, but I found the frequent micro-stutters noticeable and somewhat off-putting. Of course, I’m coming from the position of someone who uses a lot of flagship phones, so this is unlikely to bother potential Galaxy A36 buyers to quite the same extent.

Still, with the likes of the Poco X7 offering a buttery-smooth performance for just over £300, it’s not ideal.

One notable omission this year compared to last year’s model is microSD support. You’ll have to make do with the 256GB of internal storage that comes with the sole UK model.

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G benchmarks

Cameras

• 50Mp main sensor
• 8Mp ultrawide
• 5Mp macro
• 13Mp selfie camera

Samsung has gone with an unchanged triple camera system for the Galaxy A36. That means the same 50Mp f/1.8 main camera, the same 8Mp ultra-wide, and the same 5Mp macro as the Galaxy A35 before it.

This isn’t a problem, as the Samsung Galaxy A35 took some of the best pictures in its weight class. So too does the A36.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Samsung’s image processing can be a bit of a hinderance in flagship phones such as the Galaxy S25 where, depending on your taste, it can produce shots that aren’t as natural or nuanced as their high-end rivals.

Here in the mid-range category, however, Samsung’s vibrant colours and excellent dynamic range help mask any hardware deficiencies, producing crisp and contrasty shots. It also enables effective portraits, whereby the subject really pops from the blurred out background.

Night mode brightens images up nicely, though there’s still a note of grain to the skies.

Samsung’s image processing also helps with ultra-wide shots. While they’re not particularly sharp at 8Mp, few manufacturers know how to match the tone of the main camera quite so well.

It’s a shame there’s only a 5Mp macro camera, rather than a dedicated telephoto. Shots look decent at 2x through cropping in on the main sensor, and aren’t terrible at 4x. I wouldn’t even both zooming all the way into 10x, though.

As for that macro camera, it predictably lacks the detail and pop of the other cameras, though it does facilitate some nice arty snaps, if that’s your bag.

The front camera is a little different in this year’s model. You’re getting a 12Mp unit rather than the Galaxy A35’s 13Mp front camera. It still produces solid selfies, however, with natural skin tones and decent colours. It’s nice and wide, too, enabling you to capture group selfies and landscapes more easily.

Video is once again restricted to 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps. Footage is nice and smooth and even, with the OIS doing a good job of steadying things.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• 45W charging
• No charger included

There are no surprises on the battery front, which is good news. Samsung has once again gone with a 5000mAh cell which, together with that low-power Snapdragon chip and an FHD+ OLED display, produces exemplary stamina.

I was routinely able to go through a full day of moderate to heavy usage, with around 4 hours of screen on time, and be left with well over 50% in the tank. Sometimes more than 60%, if the network environment was good.

Through some combination of that bigger, brighter display and the new chip, the Galaxy A36 actually performed worse than the Galaxy A35 in our usual PCMark Work 3.0 battery test, scoring 11 hours and 27 minutes. That falls about 50 minutes short of its predecessor.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

For me, however, it’s all about that practical usage, and on that front I have absolutely no issues with the Samsung Galaxy A36’s staying power.

Indeed, Samsung wins extra brownie points for upping the charging rate from 25- to 45W. You’ll need to supply your own charger, but when you do you’ll be able to get from empty to 63% in around 30 minutes. A full charge took me an hour and 15 minutes.

You still won’t find wireless charging here, but given that the Samsung Galaxy A56 also lacks this provision, that’s no surprise.

Software & Support

• One UI 7
• Android 15
• 6 years of software support

The Samsung Galaxy A36 runs on Android 15 out of the box, but it’s Samsung’s custom One UI 7 UI that you’ll be engaging with.

For many people, Samsung’s treatment of Android IS Android, given the South Korean manufacturer’s dominance of the smartphone market over the past decade and more. As someone who has tasted the alternatives, and who leans heavily on Google’s apps and services, it’s not my favourite Android skin.

One UI 7 deviates from stock Android quite a lot. There’s Samsung’s signature icon design and menu animations, as well as its regrettable (to me at least) decision to split the notification pane in two, like iOS (and a bunch of other Android skins, to be fair).

Jon Mundy / Foundry

My main problem is the way it gets in the way of a Google user, despite Samsung’s close partnership with the Android maker. It’s the way you have to download Google Wallet and then give it preference over Samsung’s own payment app. Ditto for Google Calendar. I’m not sure why we need Samsung’s own web browser on top of Chrome, while getting Google’s password manager up and running on a Samsung phone is always a pain.

With that said, One UI 7 is undoubtedly fast and fluid, once you get a handle on its quirks. While the Settings menu continues to be a bit of a warren, there’s a powerful search function to get you where you need to be.

What you don’t get is Samsung’s extensive suite of AI tools, which is present on the Galaxy S series. You get a lighter selection of ‘Awesome Intelligence’ features, with no place for the smart new Now Bar with its useful heads-up information.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

On the positive side, Samsung has updated the Galaxy A36 so that Google’s Gemini Assistant, not its own poor Bixby, now responds to a long press of the power button.

The bloatware situation deserves a minor grumble rather than a full-on complaint. I could do without Pinterest, Spotify, Netflix, TikTok, and Amazon Shopping being installed out of the box, but these are undoubtedly popular apps.

Where Samsung wins unabashed praise is with its improved software support, now extending to six years of OS and security updates.

Price & Availability

The sole model of the Samsung Galaxy A36 costs £399 here in the UK, and $399.99 in the US. It’s available direct from Samsung, as well as from the usual collection of online retailers and network operators such as Amazon.

That sounds like a price hike when the Samsung Galaxy A35 launched for £329 last year. However, you get double the storage with this year’s model – 256GB rather than 128GB – and 2GB of extra RAM at 8GB.

It would have been nice to have received a 6/128GB option in this country at a lower price, as this is clearly a phone make with the budget-conscious in mind.

At this price, the Samsung Galaxy A36 can count the Honor 400 as a direct rival. For £449 you can grab the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro with its stylish design and telephoto camera, while the Motorola Edge 60 supplies a tough-yet-curvy body and an even brighter display for £379.

You might also consider the Google Pixel 9a at £499/$499 if your budget stretches.

You can see all our top recommendations among the A36’s rivals in our round-up of the best mid-range phones.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G?

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G is another solid, affordable mid-ranger that won’t let you down. However, it also won’t excite you in any way.

There’s a new breed of mid-range phones that dare to try something different, whether it’s the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro’s telephoto camera and memory-aid button, or the Motorola Edge 60’s unusually robust design and super-bright screen.

When taken in this context, the Samsung Galaxy A36 can’t help but feel a little safe and drab.

What it does supply is a decent screen, a good camera, solid stamina, and exemplary software support. Whether that’s enough to set your pulse racing is another matter. You have to feel that Samsung should be doing more in performance and design terms.

Specs

• Android 15 with One UI 7
• 6.7in, FHD+, OLED, 120Hz, flat display
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3
• 8GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 256GB storage
• 50Mp, f/1.8 main camera
• 8Mp ultra-wide camera
• 5Mp macro camera
• Up to 4K @ 30fps rear video
• 12Mp front-facing camera
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 5000mAh battery
• 45W charging
• 162.9 x 78.2 x 7.4mm
• 195g
• Launch colours: Awesome Lavender, Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Lime