When shopping for a new smartphone, there are three main types you can get.
On the one end of the spectrum, there are budget phones. They’re not bad by any means. In fact, they’re perfect for when you just need the basics.
On the other side, there are the high-end flagship devices (like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7) which come at a high price point and include more bells and whistles than you would ever need.
Right between the two is where you’ll find mid-range phones. They’re reasonably priced, have great specs and still include everything you actually need. And this is exactly what the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G smartphone is — the perfect everyday device.
Screen time, upgraded
The first thing you’ll notice when opening up the A56 is that it doesn’t look or feel like a mid-range phone. What I mean by this is that it comes in the same sleek packaging you would expect from a high-end flagship.
Compared to last year’s A55, the A56 is thinner and lighter — this is actually the thinnest Galaxy A-series phone since 2016. That said, this is not a flimsy device. It feels sturdy and well made and the moment you pick it up, you’ll notice that it has some weight to it: 198g to be precise.
It has a big, beautiful 6.7″ Super AMOLED screen that looks crisp. This is an area where I cannot tell the difference between the A56 and Samsung’s flagship. The colours are bright, the contrast is excellent and the phone supports HDR10+, which is something you will definitely see when streaming.
It’s a bit futuristic but what HDR10+ does is change the display settings based on the content on the screen, optimising each frame. For the non-techies, you’re now going to see over a billion shades of colour.
Although I love taking countless photos (of my cat) with my phone, I’m not the sort of person who would buy a device based on its photography capabilities. If the pictures look good, I’m happy and I had no complaints about the A56’s camera setup.
You get three different lenses: a 50MP main camera, which is quite impressive for a mid-range phone, a 12MP ultrawide lens and a 5MP macro lens. In other words, you can capture close-up shots (of your cat) with ease.
The A56 also includes Samsung’s well-loved Nightography feature, and I was able to take decent photos in low-light conditions. There’s an assortment of editing tools too, like Object Eraser, Portrait Effects and Remaster, which let you clean up distractions, adjust depth and lighting and enhance overall image quality.
I really liked playing around with the My Filters feature, which lets you create custom filters using photos you already love the look of. It works by automatically applying the same tones and lighting so you can shoot with that vibe straightaway, no need to add a filter after.
Power without the drama
Next to the camera, one of the key things with a mid-range phone to note is performance. How quickly do apps open? Is it always responsive? Will I be able to play mobile games without lag? What is the battery like?
Luckily, Samsung has covered all of this (and more) with its new Exynos 1580 chipset. The phone comes with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which you can expand with a microSD card.
I never experienced the A56 overheating and the 5,000mAh battery lasted all day. Even doomscrolling TikTok, the battery didn’t die. The A56 really lives up to Samsung’s claim that you’re getting 29 hours of video playback. And when you do need to charge, the 25W fast charging gets you back to 50% in under half an hour.
Connectivity is solid too, with 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 keeping everything quick and reliable whether you’re streaming, sharing or gaming online.
The A56 is also rated IP67 for dust and water resistance, so it can handle the odd splash without stress.
Samsung’s built-in Knox security adds peace of mind on the privacy front, while the stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos sound far better than you’d expect for a phone in this range. There’s no headphone jack, of course, but that’s hardly a deal-breaker these days.
Smart inside and out
The A56 comes with Android 15 and Samsung’s latest One UI 7 interface. It feels clean, intuitive and packed with thoughtful touches that make everyday use smooth. I will forever love the customisation Android offers and little details like downloading wallpapers based on a theme that change every time the phone is unlocked put a smile on my face.
What stands out most, however, is Samsung’s promise of six years of software updates. That means you’ll get the same long-term support usually reserved for the flagship Galaxy S series, which is genuinely impressive for a mid-range phone. It adds real value if, like me, you tend to hold on to your devices for a few years and want to know they’ll stay secure and up to date.
The only thing truly missing from the A56 is Galaxy AI. Samsung’s latest range of smart features, like live translation, transcript summaries and the fun generative editing tools, are still limited to its top-of-the-line models.
What the A56 does have is “Awesome Intelligence”, which also uses artificial intelligence (AI). Something I found myself using again and again was Read Aloud, a built-in text-to-speech tool. If you’re a multitasker, the ability to open an article and have it read to you is so useful.
For the creatives out there, there are some great AI photography features too. Tools like Object Eraser, Edit Suggestion and Best Face make it easy to remove distractions, fine-tune lighting or choose the best expressions from a motion photo. These are not gimmicky options you’ll only use once, they’re practical and make editing photos easier.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G is an awesome, everyday smartphone. It does everything you need it to do but at a more affordable price point. The camera is solid, the battery long-lasting and the display is big enough (and sharp enough) for endless streaming and scrolling.
The A56 is reliable, stylish and surprisingly powerful, proving that you don’t need to spend flagship money to get a phone that looks great, performs well and keeps up with real life.
For more information or to order your new Galaxy A56 5G, visit the Samsung website.
• About the author: Tiana Cline is a freelance business technology journalist.
This article was sponsored by Samsung.
