The Galaxy A36 brings a Snapdragon chip, IP67 rating, the Galaxy A26 sticks with Exynos

Samsung is setting the benchmark for support on mid-range and affordable smartphones – the new A-series (A16 and up) will receive 6 OS updates. This generation also boosts performance, speeds up charging, brings camera improvements and more. We’ve covered the Galaxy A56 in a separate article, here we will focus on its siblings, the A36 and A26.

Samsung Galaxy A36

The Samsung Galaxy A36 switches things up and features a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 after using a mix of Dimensity and Exynos chips for the last few generations. The base memory configuration is 6/128GB (though some regions will get 8/128GB) and there is an upgrade option to 8/256GB.

While the 6 Gen 3 isn’t a performance beast, Samsung is giving it the best tools to shine by giving it a larger vapor chamber (+15%) that is now the same size as the one inside the Galaxy S24+.

Samsung unified the screen size of the A56, A36 and A26 – all three feature 6.7” Super AMOLED screens with 1080p+ resolution. That is a 0.1” increase over the A35, by the way. The display is also brighter, reaching 1,200 nits in high brightness mode and peaking at 1,900 nits.

The front and back of the phone are protected with Gorilla Glass Victus+, while the frame is made of polycarbonate. Like last year, the phone is rated IP67 for dust and water resistance. Samsung has a selection of colors all but one of which (the black one) have an iridescent effect.

Samsung Galaxy A36 colors: Black • Lime • White • Lavender

The rear camera has a new look with a single camera island (instead of three individual lenses), but it’s mostly the same hardware. This includes a 50MP main (f/1.8 lens with OIS), 8MP ultra-wide (f/2.2) and a 5MP macro (f/2.4).

There are two upgrades to the camera system this year. First, the selfie camera has a new, larger 12MP sensor. Second, video HDR (10-bit up to 4K @ 30fps) is available on both the rear and front cameras. A quick comparison with the A56 shows that the pricier model has a larger sensor (now with 1.0µm pixels), a 12MP UW cam and supports Low Noise mode on the selfie camera.

Samsung kept the battery capacity of the Galaxy A36 at 5,000mAh. However, it improved the charging speed from 25W to 45W. This means that 30 minutes of charging gets you to 66% and a full charge takes 68 minutes. Once full, the battery should last up to 29 hours of video playback.

The A36 launches with Android 15 with the latest One UI 7. It will see 6 OS updates (up from 4 on the A35) and security patches for 6 years (up from 5). Samsung loaded in some AI features like the handy Circle to Search, the Object Eraser for image editing and a simple way to make your own image filters (by picking an example image to copy its style).

Samsung Galaxy A36

The Samsung Galaxy A36 costs the same as its predecessor – the 128GB base model is $400/€380, while the 256GB upgrade is €450/£400 (different markets are getting different storage options).

One important thing to note is that the Galaxy A56 will be available in the US, unlike its predecessor. So that is something to consider when looking at the A36. Check out our A56 article for details on specs and prices.

Samsung Galaxy A26

In some ways, the Samsung Galaxy A26 is a redo of the A35 from last year, but at a lower price. And it’s not far off the A36, though with a lower price tag in mind.

The A26 is powered by the Exynos 1380, which was used for the A35 last year. When talking about the new A36, Samsung highlighted one performance improvement – the CPU of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is 8% faster than that of the Exynos 1380. There might be a difference in efficiency (we will have to test that) and the A26 didn’t get the larger vapor chamber.

Samsung Galaxy A26

The memory situation is similar, the base model has 6/8GB of RAM (region dependent) and 128GB storage and there is an 8/256GB upgrade. Note that the A26 also has a microSD slot, which is not available on higher tiers of A-series phones. And you’ll be getting the same software support – 6 OS updates and 6 years of security patches (up from 4 and 5, respectively).

As mentioned above, all three A-phones from today feature a 6.7” OLED display with 1080p+ resolution (up from 6.5” on the A25). It’s not the same screen, though. The A26 has a notch for its selfie camera (instead of a punch hole) and the fingerprint reader is mounted on the side instead of under the display.

Speaking of the selfie camera, this model uses the old 13MP unit, so no video HDR for it. This applies to the rear cameras as well, which include a 50MP main (OIS), 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro.

Samsung upgraded the body on this model. It slimmed it down from 8.3mm to 7.7mm, though weight went up from 197g to 200g. And new this year is an IP67 rating – the same level of dust and water protection that the A36 and A56 have.

Samsung Galaxy A26 colors

The battery has the same capacity as the other two, 5,000mAh, but this cheaper model misses out on the charging upgrade and still only supports 25W.

The Samsung Galaxy A26 costs €300 for the base 128GB model and €370/£300/$300 for the 256GB upgrade. The version with more storage will be available in more markets.