With a refined design, reliable performance, and enduring battery life, the Samsung Galaxy A36 proves that a quality smartphone experience doesn’t have to come at a flagship price.
In the ever-competitive mid-range smartphone segment, standing out requires more than just a shiny exterior and a decent spec sheet.
The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G, launched alongside its higher-tier sibling the A56, enters this crowded field with a confident proposition: flagship-inspired features made accessible to the broader market.
Design and Display.
The Galaxy A36 5G carries a design language that feels distinctly modern yet familiar. At 7.4mm thin and weighing 195g, it’s comfortably light in the hand, with a matte finish that feels more premium than its price point suggests. The flat edges and rounded corners reflect a design consistency seen across Samsung’s broader Galaxy lineup.
Up front, a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate offers crisp visuals and smooth responsiveness, making everyday interactions a visually pleasant experience. Brightness levels peak at 1,200 nits, which helps with visibility in outdoor settings, particularly in Singapore’s harsh midday sun.
The device is also IP67-certified, meaning it’s protected against dust and water immersion. It’s a practical inclusion that adds peace of mind, especially for users prone to occasional spills or tropical downpours.
Performance and Software.
Powering the Galaxy A36 5G is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor, an efficient mid-range chipset that strikes a solid balance between day-to-day usability and light multitasking. Paired with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, the device handles most apps and productivity tasks with relative ease.
While it won’t rival flagship processors in raw speed or graphical performance, real-world usage remains smooth and responsive, even when jumping between apps or streaming content.
On the software front, the phone ships with One UI 7 based on Android 15, offering a clean interface and a host of quality-of-life features. Samsung’s ecosystem flourishes here, with the inclusion of features like “Circle to Search”, “Object Eraser”, and Photo Remaster, which add useful enhancements to the user experience.
Cameras.
Photography on the A36 is helmed by a 50MP main camera with optical image stabilisation, flanked by an 8MP ultra-wide sensor and a 5MP macro lens. As with many Samsung devices, the default image processing leans towards vibrancy, producing photos that are pleasing to the eye, if occasionally oversaturated.
In good lighting, the main camera delivers consistently sharp results, while low-light performance remains passable, aided in part by the inclusion of OIS. The 12MP front camera captures detailed selfies, and with the help of Samsung’s AI algorithms, touch-ups are subtle enough to feel natural.
That said, the ultra-wide and macro lenses offer diminishing returns. The ultra-wide lacks detail in the corners, and the macro lens is unlikely to see regular use outside of casual experimentation.
Battery Life.
If there’s one area where the Galaxy A36 5G truly shines, it’s battery endurance. The 5,000mAh battery is more than sufficient for a full day’s use, even with heavy browsing, video streaming, and messaging. Samsung quotes up to 29 hours of video playback, a claim that holds up well under our test usage conditions.
When it does run low, 45W fast charging ensures a full recharge in just over an hour, an improvement that helps keep downtime to a minimum. Wireless charging remains absent, which is forgivable given the price category.
A confident Mid-Range option that gets the basics right.
The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G is not designed to break boundaries, and it doesn’t have to. It’s a phone that understands its place, offering a dependable, well-rounded experience that caters to users who value design, battery life, and display quality.
At a retail price of around S$550, it makes a strong case for itself in a competitive segment, especially for users who prefer the familiarity and reliability of the Samsung ecosystem without venturing into flagship territory.
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