Samsung confirms its next budget phone is just around the corner

By Patrick Hearn Published February 26, 2025

The Samsung Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A55's cameras. — Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Samsung has confirmed that the upcoming Galaxy A series — the A36 and A56 — will be unveiled on March 2. While it didn’t mention the Galaxy A26, multiple leaks suggest it might also make an appearance.

Last week, these three phones appeared on the Chilean Samsung Service website. That told us they were likely coming soon, but didn’t provide an exact timeframe. Samsung will debut the phones on March 2, and they will likely be available for purchase shortly after.

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The Galaxy A56 is the most powerful of the bunch, expected to sport a 6.7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate and run on an Exynos 1580 chip. It’s also slated to have a 5,000mAh battery and support 45W charging, giving it better battery life and charging speeds than the Galaxy S25 flagship.

A video playing on the Samsung Galaxy A35. — Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The Galaxy A36 positions itself as a solid Google Pixel 9a competitor. Of the three handsets, the A36 is the most likely to launch in North America, potentially holding on to the $399 price of the Galaxy A35. Unlike the A56, the A36 will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 SoC, but it will share the same charging speeds and battery capacity as its slightly more powerful cousin.

It also looks better, in our opinion. The Galaxy A36 has a design language that feels a bit more refined than that of the Galaxy S25, with a pill-shaped camera enclosure versus a boring (and vulnerable) row of lenses. It’s even thought to support some Galaxy AI features, although likely not all — especially if the rumors of a 6GB RAM configuration prove to be true.

If Samsung is able to maintain the $400 price range for this handset, it could offer one of the best value propositions in recent years for a mid-range phone. In terms of power, it obviously won’t compete with the top-end models, but the Galaxy A36 could provide a low-cost phone with minimal compromises.

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