Samsung has finally launched its the Galaxy A26 and A36 mid-range smartphones in the US, but there’s no sign of the Galaxy A56 as yet.
The Samsung Galaxy A26 is available now in America at a starting price of $299, while the Samsung Galaxy A36 is selling from $399.
Both phones have arrived a little later than here in the UK, where they’ve been available to buy since 19 March.
What do the Samsung Galaxy A26 and A36 have to offer?
Both phones feature designs that mirror the Samsung Galaxy A56 (and to a lesser extent the Samsung Galaxy S25 ), albeit with a plastic frame forming the sandwich filling between two sheets of toughened Gorilla Glass Victus+.
You can also count on IP67 certification for both, so they should prove suitably water resistant. Both have 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED displays with 120 Hz refresh rates, too.
Another noteworthy shared feature is Samsung’s promise of six years of OS and security updates. That’s almost up to Google Pixel 8a standards, and way above the average provision.
The Galaxy A36 has a superior Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip (vs a Exynos 1380 in the Galaxy A26), an in-display fingerprint sensor rather than the A26’s side-mounted solution, and slightly better macro and selfie cameras.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
What about the Samsung Galaxy A56?
There’s a big hole in this US release schedule, with Samsung’s lead mid-ranger the Galaxy A56 nowhere to be seen.
This will be perturbing to many US customers, as they aren’t exactly spoiled for mid-range smartphone options – particularly with the indefinite delay for the Google Pixel 9a to some time in April.
It doesn’t help that the Samsung Galaxy A55 didn’t even launch in the US last year.
Thankfully, Samsung previously confirmed that the Galaxy A56 “will be available later this year starting at $499” in North America. We don’t have anything more specific on that, but your patience should be rewarded.
Samsung Galaxy A56
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.
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