Samsung Galaxy A36 Review
Samsung Galaxy A36 features a 6.7" 120Hz AMOLED display, Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, 50MP camera, 5000mAh battery, and 45W fast charging.
Samsung Galaxy A36 is here, offering a great balance of features for midrange phone buyers. Samsung has standardized its display sizes, so the A16, A26, A36, and A56 all come with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen.
The A36 improves on its predecessor with a slightly larger display, upgraded software, 45W fast charging, and a minor GPU boost. It carries over the same 50MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide, and 5MP macro from the A35, but the 12MP front camera is actually an upgrade despite a lower megapixel count.
Other highlights include a 5,000mAh battery, Android 15 with One UI 7, and six major Android updates. The design gets minor refinements, including a Gorilla Glass Victus+ back and a new camera bump.
Galaxy A36 comes in eco-friendly packaging with a USB-C cable and SIM ejector tool. However, you’ll need a separate 45W charger and a 5A-rated USB cable for maximum charging speeds.
Table of Contents
Samsung Galaxy A36 Specifications
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| 📶 Network | GSM / HSPA / LTE / 5G |
| 📅 Launch | Announced: March 02, 2025 Released: March 10, 2025 |
| 📏 Body | Dimensions: 162.9 x 78.2 x 7.4 mm Weight: 195 g Build: Glass front & back (Gorilla Glass Victus+), plastic frame |
| 📲 SIM | Nano-SIM + Nano-SIM + eSIM (up to 2) |
| 💧 Water Resistance | IP67 (up to 1m for 30 min) |
| 🖥️ Display | Super AMOLED, 120Hz, 1200 nits (HBM), 1900 nits (peak) Size: 6.7 inches Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| 🛡️ Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ Always-on display |
| ⚙️ Platform | OS: Android 15, One UI 7 Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 (4 nm) CPU: Octa-core (4×2.4 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55) GPU: Adreno 710 |
| 💾 Memory | ❌ No card slot 128GB 6GB/8GB RAM, 256GB 6GB/8GB/12GB RAM (UFS 2.2) |
| 📷 Main Camera | Triple: 50 MP (wide), 8 MP (ultrawide), 5 MP (macro) Video: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps |
| 🤳 Selfie Camera | 12 MP (wide) Video: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps |
| 🔊 Sound | 🎵 Stereo speakers ❌ No 3.5mm jack |
| 📡 Comms | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC (market-dependent), USB Type-C 2.0 |
| 🛠️ Sensors | 📱 Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, compass, virtual proximity sensing |
| 🔋 Battery | 5000 mAh ⚡ 45W wired, 66% in 30 min, 100% in 68 min |
| 🎨 Colors | Lavender, Black, White, Lime |
| 🔢 Models | SM-A366E, SM-A366E/DS, SM-A366B, SM-A366B/DS, SM-A366U, SM-A366U1 |
| ⚠️ SAR | 1.07 W/kg (head), 0.53 W/kg (EU head), 1.29 W/kg (EU body) |
| 💰 Price | ₹32,999 / £399.00 / €379.00 |
| 🚀 Performance | AnTuTu: 613492 GeekBench: 2917 3DMark: 912 |
| 🌞 Display Brightness | 1233 nits max |
| 🔋 Battery Life | ⏳ Active use: 11 hours 38 minutes |
Samsung Galaxy A36 Design, build quality and handling
Samsung Galaxy A36 is here, offering a great balance of features for midrange phone buyers. Samsung has standardized its display sizes, so the A16, A26, A36, and A56 all come with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen.
The A36 improves on its predecessor with a slightly larger display, upgraded software, 45W fast charging, and a minor GPU boost. It carries over the same 50MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide, and 5MP macro from the A35, but the 12MP front camera is actually an upgrade despite a lower megapixel count.
Other highlights include a 5,000mAh battery, Android 15 with One UI 7, and six major Android updates. The design gets minor refinements, including a Gorilla Glass Victus+ back and a new camera bump.
The Galaxy A36 comes in eco-friendly packaging with a USB-C cable and SIM ejector tool. However, you’ll need a separate 45W charger and a 5A-rated USB cable for maximum charging speeds.
Samsung Galaxy A36 Display, battery life, charging speed, speakers
Galaxy A36 features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 1080 x 2340 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection. It reaches a peak brightness of 1,900 nits, making it bright enough for outdoor use. The display supports Adaptive and Standard refresh rate modes, with Adaptive keeping it at 120Hz most of the time. However, HDR streaming is not supported in apps like Netflix, though YouTube allows HDR playback.
With a 5,000mAh battery, the Galaxy A36 offers good battery life but slightly lower endurance than the A35 and A56. It handles calls, browsing, and gaming well, though video streaming drains the battery faster compared to some rivals.
A key upgrade is 45W fast charging. However, the included USB-C cable is rated at 3A, so you’ll need a 5A cable to reach full speed. Using Samsung’s 45W charger, the A36 charges 36% in 15 minutes, 60% in 30 minutes, and reaches 100% in 1 hour and 14 minutes. There are software options to limit charging speed for battery health.
The A36 has a stereo speaker setup, with one at the bottom and the earpiece doubling as the second speaker. It delivers good loudness and clear sound with decent bass.
Samsung Galaxy A36 Software and performance
Galaxy A36 runs on Android 15 with Samsung’s One UI 7. It comes with long-term software support, including six major updates and six years of security patches.
One UI 7 introduces AI-powered features, such as AI Select, which can analyze screen content to extract text, create GIFs, or make wallpapers. Google’s Circle to Search is also available, allowing quick searches by circling objects on the screen. Samsung’s native Gallery app includes an Object Eraser, though it’s not as advanced as the version on flagship models.
Performance-wise, the Galaxy A36 is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip with an Adreno 710 GPU. It’s available in multiple configurations, starting from 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, with options for 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. A limited model also offers 12GB RAM.
In benchmarks, the Galaxy A36 performs similarly to the A35, with slight GPU improvements. It delivers smooth day-to-day performance and handles light gaming well, though more powerful options are available in the same price range. Sustained performance is stable, with minimal throttling and good heat management.
Samsung Galaxy A36 Camera, photo and video quality
Samsung has made some changes to the camera system on the Galaxy A36 compared to the A35, but the overall setup is quite similar. You get a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 5MP macro camera. The front camera is upgraded to 12MP from the 13MP on the A35.
The main camera quality is decent, offering good detail and a wide dynamic range, although the colors have a bit of extra “pop.” However, the main issue with the camera is inconsistent exposure and color from shot to shot, which can be noticeable in low light.
The ultrawide camera, while decent, doesn’t stand out much, and there are some inconsistencies in color between it and the main camera. The 5MP macro camera performs better than most 2MP macro cameras, but it’s still nothing special.
The 12MP selfie camera produces great results, especially in terms of facial features and skin tones, though the dynamic range could be better.
In low-light situations, the Galaxy A36 struggles with automatic night mode, but manually switching to night mode improves performance by reducing noise and preserving highlights. However, turning off night mode can result in sharper details, albeit with more noise.
Camera setup is solid but doesn’t stand out in any major way.
Pros and Cons of Samsung Galaxy A36
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| 🏗 Premium build – Gorilla Glass, IP67 water resistance | 📦 No charger included |
| 🌞 Bright 120Hz display | ⚡ Charging speed hasn’t improved much |
| 🔋 Good battery life, fast charging | 🎥 No HDR video support |
| 🔊 Loud and clear stereo speakers | 📱 Virtual proximity sensor isn’t as reliable |
| 🚀 Smooth performance with sustained efficiency | 💾 No microSD card slot |
| 📅 Android 15 with 6 major updates promised | 💰 High launch price |
Conclusion
Galaxy A36 is a well-rounded midrange phone with a better design, improved graphics, and faster charging than the A35. It also gets six major Android updates.
The screen is bright, the speakers are good, and the battery life is decent. However, the camera hasn’t improved, and performance is similar to the A34.
At €400, Xiaomi and Motorola offer better options. But if the price drops to €300, the A36 becomes a good choice.
