– Especially those made by Samsung.
In fact, I recently got my hands on the Galaxy A35 and was very impressed with how well-rounded the phone is considering its affordable price (through various retailers).
And if recent leaks are anything to go by, the Galaxy A36 may look like a proper (Samsung) flagship.
and that’s not what you’d expect from a phone that costs $250 less.
What about the cherry blossoms above? Android updates have been reduced from 4 to 6 years compared to the Galaxy A35 – a world first.
That being said, not everything is rosy. Samsung may still be selling cheap when it comes to the rest of its phones. That makes you wonder… will a design refresh be enough to make up for the lack of meaningful hardware upgrades under the hood?
Anyway, judging by the leaked photos, it seems like the Galaxy A36’s display borders could have the same dimensions as those of much more expensive displays. Galaxy S24FE Considering the A35’s thick bezels, this is a great flagship.
But even more surprisingly (to me at least), the design refresh appears to include a thinner body, which is a trend for smartphones in 2025 (7.4mm on the Galaxy A36 vs. 8.2mm on the Galaxy A35). ), but not the smartphone trends of 2025. Samsung’s slow design upgrade “policy”. That’s a positive plot twist!
A world first: Galaxy A36 becomes the first $400 phone to offer six years of OS and security updates (Android 15 to Android 21)
Another major upgrade for the Galaxy A36 is the fact that it launches with the following features: You can use Android 15 / One UI 7 out of the box. One UI 7 hasn’t debuted yet. As for the Galaxy S24 series, this is rumored to be Samsung’s smoothest UI ever (of course, we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out).
What we can pretty safely assume, however, is that the Galaxy A36 will receive a whopping six years of OS updates, a first for a $400 phone (at launch).
Of course, there are plenty of questions as to whether the Galaxy A36 will be able to (properly) handle updates to Android 21, but for those who plan to keep/carry on their Galaxy A36 for years to come, Samsung’s efforts is still a big problem. .
The Galaxy A36 (and A56) also becomes an amazing bargain a year or two after launch, as the mid-range ‘A’ series took four to six years to get Android updates.
Galaxy A36: Samsung’s popular $400 Galaxy “A” series phones are finally getting their due, but will this be enough to make up for the lack of meaningful hardware upgrades?
The Redmi Note 14 Pro+ is powered by the same chip expected to be found in the Galaxy A36, but apart from that, it boasts much better hardware.
Will it be the same chipset (but made by Qualcomm) as the Galaxy A35 and A34, perhaps the same camera, display and battery?
All in all, design-related and software support upgrades all sound great, but leaks suggest that Samsung will most likely use the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 instead of the Exynos chip in the A36, which will be part of the A3x series. He also said that it would be the first time. .
However, the bad news is that the reason for this particular switch to Qualcomm chips is likely cost cutting.
The Exynos 1380 and Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 have virtually identical performance, with the former powering the current Galaxy A35. So even if you’re considering Qualcomm’s chip, I don’t think this is the positive SoC upgrade we were hoping for.
Meanwhile, the more expensive Galaxy A56 is expected to come with the newly announced Exynos 1580, making you wonder… why isn’t Samsung giving the A36 the Exynos 1480 (from the A55)? Or? That happened last year during the transition from the A34/54 to A35/55 series.
Galaxy A36: Is the design refresh trying to distract from aging internal hardware?
What will happen to the other 90% of mobile phones, Samsung?
SoC aside, the leak doesn’t mention any camera, battery or display specs, but the A35 used the same camera, display and battery as the A34, so we hope to see some upgrades eventually. There is.
That being said, I know how conservative Samsung has been with hardware upgrades (maybe inspired by Apple?!), so I’d like to give the A36 the same relatively mediocre camera, display, and battery. Don’t be shocked if it has the following hardware.
I say “relatively” mediocre because I believe the A36 is worth its $1,000 price tag. Galaxy S25+ – Especially considering the huge price difference. However, if Samsung leaves these hardware parts unchanged, the Galaxy A36 will be on par with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+, which has a decent 2.5x zoom camera, a very bright screen, and an impressive 6,200 mAh battery. It may seem quite outdated compared to other products like this. With 90W charging.
So… where do you stand on this? Considering the competition, is Samsung doing enough to make the Galaxy A36 attractive? Or is the design refresh meant to distract from aging internal hardware?
