The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G shines with its flawless display, offering flagship-level brightness and color accuracy, making it ideal for media lovers. It features a refined design, reliable battery life, and a decent camera setup, though performance lags in intensive gaming.
Samsung birthed the Galaxy A series line of mid-range smartphones over 10 years ago and has shipped more than 89 million phones since. Samsung has thrown its hat in the ring once again with the Galaxy A36, priced at Rs 32,999 in India. On paper, it promises a lot: a stunning Super AMOLED display, a capable Snapdragon processor, and a powerful triple-camera setup. But is the Galaxy A36 5G just another mid-range device, or does it bring enough to the table to justify its price tag? Let’s see whether Samsung’s latest A series phone is a hit or miss.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G: Build and Design
The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G has a plastic frame, but it feels good in the hands. It is now the thinnest phone in the Galaxy A3x lineup with a 7.4mm thickness. The back has a glossy finish that shifts colour slightly in different lighting conditions, which adds a stylish touch. However, this glossy back panel tends to attract fingerprints and smudges quite easily, so you might find yourself wiping it down frequently or slapping a case on it. Either way, it’s not too heavy or too light, making it comfortable to use for hours at a stretch. Despite the plastic build, the phone feels sturdy enough to handle everyday bumps and knocks, thanks to the Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection both on the front and the back.
At the back, you’ll see the camera setup neatly arranged in a singular protruding module rather than sitting flush with the rest of the back panel as on the Galaxy A35. This design is clean and doesn’t stick out too much.
Overall, the design is simple yet modern, striking a good balance between aesthetics and functionality.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G: Display
The front of the phone has a big screen with a punch-hole for the front camera, giving you plenty of screen space for watching videos or playing games. It features a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel that delivers vibrant colors, deep contrasts, and remarkable clarity.
In our display tests, the A36’s screen achieved an impressive 2020 nits of peak brightness in adaptive mode, ensuring a comfortable viewing experience even under the brightest conditions.
Furthermore, the Galaxy A36’s color accuracy is outstanding. Our testing with professional grade Calman and Spectracal Colorimeter revealed a Delta E of 1 in the sRGB color space, indicating near-perfect colour reproduction. The display also covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut, ensuring the entire coverage of hues across different conditions is covered.
Based on these comprehensive tests, it’s clear that the Galaxy A36’s display is excellent. Notably, the SDR performance of this phone is comparable to that of the flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra’s SDR performance. The Galaxy A36’s display offers a flawless and immersive viewing experience in this segment, setting a new standard for mid-range smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G: Performance
When it comes to performance, the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor. This chip delivers a noticeable boost in power compared to the previous generation. The benchmark tests show this improvement, with an AnTuTu score of 6,46,844, a Geekbench single-core score of 1,027, and a Geekbench multi-core score of 2,968. These numbers confirm that the A36 5G is indeed more capable than its predecessor.
While these scores are higher than the A35 scores, it’s worth noting that other phones in the same price range offer even higher benchmark figures. However, in daily use, the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G feels smooth and responsive. Whether browsing apps, watching videos, or playing casual games, the phone handled everything without any noticeable lag or stutters. It helps that the display has a 120Hz refresh rate which makes everything smooth and fluid in action.
For casual gaming, the A36 5G performs well. But if you’re into intensive gaming, the experience may not be as smooth. I played BGMI for 15 minutes with HDR-Extreme graphic settings, and the phone struggled to keep up. I faced constant lags, and the device got extremely heated, making it uncomfortable to hold. So, while its performance is more than adequate for light gaming, it may not be the best pick for competitive mobile gamers.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G: Camera
The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G features a triple-rear camera setup. On the back, you’ll find a 50-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 5-megapixel macro camera. For selfies, there’s a 12-megapixel front-facing camera. The main camera captures detailed photos in good lighting conditions, which is great for most everyday shots.
However, the camera system isn’t without its quirks. In some pictures, I noticed that the edge detection in portrait mode didn’t always work perfectly. It occasionally gave the image an artificial look and could be a bit distracting in certain situations.
The Night Mode performed well. When taking photos at night, the colors were enhanced and managed to keep the details intact, making the pictures look better while maintaining a natural colour balance.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G: Battery & Charging
The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G packs a 5,000mAh battery. This provides ample capacity to comfortably get through a full day of moderate use. You can expect it to handle your daily tasks, from browsing and social media to calls and some light gaming, without needing to constantly reach for a charger. In my testing, the phone took approximately 83 minutes to charge from 0% to 100% using a 25W Samsung adapter.
In terms of battery performance under different usage scenarios, the Galaxy A36 5G holds up well. For example, a 15-minute session of Call of Duty: Mobile resulted in a 6% battery drop, which is reasonable for a graphically intensive game. GPS navigation for an hour consumed only 3% of the battery, demonstrating good efficiency for a task that typically drains power. Similarly, streaming YouTube videos for an hour also resulted in a 3% drop, showcasing its ability to handle media consumption efficiently.
These tests highlight that the A36 5G’s battery is well-optimised for various activities, providing reliable power throughout the day, though heavy gaming can take a bigger toll on both battery and thermals.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G: Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G distinguishes itself with a truly remarkable display that sets a new benchmark for mid-range smartphones. Its AMOLED panel, boasting incredible brightness and colour accuracy, provides a great viewing experience, rivaling even flagship devices in SDR performance. This alone makes the A36 5G a compelling option for anyone who prioritises screen quality for media consumption or general use. One notable change this time in the A-series is the removal of the microSD card slot, which might disappoint users who rely on expandable storage.
Beyond the display, the phone delivers a good overall experience. The design is sleek and comfortable, the battery life is dependable, and the camera, while not flawless, produces good results in most scenarios. The performance is adequate for everyday tasks and casual gaming, though competitive gamers might find it lacking. However, the A36 5G faces stiff competition in its price bracket, particularly in terms of performance.
So, if peak performance is your primary concern, you can consider other options. But, if that’s not the case, you can totally go for the Galaxy A36.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G Key Specs, Price and Launch Date
| Release Date: | |
| Market Status: | Launched |
Key Specifications
Storage
128 GB
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Battery capacity (mAh)
5000
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Rear Camera Megapixel
50 + 8 + 5
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Screen size (in inches)
6.7
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Ayushi Jain
Tech news writer by day, BGMI player by night. Combining my passion for tech and gaming to bring you the latest in both worlds. View Full Profile
