Mobile World Congress kicks off, and Samsung is bringing two letters and 5G to lower price points, covering AI and IP ratings.
It’s March and the year has already seen one major set of phones, with Samsung’s Galaxy S25 setting the pace for what we can expect in high-end mobiles this year.
Things are going to be big, high-speed, and boast AI. But what of the mid-range?
Essentially if you want to spend between $499 and $699 in Australia, you’ll have AI-assisted options, as well, thanks in part to the 2025 range of Galaxy A series phones, covering the A26, A36, and A56.
Each model looks quite similar and even carries a three camera setup on the back in the Galaxy S-styled traffic light design, though the specs vary between options.
They’ll all sport a 6.7 inch Super AMOLED screen and all feature a 50 megapixel F1.8 main camera, but the remaining two cameras differ based on the model, which also changes how much you pay.
At the $699 mark in the Galaxy A56, it’s a combination of a 50 megapixel main camera, 12 megapixel ultra-wide, and 5 megapixel macro, paired wth 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.
The $549 Galaxy A36 lowers things a little, keeping the 50 megapixel main camera and 5 megapixel macro, but reducing the 12 megapixel ultra-wide to an 8 megapixel version, and opting to include 6GB RAM instead of the 8GB.
And then there’s the $499 Galaxy A26 5G, which is like the A36 with its 50 megapixel main and 8 megapixel ultra-wide, but instead uses a 2 megapixel macro, reducing the camera quality further. It also has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.
Each model is a little bit different spec-wise, but also very much the same in other ways.
For instance, they’ll all sport a similar design, IP67 dust and water resistance, and a 5000mAh battery, giving them a minimum of one day of life and possibly as much as two. They’re all also 5G phones, offering high-speeds when in reach of a compatible network.
And they also all come with AI.
The big phone buzzword kicked off last year, Galaxy AI on the A26, A36, and A56 covers object removal from photos, Google’s addition of “circle to search” from last year, and also a variation on Shazam called “Song Search” that can search for a song if you hum it, something Shazam originally covered.
It’s not the same extent of AI features found on the Galaxy S range, but it just might be enough to bring over folks keen to keep their new phone purchases under the $700 mark, which all of these are.
In Australia, the 2025 Galaxy A range will land in late March.
