Record-breaking $400 Galaxy A36 is looking like a proper (Samsung) flagship - but is it enough?

The good news about the Galaxy A36 starts with the fact that the $400 mid-ranger looks identical to the Galaxy S24 FE from the front, which is a compliment for the cheaper device, and perhaps a bit insulting to those who paid up for the flagship.

In fact, the most recent Galaxy A36 design leak indicates the A36 will bring the most notable design refresh since Galaxy A33, which is certainly something notable given how conservative Samsung has become when it comes to design upgrades in the past few years.

Anyway, judging by the leaked photos, it seems to me the Galaxy A36’s display borders might have the same dimensions as those on the significantly more expensive Galaxy S24 FE flagship, which would be awesome given the A35’s thick bezels.

However, even more surprisingly (at least to me), the design refresh seems to include a thinner body, which is totally in line with 2025 smartphone trends (7.4mm on Galaxy A36 vs 8.2mm on Galaxy A35), but not in line with Samsung’s slow design upgrade “policy”. It’s a positive plot twist!

World’s first: Galaxy A36 to become the first $400 phone ever to offer 6 years of OS and security updates (Android 15 to Android 21)

Another major upgrade on the Galaxy A36 is the fact that it will launch with Android 15 / One UI 7 out-of-the-box. One UI 7 is yet to debut on the Galaxy S24 series, but it has been rumored to be Samsung's most fluid UI ever (of course, we’ll have to wait and see how that goes).

However, what’s pretty safe to assume is that the Galaxy A36 will bring a whopping 6 years of OS updates, which is a first for a $400 phone (at launch).

Of course, the question whether the Galaxy A36 will be able to (properly) handle being updated to Android 21 is more than valid, but Samsung’s commitment is still a big deal for those planning to keep/hand down their Galaxy A36 for years to come.

The jump from 4 to 6 years of Android updates on the mid-range “A” series will make the Galaxy A36 (and A56) awesome deals in 1-2 years after launch too.

Galaxy A36: Samsung’s popular $400 Galaxy “A” series phone finally looks the part, but is this enough to make up for the lack of any meaningful hardware upgrades?

Identical chipset (but from Qualcomm), and likely the same camera, display, and battery as the Galaxy A35 and A34?

In the end, while all of the design-related and software support upgrades sound great, the leak also says Samsung will most likely use the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 instead of an Exynos chip for the A36, which would be a first for the A3x series.

However, the bad news is that the reason for the switch to this particular Qualcomm chip is most likely cost-cutting.

The Exynos 1380 and Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 are practically equally as powerful, and the former is powering the current Galaxy A35. So, I don't think this is the positive SoC upgrade we were hoping for - even if we’re looking at a Qualcomm chip.

On the other hand, the more expensive Galaxy A56 is expected to get a newly announced Exynos 1580, which makes you wonder… Why wouldn’t Samsung give the A36 the Exynos 1480 (from the A55? It's what happened last year in the transition from the A34/54 to the A35/55 series.

Galaxy A36: Is the design refresh trying to distract from the ageing internal hardware?

SoC aside, the leak doesn't mention camera, battery or display specs, but I certainly hope we'll finally see some upgrades there since the A35 used the same cameras, display and battery as the A34.

That being said, knowing how conservative Samsung has become when it comes to hardware upgrades (likely influenced by Apple?!), I won't be shocked to see the same relatively mediocre camera, display, and battery hardware in the A36.

I say "relatively" mediocre, because I'm sure the A36 will stack up nicely against the $1,000 Galaxy S25+ - especially given the huge price gap. However, if Samsung was to keep these hardware parts unchanged, the Galaxy A36 might seem rather outdated next to something like a Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+, which has a proper 2.5x zoom camera, a very bright screen, and a crazy 6,200 mAh battery with 90W charging.