After reportedly striking gold at the European box-office, Samsung’s best 2025 mid-range smartphone is today making its highly anticipated (by some) and long overdue (by all standards) US commercial debut.
The 6.7-inch phone with a homebrewed Exynos 1580 processor under the hood and 8GB RAM can be purchased stateside for the time being only from Best Buy and its manufacturer’s official regional e-store starting at $499.99. That’s enough for an entry-level 128GB storage variant, with double the local digital hoarding room setting you back just 50 bucks more on Samsung’s US website.
Coated in “Awesome Graphite” and “Awesome Lightgray” colors (which, between you and me, are not the most eye-catching paint jobs possible for a Samsung phone nowadays), the Galaxy A56 5G clearly takes most of its cosmetic cues from last year’s Galaxy A55 5G mid-ranger rather than this year’s high-end Galaxy S25 family.
Interestingly, the camera island at the back looks… unique, giving the budget-friendly device a somewhat unexpected air of distinction and elegance. Unfortunately, $499.99 is simply not a very competitive price point in a market where the OnePlus 13R exists and Google’s Pixel 9 is so easy to come by at a hefty discount.
As highlighted in our comprehensive Samsung Galaxy A56 5G review a little while back, this is by no means a bad product, but it’s not an exceptional one either, shining as far as long-term software support goes while delivering solid battery life, respectable (at best) overall performance, excellent charging speeds (for once), as well as limited AI capabilities (at least for the time being), mediocre audio quality, and unimpressive camera performance.
In short, you’re looking at a decidedly mixed bag here that probably needs more than a $50 gift card to overshadow the aforementioned OnePlus 13R and Pixel 9 or even Samsung’s own Galaxy S24 FE as far as bang for buck is concerned.
