The Galaxy Z Fold 7 notwithstanding, Samsung is clearly in its ‘iterative upgrade’ era when it comes to smartphones (see the “eminently familiar” Galaxy S26 Ultra), and the company’s latest A-series model, the Galaxy A57, continues the theme of refinement over reinvention.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially as the Galaxy A56 remains one of the best cheap phones you can buy, but it does mean the company's latest mid-range upgrade is a tale of subtle under-the-hood improvements rather than radical design tweaks.
Sure, the Galaxy A57 is slightly thinner and lighter than its predecessor, and it’s available in some slick new colors (Awesome Navy is, *sigh*, actually pretty awesome), but the most interesting changes are buried beneath the phone's aluminum frame and glossy Gorilla Glass panels.
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Chief among them is Samsung’s new Exynos 1680 chipset, which boasts better CPU, GPU, and NPU performance than the Exynos 1580 in the Galaxy A56, as well as support for a new image signal processor (ISP) and LPDDR5X RAM.
We described the Galaxy A56 as a “jack-of-all-trades handset” that “could do with a bit more power” in our Galaxy A56 review, and Samsung has clearly obliged that request in the Galaxy A57. I still don’t expect it to handle high-end mobile games anywhere near as well as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-equipped Galaxy S26 — you can forget about playing Call of Duty: Mobile on the highest graphics settings — but this new mid-ranger should deliver significantly improved benchmark results over the A56. It’s got a 13% larger vapor chamber, too, which certainly won’t harm its gaming performance.
As for storage and RAM capacities, the Galaxy A57 is available in a choice of either 256GB/8GB or 512GB/12GB in the UK, and 128/8GB or 256GB/8GB in the US. Presumably, Samsung is once again offering different storage options for different regions due to different market demands and regulations, but this variance does make analyzing the phone's new price a little tricky (more on this later). We're also awaiting further details on its Australian availability.
The A57 uses the same 5,000mAh battery as the A56, meaning you should get well over a day of use from a single charge. We managed to eke out around 28 hours of video playback from the A56 during testing, so Samsung’s newer phone should fare just as well, if not better, thanks to its more efficient Exynos chipset.
And when you do come to charge the A57, you can expect to reach the 60% mark in 30 minutes via a 45W charger. That puts the phone on par with the flagship Galaxy S26 Plus for wired charging speed, though — in keeping with previous A-series models — there’s no wireless charging to speak of.
Other omissions include the two big S26-exclusive features, Privacy Display and Super Steady with Horizontal Lock, and you’ll still have to fork over more money for one of the best Samsung phones (or wait for the inevitable Galaxy S26 FE) if you want a dedicated telephoto lens. This is a mid-ranger, after all.
The Galaxy A57 does, however, sport a capable 50MP wide lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 5MP macro lens, which is a relatively versatile combination if you’re not shooting at a great distance. The phone’s new image signal processor (ISP) also brings Low Noise Mode to the A series for the first time, and switching between its ultra-wide and main lenses is now smoother than before.
In other words, the A57 shouldn’t be thought of as a total non-starter for keen mobile photographers, and its bright and crisp 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display — which is bordered by slightly thinner bezels this time around — is a dazzling canvas on which to display your snaps.
In terms of software, the Galaxy A57 gets the Awesome Intelligence suite of AI features, rather than the full Galaxy AI package, which is again reserved for the best Samsung phones. Mind you, the gap between the two is now smaller than ever — you don't get generative tools like Drawing Assist on the A57, but you do get Object Eraser, AI Select, Voice Transcription, Auto Trim, Best Face, and more.
Both Bixby and Circle to Search have been upgraded, too, and so the most useful software tools are present and correct. It no longer feels like you have to pay top dollar to get a truly AI-capable smartphone in 2026.
'A device for everybody'
Samsung hasn’t messed with its winning A-series formula in the Galaxy A57; instead, it's focused on boosting chipset performance and image processing to lessen the gap between its mid-range handsets and the premium S series.
“The A57 is a device for everybody," Kadesh Beckford, Smartphone Product Specialist at Samsung MX, told me at a pre-briefing event for the Galaxy A57. "It's thinner and lighter than before — you can feel the changes — but there isn't any form of compromise on performance or battery. We've actually increased the [size of the] vapor cooling system, and we’ve added a faster processor and extremely fast RAM, all while refining the phone’s design with thinner bezels. It's a device for every situation."
The only real criticism I have of this year’s A-series model is the price hike. The Galaxy A57 starts at $549.99 / £529, where last year’s A56 started at $499 / £499. Now, $50 / £30 isn’t a massive increase in itself, especially as you’re getting more storage for your money in the UK, but that £499 price already represented a £60 increase over the starting price of the Galaxy A55, which wasn't made available in the US. The A57, then, costs almost £100 more than its predecessor once removed, which is a pretty hefty jump for just two generations.
Still, as value goes, the Galaxy A57 looks set to be another easy recommendation for users who don’t need outrageous zoom capabilities or benchmark-breaking power. It begins shipping on April 10 in a choice of Awesome Gray, Navy, Icyblue, and Lilac (though the US only gets Navy).
Stay tuned for our full review of the phone — as well as its cheaper sibling, the Galaxy A37 — in the coming weeks.
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