Banned from premium phones? I'd likely pick the Galaxy A56

I recently asked myself which Samsung phones released in 2025 will be my favorite at the end of the year, and even though I'm generally a flagship phone user who loves the Galaxy S Plus, the humbler Galaxy A56 was up there. Here's why.

I ran a little thought experiment and wondered which Galaxy phone I'd most likely buy if I weren't in a privileged position to own a premium Galaxy S and be a tech news writer. Surprisingly or not, the Galaxy A56 was among the first that came to mind.

Here's how I looked at the problem. If somehow I couldn't own another premium Galaxy S phone, and if my phone wasn't critical to doing my job, I'd be left with only a handful of options based on my day-to-day needs and budget.

The way I see it, those options are as follows.

Surprisingly, the Galaxy A17 was quite tempting, with the caveat that I don't take many photos or care much about gaming performance. It's a very cheap phone with a fairly large AMOLED 90Hz display — albeit of a lower quality.

However, as an ex-flagship user, I am certain that UI stutters would annoy me too much and I'd end up regretting not spending extra. And with that in mind, both the A17 and the A36 were scratched off my list.

It wasn't easy, and by the end of my thought experiment, I was very tempted to pick the Galaxy S25 FE. It would offer a premium chip, even an older one, and the overall design resembles the pricier phones a lot more.

To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure which one I'd choose in this scenario, but I must say that the fact that the Galaxy A56 is a whopping €300 cheaper makes me lean heavily toward the Galaxy A56.

So, there we have it. The reason why the Galaxy A56 is one of my favorite phones of 2025 is that, if I couldn't own and use premium phone, I'd most likely pick the Galaxy A56 as a replacement for my Galaxy S24+.

Money is a big factor, of course. Otherwise, the Galaxy S25 FE would be it.

But we live in the real world, and the Galaxy A56 is relatively cheap for what it offers. It has great value for £450 (or less, at a discount). Plus, it boasts awesome two-day battery life, good UI performance comparable to premium devices, a decent screen, and is the only A-series phone with an aluminum frame.

Surely, by downgrading from a premium phone, I would miss some premium features, such as the Always on Display wallpaper, a couple of fun Galaxy AI tools, and maybe even Samsung DeX.

But apart from that, as long as I wouldn't care that much about premium cameras and gaming performance, the Galaxy A56 would make the downgrade a lot more bearable — all for a relatively low price.

Galaxy A56, you're a winner in my book!