Galaxy A56 performance makes me forget it’s not a flagship phone

Other brands have been offering a smooth and fast software experience on mid-range phones for many years at this point, and not just on devices that run a vanilla or lightly customized version of Android. Samsung, on the other hand, got around to doing that on its flagship phones just two years ago.

The Galaxy S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra were the first flagship phones from Samsung with software that felt properly optimized and, at least in my opinion, the first that matched the smoothness and stutter-free nature of Apple’s iPhones.

Before the Galaxy S23, Samsung’s flagships always had a bit of stutter. Their performance would degrade noticeably after a few months. I’m not saying they felt laggy or unusable, but they weren’t perfect either, especially for the prices Samsung was charging for them.

The Galaxy S23 series, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra in particular, changed that, and Samsung has continued to optimize its software over the last two years. That optimization is now making its presence felt on the company’s mid-range devices as well.

Galaxy A56 is Samsung's fastest and smoothest mid-range phone ever

Now, it could be that the Galaxy A56 runs great not because of software optimization but because it is powered by Samsung’s most powerful mid-range Exynos chip yet. I suspect it’s a combination of the two, but the reasons don’t really matter, only the results do, and boy, are the results good!

The Galaxy A56 isn’t perfect. There are some hitches in the UI animations here and there. Scrolling in some apps can be a little janky. But those issues aren’t frequent. What’s frequent is me forgetting that I’m using a mid-range Samsung smartphone, and that’s a big deal considering I switched to the A56 from the S25 Ultra.

The Galaxy A56 has excellent gaming performance as well, and its larger vapor chamber cooling system—matching that of the Galaxy S24+ in size—inside does a great job at keeping temperatures in check. Half an hour of shooting zombies in Call of Duty barely made the phone a little warm, though thermal management wasn’t unimpressive on last year’s Galaxy A55 either.

Samsung has also touted reduced shutter lag in the camera and faster switching between camera lenses, but I haven't tested the cameras enough to say how true those claims are. You will have to wait for our review for answers to all your questions, so stay tuned to both the website and our YouTube channel.