Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs A26 5G

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy A36 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 ) that was released on March 2, 2025, against the Samsung Galaxy A26 5G, which is powered by Exynos 1380. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
  • Shows 28% longer battery life (24:52 vs 19:28 hours)
  • Delivers 59% higher peak brightness (1237 against 779 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • 10% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (844K versus 768K)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Stereo speakers
  • Has 50% more RAM: 6GB versus 4GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A26 5G
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 2048GB
  • Slow-motion recording at 480FPS

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and A26 5G crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
6 / 128 GB
VS
4 / 128 GB
99.7
(Very good)
Value Index
101.7
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 385 ppi 385 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1900 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ No
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Gorilla Glass Victus Plus
Screen-to-body ratio 86.5% 86.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 100%
PWM 120 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 1 ms 2 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1237 nits
779 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 162.9 mm (6.41 inches) 164 mm (6.46 inches)
Width 78.2 mm (3.08 inches) 77.5 mm (3.05 inches)
Thickness 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) 7.7 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 195 g (6.88 oz) 200 g (7.05 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP67
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors White, Black, Green, Purple White, Black, Green, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-button
Repairability Good (3.19/5) Good (3.22/5)
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops Very good (B) · 269 drops
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Samsung Galaxy A26 5G
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 Samsung Exynos 1380
Max clock 2400 MHz 2400 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache - 4 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 710 Mali-G68 MP5
GPU shading units 256 160
GPU clock 1010 MHz 949 MHz
FLOPS ~517.1 GFLOPS ~303.7 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Samsung Galaxy A26 5G
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
3506
Compute Score (GPU) 3506 3046
Single-core score 1004 1015
Multi-core score 2919 2899
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
844447
768287
CPU 311567 320350
GPU 134619 83203
Memory 162720 129434
UX 235541 230611
Total score 844447 768287
Samples [66 tests] [27 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 98% 98%
Graphics test 2 FPS 2 FPS
Graphics score 315 274
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
13227
Web score 14144 11515
Video editing 7296 7315
Photo editing 24677 24850
Data manipulation 10326 10288
Writing score 14497 17482

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-30 (kazew_)AnTuTu 121005038
📘 2026-09-27 (Abdulgani)AnTuTu 12991604
📘 2026-09-27 (Abdulgani)AnTuTu 12991604
📘 2026-09-26 (Omar_Syriangamerr)Geekbench 7 GPU1342
📘 2026-09-26 (Omar_Syriangamerr)Geekbench 7 CPU882 / 2972
Samsung Galaxy A26 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-29 (Saveloy)AnTuTu 12717743
📘 2026-09-26 (maks🇰🇿)AnTuTu 12871135
📘 2026-08-29 -> Jm2retAnTuTu 11781013
📘 2026-08-29 -> Jm2retAnTuTu 11781013
📘 2026-08-21 (Nur)AnTuTu 11760055

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2133 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.2
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 2048 GB

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM One UI 8.5 One UI 8.5
OS size 22.6 GB 21.7 GB
OS updates 6 years 6 years
Security updates 6 years 6 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (60% in 30 min) Yes (51% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:14 hr 1:26 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles 1200 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:13 hr 06:42 hr
Watching video 16:02 hr 12:14 hr
Gaming 04:55 hr 05:11 hr
Standby 115 hr 100 hr
General battery life
24:52 hr
19:28 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8192 x 6144
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (720p) 480 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 2 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length - 27 mm
Sensor Sony IMX882 Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN1
Sensor size 1/1.96" (≈ 0.51 inch) 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.64 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Sensor GalaxyCore GC08A3 Samsung S5K4HA
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/4" (≈ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution 5 MP 2 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Sensor GalaxyCore GC05A3 GalaxyCore GC02M1
Sensor size - 1/5" (≈ 0.2 inch)
Pixel size - 1.75 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 3184 x 2388 4160 x 3120
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Sensor GalaxyCore GC12A2 Hynix Hi-1339
Sensor size - 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size - 1.12 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No No
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Depends on the region
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes No
Hybrid slot No Yes
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Mono
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
90.5 dB
92.1 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2025 March 2025
Release date March 2025 March 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $399 $190
Successor - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G -
SAR (head) 0.53 W/kg 0.41 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.29 W/kg 0.96 W/kg
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
557 (62.9%)
329 (37.1%)
Total votes: 886

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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h9.15 August 27, 2025 at 11:37 AM
How is a26 better at gaming performance than a36 !!??
+98 Reply
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51.9h September 12, 2026 at 04:33 PM
Well the Exynos 1380 was used on the A54...
0 Reply
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Forgetme July 31, 2025 at 05:53 PM
Big diferences A26-800 nits vs a36-1900 nits Galax a36 Batery long duration and double fast charge.
+18 Reply
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Daniel Gavrielov May 12, 2025 at 02:45 PM
so what do you guys prefer? A36 or A26 ?
+146 Reply
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Mkm March 3, 2025 at 06:50 PM
finally the A20s get the recognition it deserves
+22 Reply
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Honda CBF April 17, 2025 at 08:04 PM
Sure! Here’s the updated response in English: "It's true! The A20s has always had great potential, and it's nice to see it finally getting the recognition it deserves. It's a device that combines performance with great value for money, and many underrated it for a while. I'm actually using a Galaxy A20s, and I can definitely say it holds up well!"
+23 Reply