Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs A32 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 A32 5G, which is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 720 5G and came out 4 years and 2 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
  • Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
  • Delivers 148% higher peak brightness (1227 against 495 nits)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • 87% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (844K versus 452K)
  • 43% higher pixel density (385 vs 270 PPI)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Optical image stabilization
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 15W)
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 13
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Stereo speakers
  • Has 50% more RAM: 6GB versus 4GB
  • The phone is 4 years and 2 months newer
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and A32 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)

Should I update?
No 85% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy A32 5G to Samsung Galaxy A36 5G is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: display, camera, and performance.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED TFT LCD
Size 6.7 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 720 x 1600 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 385 ppi 270 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1900 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ No
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 86.5% 81.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
-
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 96.1%
PWM 120 Hz -
Response time 1 ms 53 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 862:1
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A36 5G
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
Galaxy A32 5G
6.5″ (20:9 ratio) = 15.8 in2
~8% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
1227 nits
495 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 162.9 mm (6.41 inches) 164.2 mm (6.46 inches)
Width 78.2 mm (3.08 inches) 76.1 mm (3 inches)
Thickness 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) 9.1 mm (0.36 inches)
Weight 195 g (6.88 oz) 205 g (7.23 oz)
Waterproof IP67 No
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors White, Black, Green, Purple White, Black, Blue, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-button
Repairability Good (3.19/5) -
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio
86.5%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 MediaTek Dimensity 720 5G
Max clock 2400 MHz 2000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 8 (2 + 6)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 6 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A76
Manufacturing Samsung -
Lithography process 4 nanometers 7 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon MediaTek APU
GPU
Graphics Adreno 710 Mali-G57 MC3
GPU shading units 256 96
GPU clock 1010 MHz 730 MHz
FLOPS ~517.1 GFLOPS ~140.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
2919
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 3506 -
Single-core score 1004 650
Multi-core score 2919 1759
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
844447
452426
CPU 311567 201559
GPU 134619 39273
Memory 162720 99876
UX 235541 111718
Total score 844447 452426
Samples [66 tests] Less than 3
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 98% -
Graphics test 2 FPS -
Graphics score 315 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 97% 97%
Graphics test - 2 FPS
Graphics score - 362
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
13090
Web score 14144 5280
Video editing 7296 5528
Photo editing 24677 12194
Data manipulation 10326 5876
Writing score 14497 7799

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-18 (DANYEALL)AnTuTu 121033807
📘 2026-09-15 (Jake)AnTuTu 121006916
📘 2026-07-17 (loapeasontsa)AnTuTu 11832796
📘 2026-07-12 (Wan)AnTuTu 11834318
📘 2026-07-05 (Ням ням)AnTuTu 11862730
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-11-13 (Hoàng Tử Băng)AnTuTu 11452426

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2133 MHz 1866 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 64 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.1
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 8.5 One UI 4.1
OS size 22.6 GB 22 GB
OS updates 6 years 2 years
Security updates 6 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 15 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging No -
Fast charging Yes (60% in 30 min) Yes (23% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:14 hr 2:24 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:13 hr 10:44 hr
Watching video 16:02 hr 14:55 hr
Gaming 04:55 hr 06:11 hr
Standby 115 hr 122 hr
General battery life
24:52 hr
25:37 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8000 x 6000
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (720p) 120 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
4) Depth: 2 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length - 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX882 Samsung S5KGM2
Sensor size 1/1.96" (≈ 0.51 inch) 1/2.0" (≈ 0.5 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Digital
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length - 13 mm
Sensor GalaxyCore GC08A3 -
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution 5 MP 5 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Sensor GalaxyCore GC05A3 -
Stabilization Digital No

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 CMOS
Sensor size - 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
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
Bluetooth features LE PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP
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 -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
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
LTE Cat* - 16
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

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

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2025 January 2021
Release date March 2025 February 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $399 $280
Successor - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G
SAR (head) 0.53 W/kg 0.33 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.29 W/kg 1.08 W/kg
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger 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?
14 (77.8%)
4 (22.2%)
Total votes: 18

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
Sandi Brimmer December 20, 2025 at 01:06 AM
Excellent comparison of the A32 with the A36. Thank you. Can you tell me if the operating features are basically the same (I'll be going to the A36 from the A32 and don't want a steep learning curve.)
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