Samsung Galaxy A56 5G vs Apple iPhone 16e

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy A56 5G (with Exynos 1580) that was released on March 2, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 16e, which is powered by Apple A18 and came out 1 month before. 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 A56 5G
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
  • Comes with 995 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4005 mAh
  • Shows 7% longer battery life (28:42 vs 26:44 hours)
  • Delivers 45% higher peak brightness (1214 against 838 nits)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16e
  • Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 29% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1612K versus 1251K)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • 19% higher pixel density (457 vs 385 PPI)
  • 2.4x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3281 and 1354 points
  • Weighs 31 grams less
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 6 mm narrower

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G and Apple iPhone 16e 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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📱 Primary usage:

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
8 / 128 GB
93.2
(Very good)
Value Index
46.4
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED OLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1170 x 2532 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 385 ppi 457 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1900 nits 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 87.6% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.1% 99.9%
PWM 120 Hz 60 Hz
Response time 1 ms 10 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A56 5G
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
iPhone 16e
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~20% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
1214 nits
838 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 162.2 mm (6.39 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 77.5 mm (3.05 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) 7.8 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 198 g (6.98 oz) 167 g (5.89 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Gray, Green, Pink White, Black
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Repairability Good (3.19/5) Average (2.79/5)
Drop resistance Excellent (A) · 270 drops Good (C) · 90 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
87.6%
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G and Apple iPhone 16e
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 1580 Apple A18
Max clock 2900 MHz 4040 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.95 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 2.9 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest
L3 cache 4 MB -
Manufacturing Samsung TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Xclipse 540 4 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 256 640
GPU clock 1300 MHz 1490 MHz
FLOPS ~1331.2 GFLOPS ~1907 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G and Apple iPhone 16e
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
iPhone 16e +142%
3281
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
iPhone 16e +112%
8035
Compute Score (GPU)
iPhone 16e +250%
24041
Compute Score (GPU) 6865 24041
Single-core score 1354 3281
Multi-core score 3789 8035
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1251512
iPhone 16e +29%
1612788
CPU 490457 485100
GPU 296896 445832
Memory 173263 185536
UX 290896 496320
Total score 1251512 1612788
Samples [130 tests] [5 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
iPhone 16e +91%
1226
Stability 97% 82%
Graphics test 5 FPS 9 FPS
Graphics score 641 1226
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 21 FPS
Section 1 - 26 FPS
Section 2 - 21 FPS
Section 3 - 15 FPS
Graphics score - 5507
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 14131 -
Video editing 7744 -
Photo editing 22842 -
Data manipulation 11699 -
Writing score 18128 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A56 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-24 (.)CPU Throttle82%
📘 2026-09-24 (.)Geekbench 7 GPU5755
📘 2026-09-24 (.)Geekbench 7 CPU1191 / 3814
📘 2026-09-24 (.)AnTuTu 121017323
📘 2026-09-24 -> CR7AnTuTu 121030440
Apple iPhone 16e
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-03-11 (Matviy)AnTuTu 111600106
📘 2026-02-27 (iPhone user)AnTuTu 111591246
📘 2026-02-10 (Virtuose)AnTuTu 111721718
📘 2026-01-14 (Glib)AnTuTu 111656396
📘 2026-01-13 (киря)AnTuTu 111612788

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5X
Memory clock 3200 MHz -
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) iOS 18.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5)
ROM One UI 8.5 -
OS size 21.5 GB 24 GB
OS updates 6 years 7 years
Security updates 6 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 4005 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (65% in 30 min) Yes (57% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:13 hr 1:50 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 11:28 hr 11:59 hr
Watching video 19:50 hr 15:01 hr
Gaming 04:53 hr 05:04 hr
Standby 131 hr 127 hr
General battery life
28:42 hr
26:44 hr
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (70th and 112th place)

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8064 x 6048
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 123° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.6
Focal length - 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX906 Sony IMX972
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 0.7 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP -
Aperture f/2.2 -
Sensor Sony IMX258 -
Sensor size 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Stabilization Digital -
Macro lens
Image resolution 5 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Stabilization Digital -

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 145 -
Zoom 59 -
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution - 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length - 23 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LC Sony IMX714
Sensor size - 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 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, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
87.7 dB
88.4 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2025 February 2025
Release date March 2025 February 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $499 $599
Successor - Samsung Galaxy A57 5G -
SAR (head) 0.61 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.05 W/kg -
Sensors - Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16e:
    - The smartphone doesn’t have a cinematic mode like the higher-end models in the series.
*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 Apple iPhone 16e is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
195 (66.1%)
100 (33.9%)
Total votes: 295

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
Frev April 3, 2025 at 10:36 AM
The only advantage of 16e over A56 is that it's running on iOS.
+24 Reply
Avatar
random March 7, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Based on our estimates, Apple iPhone 16e offers an 20.5% better value-for-money ratio at the given prices. It might be worth spending an extra 100 USD on this phone. Even the built in estimate says 16e is better deal.
+17 Reply
ITZVIKTOH_77 June 23, 2025 at 07:46 PM
The only advantage the iPhone 16e has is performance
+5 Reply