When the mid-tier phone category first launched, it was immediately obvious these devices were a step down from flagship models. But every single year, Samsung's A Series phones continue to close that gap to the point that the differences are barely perceptible – unless you dig into the nitty gritty of performance features.
2026's A Series phones arrive with some truly impressive specifications that you wouldn't expect to find given their price accessibility. A 50MP camera, AMOLED+ display and up to 66 hours of battery life are just the beginning of what you'll find in this year's models. Here's what's new and updated with the Samsung Galaxy A37 and A57 phones.
Battery – up to 66 hours of usage
Expect to find a 5,000mAh battery on both devices. On the A57 this translates to 66 hours of usage, 6.5 hours more than the previous generation. For the A37, you'll get 59 hours which is a whopping 10 hours more than last year's model.
Camera – faster and better processing
The camera improvements are less about hardware and more about performance. As with last year's model, both devices keep their 50MP cameras. But the A37 will get bigger pixels for better, brighter and sharper images. An enhanced image signal processor will reduce noise and enhance details. It means a number of the image refinements are done at the chip level.
There has also been an improvement to speed. Previous generations required a full second in between pressing the shutter button and receiving the photo – that time is now 400 milliseconds, less than half of what it was before.
Zoom transition improvements mean toggling between the different zooms is much smoother and you'll get better quality when using the zoom to capture pictures or video.
Display – AMOLED+ comes to the A57
In a first for the A Series, the A57 will have a super AMOLED+ display, meaning brighter and more vibrant visuals. This is widely considered a flagship-level display, so it's unusual to see this on phones at this particular price point.
Design and durability – it's sleeker
Design and aesthetics were previously an aspect of mid-tier phones that made them easy to spot as a mid-tier phone. They were a bit clunkier, with materials that were never quite as premium as those in the flagship models. The new A Series has the look and feel of a prestige device with a slim bezel and refined curves. The A57 is 0.5mm thinner than its predecessor, sitting at 6.9mm.
The range also has improved durability, with an IP68 rating, and the phones are water resistant up to 1.5m for 30 minutes.
Performance and software support – 6 years of OS updates
Improved internals for a faster, smoother experience, better chipset performance, faster memory, improved Bluetooth and an enhanced cooling system are just some of the performance upgrades.
These devices also come with six years of OS updates and six years of security updates, which are important factors in how long you can actually keep your phone for.
Features – more productive and AI tools
This year's models see Samsung integrate a few extra AI tools and productivity features. Software features and functions are where you start to notice the difference between the A Series and the S26 range. Undeniably, the S26 devices have more productivity tools and AI-powered features. But for the typical user who is not trying to manage 3 work calendars and a team of 20 direct reports, the A Series phones have more than enough features to impress.
Cross-app actions mean you can find a restaurant or send a message in one command. The upgraded version of Samsung's AI bot Bixby appears across the range.
Improvements to "Circle to Search" mean you can now segment images by what is in them, for example outfit vs shoes, bag, clothing. You can then look up each item and enable direct shopping.
New voice transcription features allow you transcribe to meetings or calls, and then generate summaries. There are also a range of new AI-powered image editing tools.
10 April release
The A37 and A57 are available globally on 10 April. The Galaxy A57 is priced from $749 and $849 for 128GB and 256GB respectively. The Galaxy A37 5G is priced from $599 for 128GB.
