Samsung seems to be shaking things up with the design of its upcoming Galaxy A36, and possibly the A56 too. The fresh look has been revealed in some 3D renders shared by Giznext and OnLeaks, and it feels like a bit of a throwback.
Instead of the current A-series’ separate camera lenses, the A36 brings back a camera island design, with lenses stacked vertically. It’s similar to what Samsung used to do with models like the Galaxy A30s. It’s an interesting change, and I wonder how users will feel about this nod to older designs.
Some familiar elements are sticking around, though, like the Key Island, where the power and volume buttons are located. The A36 is slightly narrower than the A35 (77.9mm vs. 78mm) but slightly taller at 162.6mm. The screen is also getting a small bump in size, going from 6.6” to 6.64”. Interestingly, the phone will be slimmer at 7.4mm (down from 8.2mm), although the camera bump will bring the thickness to 9.6mm.
As for the hardware, we recently saw the Galaxy A36 (model SM-A366B) pop up on Geekbench running Android 15. The chipset remains a bit of a mystery, but it’s likely either the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 or 7s Gen 2, marking another shift in suppliers for this series. Last year’s A34 had a Dimensity chip, and the A35 switched to Exynos. It’s clear Samsung is experimenting here.
The A36’s front facade retains a familiar design, featuring a flat screen, centralized selfie camera cutout, and marginally asymmetrical bezel layout. The lack of a side-mounted fingerprint reader confirms thatit will stay under the display.
Meanwhile, leaks about the Galaxy A56 suggest it will feature the new Exynos 1580 chipset with AMD RDNA graphics. But don’t get too excited just yet—based on past timelines, we probably won’t see these phones officially launched until mid-March, like the A35 and A55.
