Galaxy A56 Camera: Claims vs What Reviewers Found

The Galaxy A56's 50MP main camera (with stabilisation) and 12MP ultrawide snapper come paired with Samsung’s nifty editing tools dubbed Awesome Intelligence.

It was unveiled on 2 March 2025 and despite its successor, the Galaxy A57, having been announced on 25 March 2026 (and landing in US retail stores on 9 April), the latter sports the same cameras as the former, according to GSMArena. So, if photography is important to you, the Galaxy A56 is still very much worth your while, provided you’re aware of where its cameras fall short.

We didn’t test the Galaxy A56’s camera setup ourselves, but we pitted some of the most common claims against Samsung’s own information on the phone as well as information and tests conducted by GSMArena and Android Authority.

Galaxy A56 camera specs

Five common claims, checked

It has the same main camera as the A55

For the most part, yes. According to spec sheets published by GSMArena, both phones feature a 50MP f/1.8 main camera backed by a 1/1.56-inch sensor and optical stabilisation.

In its review GSMArena pointed out that the A56’s rear cameras are identical to those on the A55. When the site pitted the two against each other, images taken in daylight were virtually indistinguishable, although highlights were a touch more likely to be blown out on the A56, which also seemed to take marginally cleaner 2x pictures during the day.

It's much better in low light

Samsung’s launch post claimed improvements to Nightography, including Low Noise Mode being brought to the 12MP selfie camera and support for low-light conditions on the wide camera.

However, GSMArena’s review unit didn’t live up to the promise: Night mode issues included Auto Night mode rarely activating, Night mode sometimes not working when manually selected, and Night mode photos suffering from incorrect white balance and a purplish cast. Compared to night shots from the A55, photos from the A56 featured overly bright shadows, but the A56 took sharper night videos.

Perhaps Samsung has since addressed these issues with a software update, but we’d encourage you to try out both Photo and Night mode on your own Galaxy A56.

It's the best mid-range camera Samsung sells

Not any more, and not everyone was wowed by the Galaxy A56’s camera performance when it launched. GSMArena said in its review that photos taken in good lighting conditions were somewhat underwhelming, and concluded that the handset’s camera hardware overall wasn’t particularly impressive. Selfies and videos got some praise from the outlet, but GSMArena suggested the Xiaomi 14T as an alternative that takes better pics in most scenarios (and it’s cheaper, to boot, despite having a telephoto camera).

Similarly, Android Authority’s Galaxy A56 review found that while colours from the main camera were pleasing, performance from the macro camera wasn’t up to scratch, ultimately dubbing Samsung’s mid-ranger “a decent phone stuck in no-man’s land” and recommending the OnePlus 13R and Google Pixel 9a as alternatives. The A57 has since taken its place in Samsung’s range.

It doesn't get any of Samsung's AI photo tools

This one is wrong. According to Samsung’s announcement, Best Face is available on the Galaxy A56 5G. It’s not available on the Galaxy A36 5G or Galaxy A26 5G. It chooses the best facial expressions of up to five people in a group from a motion photo and puts them together in one photo.

Object Eraser is available on the Galaxy A56 5G, Galaxy A36 5G and Galaxy A26 5G.

Photo Assist and Generative Edit aren’t available on the Galaxy A56 5G. They’re Galaxy AI features that are available on Samsung’s Galaxy AI phones. The Galaxy A56 5G has Awesome Intelligence, which is Samsung’s suite of AI features for its Galaxy A-series phones.

Previously, this page said that Generative Edit is only available on the Galaxy S24 and newer phones. However, Samsung added it to the Galaxy S23 series in 2024 with One UI 6.1.

Selfies and video are its strong points

This holds up for the most part. The 12MP selfie camera takes excellent, sharp and clean pictures with wide dynamic range according to GSMArena. Android Authority called them merely OK and said selfies lacked a little punch.

4K video stabilisation was excellent in GSMArena’s opinion irrespective of which camera you used. However, Android Authority said the lack of options above 4K30 (the highest video recording option) is disappointing considering the phone’s $500 price tag.

Best settings for the Galaxy A56

Our Galaxy A56 settings page also has initial values for several other cases.

The macro cam isn’t great, either. GSMArena had trouble getting crisp images with its fixed focus and Android Authority noticed images taken with it had oversaturated colours and a blue tint. Get up close and shoot in 2x mode instead for better results. See our macro photography guide for alternatives.

Camera settings worth changing first

Samsung’s own support page for the cameras on its A-series phones (A16, A26, A36 and A56) lists all of the following settings, some of which can have a more dramatic effect on the final photo than others. And none of them require downloading a third-party app.

• Enable Motion photo ahead of taking group pics, as Best Face utilises images from motion photos (according to Samsung, up to three seconds’ worth of footage is captured around the time the pic is taken).
• Choose whether or not to enable Scene optimizer. It adjusts colour by subject, so switch it off if you prefer a natural look you can edit yourself, as our Scene Optimizer guide explains.
• Keep Auto HDR enabled when shooting people against bright skies, as it combines shots with different exposures to retain as much detail as possible in both the brightest and darkest parts of the scene.
• Keep Video stabilization enabled when shooting video without a tripod.
• Turn on High efficiency videos (HEVC) if storage space is at a premium, though if your mate’s phone/computer can’t handle this less-common video format, you’ll need to convert/share a more standard version.
• You’ll find Night and Pro tucked away under More. Samsung's page lists Pro mode for the A56, and our Pro mode guide covers the controls.

How to use Best Face and Object Eraser

1. 1

   Turn on Motion photo before a group shot

   For Best Face to work, you'll need to be shooting Motion photos (according to Samsung's online instructions, Motion photos last up to 3 seconds). You can turn this option on in the camera controls at the very top of the viewfinder.

2. 2

   Open the photo in Gallery

   When you're ready to edit, select the Motion photo that you want to improve, then tap More options (the icon with three dots), then Best Face. According to Samsung, Best Face can detect up to five different faces in a picture, and will create an image of up to 12MP.

3. 3

   Pick a face for each person

   Follow the prompts to select the best instance of each face and then save. If you want to preserve the original, select Save as copy.

4. 4

   Erase distractions with Object Eraser

   To remove objects, select a picture and tap Edit, then tap the far-right option with four circles and select the Object eraser tool. Tap or sketch around the object you want to erase and tap Erase. Our Object Eraser guide discusses in more detail when it will perform well.

Which Galaxy AI tools the A56 has

Samsung’s Galaxy A56 ships with an AI feature suite dubbed Awesome Intelligence.

Some Galaxy AI features available on Samsung’s Galaxy S-series phones aren’t available on the Galaxy A56.

The photo editing and enhancement features listed on Samsung’s Galaxy A56 announcement page and its US support page for the Galaxy A56 are listed below. If a feature isn’t listed in either place, it’s been marked as not listed.

Some of the tools at the bottom of the table may be useful to you. Keep in mind that Samsung may still introduce them later through an update, so we recommend checking out the Gallery app editor on your phone if you have recently installed the latest version of One UI.

Software updates

The Samsung Galaxy A56 launched with Android 15 and One UI 7 out of the box. The company has assured up to six major Android and One UI updates along with six years of security patches for the Galaxy A56.

According to a report from SamMobile, One UI 8.5 made its way to Galaxy A56 users in May 2026. After that, One UI 9 based on Android 17 rolled out to all regions in October 2026 in its stable form. We’ve only seen two so far, so there’s still plenty of life to go.

Who the A56 suits, and what to buy instead

If most of your pictures are taken in the daylight, you take a lot of selfies and/or video, and you’d like a long support and updates period, you may want to consider getting the A56 for less.

According to GSMArena’s comparison, photos on both phones are virtually identical, and the A55 wins out on battery life and microSD card support. So if you already have an A55, you might as well hang on to it.

• The Galaxy A57 has the same cameras as the A56 with faster processing and according to SamMobile starts at $549 in the US.
• The Galaxy A37 is priced starting at $449 in the US, and like the A56, it has a 1/1.56-inch main camera sensor.
• The Galaxy A35 is the cheaper older option with a smaller main sensor and an 8MP ultrawide.
• The Galaxy S26 FE has a 3x telephoto, so if you’re into zoom that’s a nice bonus!