First Impressions: Samsung Galaxy A57 5G Review

Design and screen

• Slimmer, lighter build
• Aluminium and glass design
• Brighter AMOLED screen with slimmer bezels

Just like last year’s Galaxy A56, the Galaxy A57 closely resembles the flagship Galaxy S-series – though a few tweaks to the overall design mean this year’s mid-ranger feels more premium than ever.

The fully glass-and-aluminium construction remains, immediately standing out compared to most phones at this price point that tend to stick to plastic rear panels, but this year’s mid-ranger feels noticeably thinner and lighter in the hand – and that’s because it is.

Measuring in at 6.9mm, it’s 0.5mm thinner than last year’s (not exactly thick) A56. Granted, that may not sound like much on paper – it’s just half a centimetre, after all – but it actually makes a noticeable difference in the hand, especially combined with a reduction in weight.

At 179g, it’s 20g lighter than its predecessor, and it helps the phone feel not only premium but surprisingly light and thin considering its relatively large 6.7-inch screen.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not anywhere near the experience of the iPhone Air or Samsung’s own Galaxy S25 Edge, but it does bridge the gap nicely, especially at the price point. Most ultra-thin phones have a pretty substantial price tag attached. 

The rear glass panel certainly adds a luxurious air to the A56, making it harder to tell it apart from its S-series brethren at a glance, but with a mirror-like finish, boy, is it a fingerprint magnet. 

Even during my hour-long hands-on session, I lost count of how many times I had to wipe the rear panel before taking photos. It felt like even looking at the thing caused fingerprints to appear, so I reckon many people will pop the phone into a case. And that’s a bit of a shame considering the rather eye-catching colour options available this year, including Lilac, Navy, Icyblue and Grey. 

There’s also a slightly redesigned camera bump that Samsung is, rather inexplicably, calling the ‘Ambient Island’. It looks pretty good, with a hue that (finally) matches the rear panel, but it’s also different from the S26’s camera housing. The difficulty of spotting the differences between last year’s mid-range A56 and flagship S25 rear panels might’ve put Samsung off that idea. 

The phone is also much more durable this year, with Gorilla Glass Victus Plus protection on both the front and rear glass panels, and water resistance has been bumped up to the same IP68 we’re seeing more frequently from competitors in the mid-range space. 

It’s not just the overall design that feels more refined; that also extends to the screen. It remains a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel, but it’s brighter – 1900nits peak brightness – and arguably more impressively, the bezels are much slimmer. 

Samsung hasn’t been as egregious in this regard as, say, Google’s mid-range Pixel 10a, but the bezels were thicker than those from the mid-range Chinese competition. The A57’s screen bezels measure in at 1.5mm thick on the sides and top, and 2.5mm at the bottom, compared to 2.2mm-thick sides, a 2.0mm-thick top and 3.3mm-thick chin from last year’s smartphone. 

It’s not exactly uniform, and it has a long way until it reaches the super-thin bezels of the Honor 400, but it makes a big difference to the overall look of the panel – even when compared to this year’s Galaxy A37. 

Cameras

• Largely unchanged camera hardware
• Still no zoom lens
• Improved performance switching between lenses

When it comes to camera tech, Samsung has decided against switching up the rear combination of a 50MP main, 2MP ultrawide and 5MP macro – and I must admit, that feels a little disappointing. 

It’s getting rarer and rarer to see ‘junk’ lenses like the dedicated macro lens in the mid-range space, but somehow, it’s still here on the A57. Like practically every other macro lens around, it’s likely there to boost the camera count and appear more advanced than it already is. 

I’m also a little disappointed that Samsung hasn’t taken the opportunity to equip the A57 with a zoom lens. The Nothing Phone 4a Pro costs £30 less, yet comes with a 50MP 3.5x periscope lens. In fact, even the regular Phone 4a has the same zoom lens, and that phone costs just £349. 

That said, Samsung has worked on the camera hardware of the main lens to squeeze better performance out of it. An updated ISP promises reduced noise, especially for video, and much faster, smoother zooming and switching between the three rear lenses.

Actual performance seemed pretty solid during my hands-on time, though it was in a perfectly lit area with soft lights, spotlights, and more to ensure we got the best possible photos of the devices. 

That’s an environment when even ‘bad’ cameras can take a decent shot – the real test is when you take the cameras out into more challenging environments, and that’s something I’ll have to do once I get my hands on a review sample. 

Performance and software

• Exynos 1680 and 8/12GB of RAM
• One UI 8.5 with ‘Awesome’ Intelligence
• Boosted six years of OS and security upgrades

Performance has never really been the Galaxy A-series’ strong point, and that doesn’t look to be changing this year. At its heart, it features Samsung’s home-grown Exynos 1680, a distinctly mid-range flavouring, though that is coupled with either 8 or 12GB of faster LPDDR5X RAM (finally!) and 256- or 512GB of storage depending on the variant you opt for.

It’s a fine, inoffensive combination, but it doesn’t exactly offer the same power as the iPhone 17e’s A19, or even the cheaper Poco F8 Pro with its Snapdragon 8 Elite. 

That said, I had very little to complain about during my hour trying out the Galaxy A57 ahead of launch. Just like its flagship brethren, it felt snappy and responsive scrolling around the OS, and apps opened quickly – but the real test will be gaming, and I wasn’t exactly able to download CoD Mobile. 

Things should be a little rosier this year with a 13% larger vapour chamber than that of the A56, but in reality, thermals were never much of an issue last year. The chipset, like most other mid-range chipsets, will likely rarely generate enough heat to be an issue – but I’ll see how it compares in our stress test when a sample arrives at the Trusted offices.  

Battery performance should be in line with last year’s Galaxy A56, which has the same 5,000mAh battery, meaning it should last all day with few issues, but I’ll have to confirm that. It also offers 45W fast charging, which Samsung claims can provide 60% charge in half an hour – not bad considering the Galaxy S26 remains capped at 25W.

In terms of software, the Galaxy A57 ships with the same One UI 8.5 based on Android 16 as the flagship S26 range – albeit without the snazzy Galaxy AI smarts.

There are AI features on the phone, though they’re branded as ‘Awesome Intelligence’ instead. It offers the staples of the modern AI experience, including the same upgraded Circle to Search functionality that lets you search for whole outfits easily, new voice transcription – in the recorder app and in calls – and the upgraded Bixby 4.0 experience. 

If you were looking for the full suite of Galaxy AI smarts, like image generation, on-device translation and writing tools, you’ll have to splash out for the full-fat S26 flagship. 

What is better is the long-term software support, with up to six years of combined OS and security updates, compared to the four years of last year’s Galaxy A56. That is an impressive promise in the mid-range space, only really bested by the Google Pixel 10a and iPhone 17e. 

Early Thoughts

The Galaxy A57 5G is shaping up to be a sleeker, more premium mid-ranger than last year’s model, with a thinner, lighter body, a brighter 6.7in AMOLED, and slimmer bezels that could help it stand out. 

The unchanged camera setup – including that likely ‘junk’ macro and lack of a proper zoom – might hold it back on paper, but Samsung’s updated ISP may still deliver decent results once we’ve had the chance to really test it. 

Throw in six years of updates and the new ‘Awesome Intelligence’ features, a 5000mAh battery and 45W charging, and the A57 could end up being a very compelling all-rounder – but we’ll wait until we’ve fully tested the phone before we say for sure.