Samsung Galaxy A36 5G (256GB / 8GB RAM)

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G has a standard, non-folding form factor measuring 162.9 mm tall, 78.2 mm wide, and 7.4 mm thick, with a total volume of 94.27 cm³ and a weight of 195 g. It carries an IP67 ingress protection rating, classifying it as waterproof against temporary submersion. The device does not feature a rugged build, so while it offers a meaningful level of water resistance, it is not designed for extreme environmental conditions.

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G features a 6.7″ OLED/AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 px and a pixel density of 385 ppi, delivering a 120Hz refresh rate alongside a typical brightness of 1200 nits. The display supports both HDR10 and HDR10+, though Dolby Vision is not available, and an Always-On Display mode is included for at-a-glance information. Screen protection comes courtesy of Gorilla Glass Victus, and there is no secondary screen on the device.

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G is driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset fabricated on a 4 nm process, featuring an octa-core CPU configuration running at 4 x 2.4 GHz and 4 x 1.8 GHz across 8 threads, with big.LITTLE and HMP technologies in use for workload distribution. Graphics are handled by an integrated Adreno 710 GPU clocked at 800 MHz, supporting DirectX 12, OpenGL 3.2, OpenGL ES 3.2, and OpenCL 2, with output limited to a single display. The chip includes integrated LTE, TrustZone security, and NX bit support, and operates within a thermal envelope of 7W. The device ships with 8 GB of DDR5 RAM running at 2750 MHz across two memory channels, offering a maximum memory bandwidth of 25.6 GB/s and a maximum supported memory amount of 12 GB, alongside 256 GB of eMMC 5.1 internal storage. Benchmark results place the AnTuTu score at 619,557, with Geekbench 6 returning 1,007 in single-core and 2,917 in multi-core testing, and the platform supports 64-bit operation throughout.

The rear camera system on the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G uses a multi-lens setup with three CMOS sensors at 50 MP, 8 MP, and 5 MP, paired with apertures of f/1.8, f/2.2, and f/2.4 respectively, and includes optical image stabilization but no optical zoom. Autofocus options cover phase-detection and touch autofocus for stills, as well as continuous autofocus during video recording, while laser autofocus is not present. Video capture reaches up to 2160p at 30 fps, with slow-motion recording also supported, though HDR10 and Dolby Vision recording are not available. Manual controls extend to exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, while manual shutter speed is absent; additional shooting modes include HDR, burst, panorama, and timelapse. A single LED flash is fitted at the rear — not dual-tone or RGB — and there is no front-facing flash. The 12 MP front camera sits behind an f/2.2 aperture in a standard single-lens configuration, without an under-display placement, and does not support RAW capture, 3D imaging, or 360-degree panoramas.

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G runs Android 15 and includes a broad set of privacy controls, among them clipboard warnings, location privacy options, camera and microphone access management, and the ability to block app tracking, though cross-site tracking blocking and Mail Privacy Protection are not available. On the customization side, the OS supports dark mode, dynamic theming, theme customization, widgets, and customizable notifications, while focus modes and Wi-Fi password sharing are absent. Productivity features include split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, full-page screenshots, a media picker, sharing intents, app offloading, and the ability to play games while they are still downloading. The system also offers on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, Live Text for selecting text from images, phone tracking, multi-user support, a child lock, and a battery health check. Direct OS updates from the vendor are not supported, and the device cannot function as a PC replacement.

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G houses a 5000 mAh rechargeable battery that is not removable, and supports wired fast charging at 45W, though no charger is included in the box. Wireless charging is not available. A battery level indicator is present, giving users an at-a-glance read of remaining charge.

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G features stereo speakers but omits a 3.5 mm headphone jack, meaning wired headphones require an adapter or a USB-C connection. The device does not support LDAC or aptX Lossless for high-quality wireless audio, and there is no built-in radio.

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G supports 5G cellular connectivity alongside Wi-Fi 4, Wi-Fi 5, and Wi-Fi 6, with peak download and upload speeds of 2900 Mbits/s and 1600 Mbits/s respectively. SIM options are flexible, accommodating configurations of one or two physical SIMs as well as one or two eSIMs. Bluetooth 5.3 and NFC are both present, while the USB Type-C port runs on USB 2.0, and there is no HDMI output, external memory slot, or DLNA certification. Security and biometrics are covered by a fingerprint scanner, though 3D facial recognition and an iris scanner are not included, and no stylus ships with the device. On the sensor front, the phone carries a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and GPS with Galileo support, but lacks a barometer, heart rate monitor, infrared sensor, and motion or optical tracking. Satellite emergency SOS and crash detection are also absent.

The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G includes a video light for illumination during video recording, while the display is flat rather than curved and uses neither sapphire glass nor an e-paper panel.