Samsung Galaxy M36 5G

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G has a conventional slate form factor — it cannot be folded and lacks a rugged build or any water resistance rating. It measures 164.4 x 77.9 x 7.7 mm with a total volume of 98.61 cm³, keeping the profile relatively slim for a device of this screen size. The handset weighs 197 g, which is a typical figure for a smartphone in this display category.

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G features a 6.7″ OLED/AMOLED touchscreen with a 1080 x 2340 px resolution and a pixel density of 385 ppi, producing sharp and vibrant visuals. The panel runs at a 120Hz refresh rate and reaches a typical brightness of 1000 nits, with the screen surface protected by Gorilla Glass Victus. There is no Always-On Display mode, and the screen does not support HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision; the device also has no secondary screen.

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G is driven by the Samsung Exynos 1380, a 5 nm octa-core chipset with 8 threads configured in a big.LITTLE arrangement running at 4 x 2.4 GHz and 4 x 2 GHz, supported by 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM at 3200 MHz across 4 memory channels with a maximum bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and a 4 MB L3 cache. The SoC has a TDP of 5W, supports 64-bit processing, multithreading, HMP, NX bit, and TrustZone, and integrates both LTE and graphics via the Mali G68 MP5 GPU clocked at 950 MHz, with DirectX 12 and OpenCL 2 support. The device comes with 256 GB of internal storage, and benchmark scores sit at 1007 single-core and 2758 multi-core in Geekbench 6, and 780 single-core and 2634 multi-core in Geekbench 5.

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G has a triple-lens rear camera system combining a 50 MP (f/1.8), 8 MP (f/2.2), and 2 MP (f/2.4) setup on a CMOS sensor, with optical image stabilization, phase-detection autofocus, touch autofocus, and continuous autofocus during video recording. The main camera supports 4K video at 30 fps along with slow-motion recording, HDR mode, timelapse, panorama, burst mode, and manual controls for exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, though manual shutter speed, RAW capture, laser autofocus, 360° panorama, HDR10 recording, Dolby Vision recording, and 3D capture are not available. A single LED flash is present on the rear — not dual-tone or RGB — while the front has no flash. The 13 MP front camera has an aperture of f/2.2 and is a single-lens unit positioned on the front of the device rather than under the display.

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G runs Android 15 and includes a broad set of privacy controls covering location access, camera and microphone permissions, clipboard warnings, and app tracking blocking, though cross-site tracking blocking and Mail Privacy Protection are absent. On the usability side, it supports dark mode, dynamic and manual theme customization, extra dim mode, customizable notifications, a media picker, full-page screenshots, split-screen multitasking, picture-in-picture, widgets, sharing intents, a child lock, and the ability to offload apps or play games while they download. The OS also features on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, Live Text, phone tracking, and multi-user support, while Wi-Fi password sharing, focus modes, Quick Start, and the ability to function as a PC are not included. OS updates are not delivered directly from the vendor.

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G is equipped with a 5000 mAh rechargeable, non-removable battery that supports 25W wired fast charging, and a charger is included in the box. A battery level indicator is present, making it easy to monitor charge status. Wireless charging and reverse wireless charging are not supported.

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G has a notably limited audio feature set — it lacks a 3.5 mm headphone jack and stereo speakers, meaning audio output is limited to a single speaker and wireless or USB-C connected headphones. On the wireless audio side, none of the high-quality Bluetooth codec options are supported, including aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and LDAC. There is also no built-in radio tuner.

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G supports 5G connectivity and accommodates two SIM cards, with download speeds up to 3790 Mbits/s and upload speeds up to 1280 Mbits/s. Wi-Fi coverage spans Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), while Bluetooth 5.3 and NFC round out the wireless options. Wired connectivity is handled via a USB Type-C port running USB 2.0, and an external memory slot is available for storage expansion. For sensors and navigation, the device includes GPS with Galileo support, a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and a fingerprint scanner, though there is no barometer, heart rate monitor, infrared sensor, or ANT+ support. Features such as 3D facial recognition, iris scanner, crash detection, satellite SOS, DLNA certification, HDMI output, motion or optical tracking, and a built-in projector are all absent, and no stylus is included.

The Samsung Galaxy M36 5G includes a video light, which can be used to illuminate subjects during video recording. The display is flat rather than curved, uses no e-paper technology, and is not protected by sapphire glass.