Samsung Galaxy A57 review: this unexciting mid-range phone has barely changed from last year

Introduction

The A57 is a Samsung Galaxy with an identity crisis. Go purely on price and it lands firmly in the mid-range smartphone class to compete against Google’s most affordable Pixel – yet the underlying hardware isn’t all that far removed from last year’s effort, and is easily eclipsed by more more affordable rivals from the likes of Nothing and Xiaomi’s various sub-brands.

A new processor, better water resistance and the subtlest of styling updates barely move the game on from the outgoing Galaxy A56. Losing a few grams here and half a millimetre there isn’t much to get excited about. At $549/£529/€520 there’s also very little daylight between it and the Galaxy S25 FE. Undercutting Apple’s entry-grade iPhone 17e feels like a consolation prize.

Familiar software and a competent main camera will be the biggest draws for the Samsung faithful – but have alternatives like the Nothing Phone 4a Pro made the A57 redundant for everyone else?

Design & build: glassy-eyed

It’s not quite a dead ringer for the Galaxy S26+, but unless you know what to look out for you’d have a hard time telling the Galaxy A57 apart from its spendier sibling. The ‘Key Island’ power and volume keys that bulge out of the flat-sided frame, a high gloss finish on the rear glass instead of matte, and a unique translucent effect on the oval rear camera bump are the only subtle giveaways.

This isn’t a million miles removed from the older A56, with a matching metal frame and similarly subdued colours: only ‘Awesome’ Lilac really stands out, with Navy, Icyblue and my Gray review unit all a bit unexciting. Another reason to throw it straight into a case, I suppose.

The A57 is, however, a svelte 6.9mm thick (down from 7.5mm on the A56) and a considerable 20g lighter at just 179g – despite otherwise matching it on size and keeping the same battery capacity. It’s enough to make the phone feel like something from the class above once it’s in your hand. Display bezels that are dramatically slimmer than the Google Pixel 10a‘s also help. That said, the glossy rear panel does begin to look a little cheaper once it’s picked up a bunch of fingerprints.

An IP68 resistance rating is a welcome improvement over the old model’s IP67, and helps the Galaxy A57 stay competitive with mid-range rivals. Rain, spilled drinks and putting my phone precariously near sinks or bathtubs aren’t really things I think about any more.

The A57’s under-display fingerprint sensor is an optical one, so not the speediest out there, but it did a decent enough job recognising my thumb. It’s more secure than the basic facial recognition, which can only get you past the Android lock screen and not into your banking apps.

Screen & sound: plus size model

You’ll need to break out the magnifying glass to spot any meaningful difference between the Galaxy A57’s screen and its predecessor’s. Both phones have 6.7in panels, 2340×1080 resolutions, 60-120Hz adaptive refresh rates, and play nicely with HDR10+ content. The only change between generations is that this new phone gets a Super AMOLED+ panel.

That basically means it has more blue sub-pixels than before, so should deliver sharper-looking images – if not necessarily more colour-accurate ones. It’s incredibly hard to spot the difference with the naked eye, though, so the decision to include it here was probably down to cost or weight saving.

It’s still a great looking display, with the sort of vivid presentation and outstanding contrast I now take as a given with OLED. Black levels are fantastic for giving depth to dark scenes when streaming videos, and viewing angles are also excellent. Scrolling always felt smooth, with no need to head to the Settings menus to change display modes first – something the Pixel 10a fumbles.

However, a 1200 nit average brightness and 1900 nit peak are only middle-of-the-road figures in 2026. I was able to read most things clearly while outdoors, but the Nothing Phone 4a Pro, Redmi Note 15 Pro+ and Poco X8 Pro Max all shine brighter.

I couldn’t spot any difference in sound quality between Galaxy generations, meaning the A57 is probably rocking an identical down-firing main driver and earpiece tweeter to the A56. Clarity is decent enough for a mid-ranger, but it doesn’t have a massive amount of volume on tap. You’ll want to keep your headphones close for anything more than social media clips.

Cameras: one out of three

Samsung, like Google and Apple, tends to put more stock in image processing than camera hardware. That’s certainly the case here: the Galaxy A57’s rear trio seemingly uses an identical set of sensors to the outgoing A56. The 50MP main shooter is expected to do most of the heavy lifting, while the ultrawide secondary’s 12MP pixel count is looking rather anaemic against mid-range rivals. It also lacks any sort of autofocus abilities.

The 5MP macro shooter seemingly only sticks around so the A57 can be sold as a ‘triple lens’ cameraphone. The smudged photos it takes lack dynamic range and have such a close focus distance you often have to contend with the phone casting a shadow on your subjects. I’m not surprised Samsung makes you go hunting for the macro mode in the camera app, rather than have it activate automatically at close range.

Rivals with dedicated telephoto snappers often do a better job here, while also having a clear advantage for zoom photos. Cropping the A57’s main sensor gets you useable 2x shots in most lighting conditions, but they aren’t the sharpest; anything further lacks detail as digital zoom tries to do its thing. They’re just about usable up to 10x for quick social shares, but a Nothing Phone 4a Pro’s 3.5x zoom is far more versatile at higher magnification.

The main camera has the widest dynamic range of the three, and captures the most detail. Samsung has stuck to its usual practice of exposing for shadow detail at the expense of highlights, even with HDR processing, so shots aren’t always true-to-life, but they are undeniably easy on the eye. If there are any improvements over last year’s phone here, they are very subtle ones.

Low light scenes have benefited more from the last twelve months of algorithm tweaks, letting the Galaxy A57 capture convincing night scenes with natural-looking colours and lots of detail. Noise is well controlled, helping it compete with mid-range rivals that have less mature processing – though no more so than any of its direct rivals.

The faster, smoother transitions between the main and ultrawide camera are also nice to see, if not exactly a reason to upgrade.

Software experience: a slice short of the whole pie

It’s quite disappointing that not even a brand as big as Samsung is immune from thrusting bloatware down your throat on its more affordable phones. You can at least reject most of them during the initial setup, but a few still squeak through. The Galaxy trend of defaulting to onscreen navigation buttons also continues here, meaning a trip to the Settings menus if you prefer gesture controls.

The A57 arrives running Android 16, along with a version of the OneUI 8.5 interface that looks almost identical to one found on the Galaxy S26. Except Galaxy AI isn’t front-and-centre here. The list of “intelligent features” is far shorter, with the gallery app’s object eraser and automatic transcription for the voice recorder being the two headliners. You also won’t find any DeX support here.

Bixby is better at understanding natural language now, so anyone that doesn’t know their way around the Settings screens can simply ask the voice assistant to show them the way. It was able to point me to the font size settings when I told it text was too small to read.

The overall layout and extensive selection of Samsung-badged apps will make returning Galaxy owners feel right at home, and there’s no denying Samsung has one of the best device ecosystems in the Android world – crucial if you’re heavily invested in other Samsung tech.

A promise of six major OS updates puts it behind the firm’s flagships for long term support, but that’s still a decent stretch for a mid-range phone.

Performance & battery life: marginal gains

The Galaxy A series has been a long-time user of Samsung’s home-grown Exynos silicon; the A57 hasn’t made any attempt to break that habit, arriving with a new Exynos 1680 chipset. It’s made on the same 4nm process as the last-gen CPU, but makes a few tweaks to the eight-core arrangement in order to liberate some extra oomph.

In my testing, performance charted in line with Samsung’s claimed 12% CPU gains and 13% GPU improvement. Benchmark scores definitely give it the advantage over the old Galaxy A56, but not enough to trouble anything in the class above. It’s a distinctly average among direct rivals, managing results about half what a Poco X8 Pro Max produced with its MediaTek Dimensity 9500S chipset. The NPU has taken a big leap from the previous generation, though, so AI number crunching punches above its weight.

Synthetic tests are one thing; real-world performance is another. The Galaxy A57 has enough pep to feel responsive in daily use, opening apps and multi-tasking with the verve I’d expect from an affordable handset. Sustained performance is also really rather great: the phone never got uncomfortably hot or slowed down to any noticeable degree. That’s largely down to Samsung finding space inside for a 13% larger vapour chamber cooling system.

The Division Resurgence defaulted to a mix of medium and high graphics, and ran smoothly enough even during hectic setpiece moments. Just keep in mind there are better options out there if you want the best gaming phone for your cash. I also think the base 128GB storage option feels miserly when most rivals now ship with 256GB for similar money.

Battery life is rarely a Samsung strength these days, and while the Galaxy A57 doesn’t exactly change that, it has managed to eke a few more hours from its 5000mAh battery than the Galaxy A56 managed last year. It’s comfortably an all-day phone, lasting me from breakfast until late in the evening with my usual mix of social scrolling and web browsing, photography, Bluetooth music playback, video streaming and gaming.

It compares favourably with the Nothing Phone 4a Pro, although it’s far from the last word in longevity. a Poco X8 Pro Max is the new affordable battery champ, almost managing to last twice as long in my testing – or two to three days between top-ups.

At least 45W charging makes good pace over USB-C, being faster than the more expensive Galaxy S26. There’s no wireless charging support here, though.

Samsung Galaxy A57 verdict

Are you so ensconced in Samsung’s ecosystem that you’d never consider shopping elsewhere? Then the Galaxy A57 will look like a respectable mid-range option – if a slightly unambitious upgrade on its predecessor. The design and build aren’t too far removed from the firm’s flagships, the screen is a big beauty and it’ll last all day on a charge. Lifespan is also a little better than last year, as is CPU performance,

Compared to the wider phone world, however, there’s nothing here that stands head-and-shoulders above rivals with keener launch pricing. A Nothing Phone 4a Pro has a larger, higher resolution screen, a faster chipset and more versatile cameras, while the significantly cheaper Poco X8 Pro Max is the new go-to for anyone after maximum lifespan between charges.

A few rounds of retailer discounts and network carrier deals will make it more competitive, but until then only the budget-conscious Samsung faithful need apply – and even then, should give serious thought about the significantly cheaper Galaxy A56 while it’s still in stock.

Samsung Galaxy A57 technical specifications