I tested the Samsung Galaxy A57 5G for a month and I liked it, but I’m not sure you should buy one

The Samsung Galaxy A57 5G is the most costly telephone in the Galaxy A collection for 2026, and the A collection has been the highest-selling Android lineup 12 months after 12 months. The Galaxy A5x telephones sit squarely between Samsung’s finances choices and the flagship S collection, aiming to strike the proper steadiness between worth and the comfort options folks truly care about.

When I obtained the Galaxy A57 5G for evaluation, I was nearly to go away for a journey to Seattle. As a substitute of easing into the evaluation slowly, I pulled my SIM out of my Galaxy Z Fold 7, the most costly telephone Samsung sells in the US, and dropped it into the $550 A57 5G. The plan was to swap again when I obtained dwelling.

That was a month in the past. The SIM remains to be in the A57 5G, which most likely tells you how a lot I liked it. But the extra time I spent with the telephone, the extra I’ve observed its imperfections.

The very first thing anybody notices about the Galaxy A57 5G, and the factor I like most about it, is the construct. Particularly, how skinny and mild it’s. At 161.5 x 76.8 x 6.9mm and 179g, the A57 5G is 20g lighter and 0.6mm thinner than the A56 5G, and slimmer than most telephones on this worth vary. Everybody I handed it to throughout my journey had the similar response: a fast have a look at the again, adopted by some model of, “Wait, this doesn’t really feel like a actual telephone.”

The perfect half is that Samsung hasn’t used plastic to get there. It’s a correct glass-and-metal construct, and it feels proper up there with flagship units. In reality, the in-hand really feel satisfied me to make use of it with out a case. That was a determination I regretted roughly one day into the journey, when the telephone slid off my lap as I was getting out of the automotive. I picked it up anticipating the worst, but the A57 5G was mainly unscathed.

Naturally, I ended up repeating this very scientific experiment a number of extra instances throughout my journey. The telephone is absolutely slippery, and ended up going through about half a dozen drops from 3-4 toes onto marble flooring, tarmac, and hardwood (actually hoping my boss isn’t studying this (what number of instances?! — ed.)). To my shock (and aid), although, the entrance and again glass have stayed fully intact, with just a few minor scuffs to the aluminum body. Samsung’s utilizing Gorilla Glass Victus Plus on each side, and clearly it’s incomes its preserve.

The A57 5G additionally positive aspects IP68 mud and water resistance this 12 months, up from IP67 on the A56 5G. That additional digit means it’s now tested for immersion at 1.5 meters for half-hour, up from one meter. I didn’t run any pool exams, but you can confidently count on it to deal with spills, rain, and the occasional dunk in a sink.

The telephone is available in 4 colours: Navy, Icy Blue, Grey, and Lilac. Samsung’s US web site solely lists the Navy choice. I have the Grey unit, and I’ll simply say it: I hate this colour. It’s the type of joyless, do-nothing grey that makes the telephone look invisible. The shiny again additionally picks up smudges simply; a frosted matte end would have seemed much better, but I’m guessing Samsung desires to maintain some visible distance between the A collection and its flagship S telephones.

Samsung has dropped the particular person round cutouts of current A collection telephones and gone again to a vertical pill-shaped digicam island that appears like a finances Samsung telephone from the late 2010s. The remainder of the design is fairly commonplace. Energy button and quantity rocker on the proper edge, each good and clicky. One nano-SIM slot with eSIM assist, no microSD.

The in-display fingerprint scanner is fast and dependable 9 instances out of ten, although I do want Samsung had positioned it a little greater up on the display screen. No headphone jack, in case you have been questioning, and at this level, I don’t assume anybody fairly expects one.

The Galaxy A57 5G has a 6.7-inch Tremendous AMOLED Plus show with a 1,080 x 2,340 decision, as much as 120Hz refresh charge, and HDR10+ assist. Samsung has trimmed the bezels considerably this 12 months, and if it weren’t for the barely thicker chin, the different three sides would really feel proper at dwelling on a flagship. Watching content material is genuinely pleasing, with the vibrant, punchy colours Samsung’s AMOLED panels are recognized for.

The multimedia expertise is helped by the telephone’s stereo audio system, with the earpiece doubling as the second channel. They aren’t flagship-grade, but they’re adequate that I by no means felt like I was utilizing a low-cost telephone. Loads loud, a little bit of physique to the sound, and no harsh distortion at greater volumes. Calls got here by clearly on each the earpiece and loudspeaker, even in noisier environments.

Samsung claims the show can attain 1,200 nits in high-brightness mode, with a peak of 1,900 nits, and in common use, I had no complaints. The display screen was straightforward to learn indoors and outdoor alike.

But then I went climbing in Olympic Nationwide Park. We pulled as much as the trailhead, I obtained out of the automotive, and the A57 5G’s display screen was primarily unreadable in direct daylight. My first thought was that Samsung had oversold the brightness, but then I observed the telephone was heat. The offender was Android Auto. I had been utilizing the A57 5G for navigation on the drive in, and the telephone had quietly throttled its max brightness to take care of the warmth.

This wasn’t a one-off both. Over the course of the journey, the display screen turned unreasonably dim three or 4 extra instances, nearly all the time throughout or proper after a lengthy Android Auto session. This type of throttling isn’t irregular, but the frequency at which it occurred was — I’ll get into the telephone’s thermal conduct intimately in the efficiency part.

There’s additionally an always-on show choice for glanceable notifications. I preserve it off on each Samsung telephone I use, but it’s there and works as you’d count on.

The Galaxy A57 5G is available in 128GB and 256GB variants in the US, with no microSD choice, so decide rigorously at checkout. My 128GB unit had nearly 105GB free out of the field, and I discovered that the exhausting approach when I tried to switch information from the Fold 7, and the A57 5G didn’t have sufficient room for my WhatsApp backup. That’s largely the fault of 15 years of household WhatsApp teams sending day by day good morning messages, but the level stands: 105GB isn’t a lot in 2026, and you’ll should depend on cloud storage if you plan to maintain the telephone for a few years.

Inside, you get 8GB of RAM and the new Exynos 1680 chipset. On paper, it’s a minor replace over the Exynos 1580 in the A56, with the similar CPU cores and simply one core shuffled from the effectivity cluster to the efficiency cluster. Benchmarks land it proper round the competitors, although you can clearly see the Galaxy S25 FE pulling forward.

How is the telephone in real-world use, although? Truthfully, higher than I anticipated. Coming from the Z Fold 7, I was nearly anticipating to really feel pissed off by the A57 5G’s efficiency, but that didn’t occur. In common use, the A57 5G can really feel completely advantageous. Apps open rapidly sufficient, scrolling is clean, and switching between on a regular basis apps often does not really feel like a downside. For lengthy stretches, the telephone does a good job convincing you that it’s not a lot of a downgrade from one thing dearer.

The phantasm does break, although, and nearly all the time beneath warmth. Use the telephone outdoor on a sunny day, in the automotive, or with Android Auto working, and the Exynos chip fairly clearly begins combating thermals. I was strolling round San Francisco making an attempt to file a selfie video when my telephone began taking 2-3 seconds to register my faucets. The video itself got here out stuttery. And this wasn’t a scorching day; it was 70°F out.

It obtained worse than that, too. Simply yesterday, I plugged the A57 5G into wired Android Auto, and the telephone turned nearly fully unresponsive. It saved dropping the Android Auto connection by itself, prefer it bodily couldn’t sustain. Even after I unplugged it, the A57 5G took 5-6 seconds to open the most elementary apps for a full 20 minutes after.

Even outdoors these Auto-adjacent moments, there have been too many smaller reminders that that is a mid-range chip. I had days the place typing would instantly lag behind for a second or two, or the digicam app would take an additional beat to reply. I additionally observed the telephone typically felt barely heat when I picked it up in the morning, even earlier than I had actually began utilizing it. On these mornings, it already felt sluggish.

I have seen comparable conduct on older Exynos-powered Samsung flagships, and none of this was dangerous sufficient to make me quit on the A57 5G. Most informal customers will most likely assume it feels clean sufficient on a regular day, but I would positively fear about how this telephone will really feel two or three years from now.

Gaming is a comparable story. The A57 5G can run most graphics-heavy titles, but it isn’t highly effective sufficient for a constant high-fps expertise. I performed a few classes of PUBG Cellular, and whereas the telephone doesn’t get scorching, half-hour of sustained gameplay leaves it noticeably heat and visibly throttled.

The Galaxy A57 5G ships with Android 16 and One UI 8.5 on prime. The latter is Samsung’s latest software program pores and skin, the one that debuted with the Galaxy S26 collection, and as of writing, my Z Fold 7 doesn’t even have it but. Visually, it’s not a dramatic departure from One UI 8, but it genuinely seems like Samsung has found out how you can make its pores and skin really feel mild and nimble for the first time in years.

Menus are clear, animations really feel clean, and the telephone not often feels slowed down by the software program itself. You get good customization choices, Edge Panels, Modes and Routines, Samsung Pockets, Safe Folder, Hyperlink to Home windows, and Samsung’s typical suite of first-party apps. If you’ve used a Samsung telephone in the previous few years, you’ll really feel proper at dwelling inside minutes, with a little much less friction.

What you do not get is the full flagship characteristic set. Samsung DeX is lacking, so you can’t join the A57 5G to a monitor and use it as a desktop.

The identical applies to Galaxy AI. The A57 5G does not get the full vary of AI options discovered on Samsung’s flagship telephones, but it does embody a handful beneath Samsung’s “Clever options” branding. Greatest Face lets you decide a higher expression from movement pictures, AI Choose can seize components of the display screen and supply context-aware solutions, and you can create customized digicam filters primarily based on current pictures. Object Eraser can be right here for cleansing up pictures.

The largest software program win is assist. Samsung guarantees six years of main OS upgrades and safety updates for the Galaxy A57 5G, which is genuinely spectacular and one of the strongest causes to contemplate the telephone in the first place.

The Galaxy A5x collection’ 5,000 mAh battery has remained unchanged for roughly perpetually, but it’s sufficient to comfortably get by a full day of heavy use. All through the journey and the weeks after, I persistently obtained 5.5 to six hours of screen-on time earlier than the telephone dipped under 15%. It’s not fairly a two-day telephone, but it’s the type of battery life that saved my battery anxiousness in verify even when I left the home at lower than 100%.

Charging is dealt with by way of a 45W wired reference to a USB Energy Supply charger, taking the A57 5G from zero to full in just below an hour and quarter-hour. A 30-minute top-up will get you to about 60%, which is nice. There’s no wi-fi charging right here, which isn’t uncommon at this worth, although it’s value stating that Google’s Pixel A collection telephones embody it.

Samsung clearly put work into different components of the A57 5G, but the cameras don’t appear to have gotten the similar love. You get a 50MP predominant shooter and a 12MP ultrawide on the again. There’s additionally a 5MP macro digicam, simply so Samsung can say this telephone has three rear cameras. If Samsung truly needed you to make use of it, it could have improved the macro over the final six or seven generations, or a minimum of added autofocus. Simply use the predominant digicam’s zoomed-in pictures for close-ups and fake the macro sensor isn’t there, as I did.

If you wish to try all my samples in full decision, you can see all of them on this folder.

The ultrawide digicam is extra helpful, but solely in good lighting. Something lower than that, and pictures rapidly flip delicate and noisy. The ultrawide video is worse, with softer element and colours that don’t match the predominant digicam nicely. Whereas strolling by the rainforests in Olympic Nationwide Park, I switched to the ultrawide hoping to seize the scale of the timber, and instantly regretted it.

The 50MP predominant digicam and 12MP selfie digicam do most of the heavy lifting, and they do it nicely. With out pixel peeping, nearly each picture I took with the A57 5G got here out wanting nice. The telephone handles high-dynamic-range conditions confidently, Samsung’s signature punchy colours give each shot a pop, and there’s loads of element in well-lit scenes. The principle digicam additionally holds up higher than I anticipated in low mild, producing usable pictures with good colour and managed noise.

Human topics look good too, with close-to-accurate pores and skin tones and good element. Portrait mode works nicely 9 instances out of ten, with good background blur, although I did discover the telephone stumbling with topic detection at instances. I’m glad Samsung lets you shoot 2x portraits with the predominant digicam; they’re barely softer but nonetheless adequate for social media.

As for video recording, the high quality is nice, with strong dynamic vary and the similar pleasing colour therapy, but it’s getting a little tiring to see solely 30fps at 4K (1080p does get to 60fps) from each the predominant and selfie cameras.

One factor the picture high quality can’t conceal is that the digicam app itself feels held again by the processor. Switching between lenses takes an additional second or two, and whereas the shutter is usually fast sufficient, you can inform you’re utilizing a mid-ranger and not a flagship.

The Galaxy A57 5G has me conflicted as a result of there may be a lot about it that I genuinely like. It’s skinny, mild, well-built, snug to make use of, and simply one of the nicest mid-range telephones I’ve held in years. The show is nice, the predominant digicam takes pictures I’d fortunately put up, the battery comfortably lasts a full day, and One UI 8.5 runs lighter than any model of Samsung’s pores and skin has in years. Even after switching from the Z Fold 7, I by no means felt determined to maneuver my SIM again. That claims a lot.

But the A57 5G additionally leaves a few apparent upgrades on the desk. A extra succesful processor would have mounted half the complaints on this evaluation by itself, together with the thermals, the stutters, and the digicam app’s occasional lag. The ultrawide digicam might have used a actual improve, and the macro digicam simply deserves a quiet retirement. Wi-fi charging would have been good, too.

None of those is an apparent dealbreaker. The largest downside with recommending the Galaxy A57 5G is Samsung’s personal Galaxy S25 FE ($534.99 at Samsung). It has considerably extra energy, a devoted telephoto lens, wi-fi charging, and the badge of being a part of Samsung’s flagship lineup. Even at MSRP, it’s solely $100 greater than the A57 5G, and it’s already been occurring sale for the similar worth as the A57 5G, and typically even much less.

If you need one thing smaller, the excellent Pixel 10a ($499 at Amazon) gives the full Google Pixel expertise for barely much less. It runs an older but nonetheless flagship-grade Tensor chip, contains wi-fi charging, has one of the greatest point-and-shoot cameras in any worth vary, and will get seven years of software program updates — one 12 months greater than Samsung’s telephone. What you quit is the larger show (although you would possibly favor the compact dimension), the sooner wired charging, and the skinny profile of the A57 5G.

So, should you buy the Galaxy A57 5G? I don’t assume anybody shopping for it could stroll away sad, particularly if you can discover it discounted to $500 or under. At full worth, although, I’m not sure who should decide the A57 5G over the S25 FE or the cheaper Pixel 10a.

The actual kicker is that each one of those complaints are similar to what we stated about the Galaxy A56 5G lower than six months in the past. So whereas the A57 5G does most issues nicely, the moments it doesn’t are the sort that are inclined to multiply with age, and Samsung is nicely overdue to provide its prime A collection telephone a true improve.