Samsung Galaxy A57 review: A surprisingly premium phone for budget shoppers

Samsung isn't just a leader in the premium phone market; it's also produced some of the best cheap phones around. That way, you can enjoy a lot of the best Samsung Galaxy features without having to pay the high price tags that come with the flagship Galaxy S26 series. The Samsung Galaxy A57 is the latest to arrive, and I have rather mixed feelings about everything Samsung has put together.

On the one side, Samsung hasn't added a whole lot of upgrades to the Galaxy A57 compared to last year's Galaxy A56. However, considering how good value the Galaxy S56 was, it bodes well for the kind of experience you should expect from this year's A-series phone. Even if Samsung has raised the price by $50 compared to last year.

Still, there's always been a great deal of competition in the cheap phone market and that's only going to accelerate thanks to RAMageddon and the increasing costs of production. If flagship phones get too expensive, then the likes of Galaxy A57, Pixel 10a, iPhone 17e and the rest of the best cheap phones are going to have to pick up the slack. So will it be able to keep up?

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? The latest mid-range Samsung phone, successor to the Galaxy A56
• Who is it for? People who want a premium-lite experience, but don't want to pay the full cost of a Galaxy S26
• What does it cost? Prices start at $549 / £529 for an A57 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage
• What do we like? The solid premium-feeling design, strong battery performance and the addition of Galaxy AI features you'd normally only find on the Galaxy S26
• What don’t we like? The continued weak performance, a lack of meaningful upgrades, and the fact Samsung still hasn't scrapped the 5MP macro lens.

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: Specifications

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: What I like

Good battery

The battery hardware in the Galaxy A57 hasn't changed since last year, so it's no surprise that the actual battery drain is roughly the same as that of the Galaxy A56. We haven't lab-tested the battery on either device yet, but I conducted a real-world test: streaming a 1080p YouTube video over Wi-Fi with brightness at 50% for three hours.

The Galaxy A57 lost 15% of its battery during that window, compared to a 14% loss on the A56 and 16% on the Nothing Phone 4a Pro. This equates to a loss of around 5% per hour, suggesting it should last roughly 20 hours of video streaming on a single charge. This is quite impressive, considering our lab tests show the Pixel 10a lasting just over 15 hours and the iPhone 17e lasting around 12.5 hours.

As for charging, the Galaxy A57 is rated for 45W wired speeds but lacks wireless charging. Using a 67W charging brick, I found the phone restored 28% of its charge in 15 minutes, rising to 59% after 30 minutes and hitting 93% at the one-hour mark — a performance that is fairly standard compared to competitors like Nothing, Pixel, and iPhone.

Solid, premium design

The Galaxy A57’s design is reminiscent of the flagship Galaxy S26 range, featuring a premium glass-and-metal build courtesy of Gorilla Glass Victus Plus. While there are stark differences between the A57 and the S26 — size being chief among them — I still found myself getting confused when handling both phones, which is certainly a good thing for the A57.

Even the bezels, which are often the first thing compromised at lower price points, seem to be roughly the same size as those on the standard Galaxy S26. However, they remain thicker than the bezels found on the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

I'm a big fan of the new camera bump, which swaps solid metal for translucent glass. It's a small change, but it's much more visually appealing and helps the housing look a little slimmer than last year's model.

Despite being noticeably larger than the S26 — with a 6.7-inch display compared to the S26's 6.3 inches — the phone feels unexpectedly light. It’s a curious sensation because the A57 is actually 0.42 ounces heavier than the S26, proving how deceptive ergonomics can be. I'm not going to lie, though, I’m not particularly upset about being fooled this way.

Good cameras, but not perfect

The Galaxy A57 features a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 5MP macro lens. While this hardware doesn't necessarily rival the best camera phones on the market, it is quite respectable for the price.

For this review, I compared it to the Nothing Phone 4a Pro — a device that costs $50 less and has already proven its capabilities. The 4a Pro packs a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 50MP telephoto lens.

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Naturally, the dedicated telephoto lens ensures that zoomed-in shots on the Nothing Phone are of considerably higher quality than those on the Galaxy A57. This held true at 2x magnification, while the 3.5x optical zoom is a feature only the Nothing Phone supports.

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Admittedly, the 2x magnification shots on the Nothing Phone 4a Pro don't look fantastic, and there's a lot of blurring in the final shot. But it's still significantly better than the photo captured by the Galaxy A57, which captured far less detail and looks significantly more washed out.

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The ultrawide camera is something of a mixed bag. From a distance, the Galaxy A57 looks a lot better, with more light and a clear image of this oak tree's outline. Though upon closer inspection, the details in the distance aren't really there. Whereas the Nothing Phone's is darker and gloomier, it captures a little more detail in the process.

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The Galaxy's 12MP selfie camera performs much better than the Nothing Phone's 32MP shooter, producing a significantly sharper image with finer detail. However, the photo is much brighter and somewhat overexposed — a common trait in Samsung Galaxy processing.

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The main camera tells a similar story. The Galaxy A57 picks up more detail than the Nothing Phone 4a Pro, which occasionally produces strange, blurry patches. While the Samsung’s coloring is brighter and feels a bit washed out, the overall image looks crisper on the A57.

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Low-light shots are more evenly matched, but Samsung earns the edge by capturing more light, offering slightly better detail and clarity.

Ultimately, the Galaxy A57 is capable of taking great photos for a mid-range phone. While it lacks the reach of a dedicated telephoto lens — making zoomed shots noticeably worse than on phones that include one — such hardware remains rare at this price point.

Galaxy S26-tier software and AI features

AI is a major priority for Samsung, and the company is pushing these features across its entire lineup — including its most affordable models. Consequently, the Galaxy A57 offers plenty of AI as part of what Samsung calls "Awesome Intelligence." While it lacks the full suite of Galaxy AI features found on the flagship S-series, there is still a wealth of useful tools available.

One notable inclusion is the voice transcription tool, which can transcribe voice and call recordings to provide a written record of everything said. This makes hunting for specific quotes or soundbites significantly easier.

Other tools include the newly updated version of Circle to Search, which can recognize multiple objects at once, and the fourth generation of Bixby, which offers improved natural language and web search capabilities. Like most AI features, these flow seamlessly into the background and odds are you won't even realize you're using them. This is a benefit, as it removes the learning curve for the user.

Samsung has promised six years of software support, which includes security updates and six generations of Android. Though it's worth adding that Galaxy S26 gets seven years of support, which is important to remember if you're the type of person who keeps their phone for that long.

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: What I don't like

$50 price hike

The elephant in the room is that Samsung has increased the price of the Galaxy A57 by $50, with a $549 starting price compared to the Galaxy A56's $499. While this is still cheaper than the $599 iPhone 17e, it means the A57 is now more expensive than some of the other best cheap phones available. This includes the Nothing Phone 4a Pro and Pixel 10a, which both start at $499.

This isn't a huge surprise, and it follows price hikes on the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus, but it is frustrating to see prices constantly rising — especially since the whole idea behind the Galaxy A-series is to offer premium experiences at an affordable price point.

Ultimately, RAMageddon and inflation come for everyone; it was only a matter of time before Samsung raised the prices on its entry-level devices. I just wish the A57 had more to show for the extra cost.

Minimal upgrades

The worst part about the price hike is that the Galaxy A57 doesn't offer many significant upgrades to justify the extra $50 Samsung is asking for. The improvements it does feature are fairly incremental, covering only the basics one would expect from a successor model.

Changes include design updates that make the phone feel slightly more premium while reducing thickness and weight compared to the A56. There is also a new chipset — the Exynos 1680 — which is a minor improvement over the previous Exynos 1580. From a hardware perspective, those are essentially all the upgrades of note.

Software is a different matter, thanks to the inclusion of Android 16 and One UI 8.5 right out of the box, along with additional AI and camera features. For the most part, however, these aren't enough to warrant a new purchase — especially since much of the new software eventually migrates back to older devices.

The macro camera

One of my biggest pet hates about cheap phones is when a third or fourth camera lens is tacked on for seemingly no reason. Samsung is guilty of this with the Galaxy A57, which retains the 5MP macro lens. Rather than settling for two high-quality lenses— as seen on the Pixel 10a — this phone offers two good cameras and one mediocre one.

I tested the macro lens against the macro mode on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. While I never expected the Ultra to lose that shootout, the results were still embarrassing for the A57. Its shots were colorless, gray, and devoid of the detail flagship owners take for granted.

The photos weren't all terrible, but they're definitely the kind of thing users wouldn't miss. While I don't expect a telephoto lens on a mid-range phone, Samsung definitely needs to learn that less really can be more.

Weak performance

As is often the case with budget phones, Samsung has compromised on performance. The Galaxy A57 runs on the Exynos 1680, a 4nm chipset that lags significantly behind the flagship silicon found in more expensive devices. Naturally, that gap is reflected in the benchmarking results.

As you can see, the Galaxy A57 is a noticeable improvement over the Galaxy A56, especially in multi-core testing. However, the graphics performance is underwhelming because the A57 scored significantly lower than the Nothing Phone 4a Pro, which itself proved underpowered during testing.

While a comparison to the iPhone 17e isn't entirely fair — given its flagship chipset dominated at release — it's nonetheless embarrassing to see the Galaxy A57 outperformed by the Pixel 10a.

Pixel phones aren't typically known for their raw power, and considering the Pixel 10a runs on an 18-month-old Tensor G4, it shouldn't be beating its newer rivals in benchmarks. This is a disappointing showing from Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy A57 review: Verdict

The Galaxy A57 is a solid device and a worthy purchase for anyone seeking the Galaxy experience on a budget. It features a smart premium-feeling design, strong battery life, and all the benefits of Samsung's software ecosystem — including a sprinkling of AI features typically unexpected on a budget handset.

It's far from perfect, however. The cameras are competent but proved inferior to the more affordable Nothing Phone 4a Pro in several key areas. Likewise, the macro lens — while bolstering the camera count compared to the Pixel 10a and iPhone 17e — offered little actual benefit. To top it all off, the phone costs $50 more than its predecessor without much to show for it, including a return of the weak performance that plagued the Galaxy A56.

If you're looking for an affordable Samsung device, the Galaxy A57 is a solid option that gets a lot right. Just be aware that this isn't a flagship, and it struggles when compared to other entries on our best cheap phones list.