Samsung's new Galaxy A37 and A57: Everything you need to know on specs, design, and cameras

Dubai: Samsung has officially unveiled two new mid-range phones, the Galaxy A37 and Galaxy A57, and they are shaping up to be some of the most capable phones the brand has ever offered at this price point.

Both devices launch globally on April 10, though UAE pricing and availability are yet to be confirmed.

What is new with the display and design

Both phones come with a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display, a screen technology that produces deeper blacks, brighter colours and better contrast than standard LCD screens you would find on budget phones.

Both also feature a 120Hz refresh rate, which refers to how many times the screen updates per second. The higher the number, the smoother everything looks when you are scrolling or watching videos.

On top of that, both hit a peak brightness of 1,900 nits, with nits being the unit used to measure how bright a screen gets. The higher the nit count, the easier the screen is to read in bright sunlight.

The Galaxy A57 goes a step further with slimmer bezels, meaning the borders around the screen are thinner, making the display feel more expansive. It also gets Samsung's Enhanced Vision Booster for better visibility in direct sunlight.

Design-wise, the camera module on both phones has been rebranded the Ambient Island and now has a translucent finish for a more premium look.

The A57 is notably slimmer at 6.9mm and 19g lighter than its predecessor, while the A37 keeps the same dimensions as before. Both are protected by IP68 water and dust resistance, a rating that means the phones can be submerged in up to 1.5 metres of fresh water for 30 minutes without damage.

Cameras

Both phones share a triple-camera setup on the back:

• 50MP main camera (MP stands for megapixels, which measures the resolution of a photo. More megapixels generally means more detail, especially when cropping images)

• 8MP ultra-wide camera, which has a broader field of view for capturing landscapes or group shots

• 5MP macro camera, designed for extreme close-up photography of small subjects like flowers or textures

• 12MP front camera for selfies

The A37 gains Advanced Portrait, which uses AI to improve skin, hair and background separation in photos, a feature previously only available on the A56.

The A57 gets a few extras of its own, including blur-free zoom transitions when switching between lenses, a new low-noise mode for night shots and a Shot to Shot feature for faster image capture.

Both phones also get improved Nightography video capabilities, Samsung's term for enhanced low-light video recording.

Battery and performance

Both the A37 and A57 come with a 5,000mAh battery, with mAh standing for milliampere-hour, a unit that measures battery capacity.

The higher the number, the more charge the battery can store. Both also support 45W fast charging, meaning the charger delivers power at a rate of 45 watts, which is fast enough to top up a significant amount of battery in a short time. This is genuinely impressive for phones in this price range.

The A57 also benefits from a 13 per cent larger vapour chamber, which is a thin cooling system built into the phone that helps spread heat away from the processor, keeping performance steady during heavier use like gaming.

The A57 is powered by the Exynos 1680 processor, Samsung's own chip that is capable of handling demanding games at medium to high settings. The A37 runs on the Exynos 1430, a slightly less powerful chip that is better suited to everyday tasks and casual gaming.

Both processors are made by Samsung and are designed specifically for mid-range devices.

AI features and software

Both phones launch with Android 16 and One UI 8.5. Both come loaded with Samsung's Awesome Intelligence AI features, including:

• Circle to Search, which lets you draw a circle around anything on your screen to search for it instantly

• Object Eraser for removing unwanted people or items from photos using AI

• AI Voice Recorder with automatic transcription, which converts spoken words into written text, and translation into other languages

• AI Select for extracting and saving content directly from your screen

• Call transcription, which automatically creates a written record of your phone calls

Samsung is also promising six years of Android updates and six years of security patches for both phones, which is a significant commitment for mid-range devices and puts them on par with flagship support.

Storage options

The A37 comes in 128GB and 256GB configurations with 8GB of RAM as standard. RAM, or Random Access Memory, is the short-term memory your phone uses to run apps. More RAM means the phone can handle more tasks at once without slowing down.

The A57 offers the same storage options but also adds a 12GB RAM variant for heavier multitasking. It is worth noting that the microSD card slot, which previously allowed you to expand storage using a small removable card, has not returned. So what you buy is what you get.

Should you buy?

If you are after a reliable, well-rounded mid-range phone with a great display, solid cameras and long software support, both the A37 and A57 make a strong case for themselves. The A37 will likely be the better value pick for most people, while the A57 suits those who want a bit more power and a sleeker design.

That said, neither phone offers wireless charging or a telephoto lens, which is a zoom camera that brings distant subjects closer without losing image quality. If those features are important to you, it may be worth looking elsewhere or waiting to see what else launches this year.

UAE pricing is still to be announced, so watch this space.

Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.