Samsung has debuted its latest midrange phones, the $500 Galaxy A56, $400 A36 and $300 A26. All three devices have larger displays, more powerful processors and, inevitably, new AI features. I got a first look at the phones during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week,

Samsung and Google promise seven years of updates, but what will it be like to use these phones after all that time? I went back to my S8.

The stable Android 15 and One UI 7 build for Samsung's older Galaxy devices will arrive in April, making the March 2025 firmware likely their last Android 14-based update. The Galaxy S24 and Z Fold 6/Flip 6 should be among the first to get the firmware next month, with other older premium devices getting it a few weeks later.

Samsung says the A36 and A56 have a larger vapor chamber cooling system for better heat dissipation during intense processing activities like gaming, and that this system is nearly the same size as last year's Galaxy S24+. They also support 45-watt fast charging, which should get you up to 70 percent in 30 minutes.

The March update has started to roll out to devices as we speak, fixing over 51 items that needed attention. Of these, 11 items were critical fixes, while the rest were high-prior

Even as Samsung is working to release One UI 7, Galaxy devices running the previous version are receiving continued