OnePlus 15T vs Samsung Galaxy A36 5G | TechTalkTown
OnePlus 15T vs Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
OnePlus 15T
OnePlus
8.2
Compact battery champion
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
Samsung
7.4
Long-supported budget Galaxy
OnePlus 15T
What Reviewers Agree On
The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' battery is unprecedented in a 6.32-inch body and delivers roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance — easily the longest battery life in the compact-flagship class.
Build quality is genuine flagship-grade: metal frame, IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K dust + water resistance, ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, and a 91% screen-to-body ratio with ~1.1 mm symmetric bezels.
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED reaches the advertised 1,800 nits in standard measurement and is marketed up to 3,600 nits peak — making it the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 + 16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM hits Geekbench multi-core ~10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited ~29,901 — top-tier flagship synthetic performance in a sub-200g chassis.
100W wired SuperVOOC and 50W wireless charging mean even the giant battery refills fast.
Pros & Cons
OnePlus 15T
Pros
The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' battery is unprecedented in a 6.32-inch body and delivers roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance — easily the longest battery life in the compact-flagship class.
Build quality is genuine flagship-grade: metal frame, IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K dust + water resistance, ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, and a 91% screen-to-body ratio with ~1.1 mm symmetric bezels.
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED reaches the advertised 1,800 nits in standard measurement and is marketed up to 3,600 nits peak — making it the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 + 16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM hits Geekbench multi-core ~10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited ~29,901 — top-tier flagship synthetic performance in a sub-200g chassis.
Detailed Comparison
Design & Build
OnePlus 15T
OnePlus inherits the design language of the OnePlus 15 — metal frame, glass back, micro-arc oxidation finish on the rails — and shrinks it into a 6.32-inch, 194g body that's roughly iPhone 17-sized but with more than twice the battery capacity. IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K rating, ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and ~1.1mm symmetric bezels are unambiguous flagship moves. Reviewers debate whether 6.32-inch genuinely counts as compact in 2026.
Same premium design as the OnePlus 15 — metal frame, glass back, IP69 water resistance — feels high-quality in the hand at just 194g.
Dimensions and weight are similar to an iPhone 17, but the 15T packs more than twice the battery capacity with a ~91% screen-to-body ratio.
Full-level water resistance and a fast ultrasonic fingerprint sensor make the 15T noticeably more confident outdoors than the OnePlus 13T was.
The metal frame uses a micro-arc oxidation process with a 50/50 weight distribution — it doesn't feel top-heavy and one-handed use is genuinely comfortable.
TechTalkTown may earn a commission from purchases made through links below. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not influence our reviews. Learn more.
The new 3.5x periscope telephoto with OIS is a meaningful step up from the OnePlus 13T's limited 2x zoom and is well-suited to portraits at the classic 85 mm focal length.
Deal Breakers
China-only launch with no confirmed global release — ColorOS instead of OxygenOS, no eSIM support, no WearOS support, and missing European LTE band 20 and band 32 make it a compromise outside China.
Notebookcheck measured pronounced sustained-performance throttling of over 50% in 3DMark stress tests, with surface temperatures climbing past 46 °C; SuperSaf hit 50 °C on the back during Wildlife Extreme and saw scores drop from 6,990 to 3,743 inside a single loop.
No ultrawide camera at all — the 'triple camera' is just main + 16MP front + 3.5x periscope telephoto, which is a downgrade versus the OnePlus 15 for anyone who shoots landscapes, group photos or wide-angle video.
Charging port is still USB 2.0 in 2026, which SuperSaf calls 'a choice and not a good one' on a flagship-tier device at this price.
No built-in MagSafe-style magnets — wireless-charging accessories require a separate magnetic case to align properly.
Software-support window is uncertain: OnePlus has not committed to a specific update timeline for the Chinese-market 15T, and the global OnePlus 15 already commits to only 4 years of major Android upgrades — well behind Samsung and Google's 7-year promises.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
What Reviewers Agree On
Samsung's six-year OS and security update commitment is the longest in the budget Android segment and a class-leading reason to buy at this price.
The 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED with 120Hz refresh and ~1,900-nit peak HDR brightness punches above the phone's price bracket and is one of the best displays under $400.
Build quality is exemplary for the price — dual Gorilla Glass Victus+ front and back, IP67 dust/water resistance and a thinner, lighter chassis than the A35.
Wired charging has jumped from 25W to 45W, taking the 5,000 mAh battery from 0 to ~60-66% in 30 minutes and a full charge in ~68-70 minutes.
Real-world battery life from the 5,000 mAh cell easily lasts a full day, with reviewers regularly ending with 20-40% remaining.
Awesome Intelligence (Circle to Search, AI Select, Object Eraser, Edit Suggestions, custom filters) brings a meaningful slice of Galaxy AI features down to the A-series without the bloat seen on the S25 line.
Deal Breakers
The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is barely an upgrade over 2022's Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and benchmarks at or below the outgoing Exynos 1380 in the cheaper A35 — multiple reviewers reported stutters, with one Wired test finding the carrier-locked A36 actually slower than the $100-cheaper A26.
Samsung removed the microSD card slot that the A35 still had, so 128 GB or 256 GB is the storage ceiling — repeatedly flagged on Reddit as a deal-breaker for long-term-update buyers.
No wireless charging — competitors like Motorola's Moto G Power and Moto G Stylus 2025 offer it at the same or lower price.
The rear cameras are the exact same hardware as the A35 (50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 5MP macro) with only a new ISP and Awesome Intelligence software changes; ultrawide and low-light output remain noisy.
USB 2.0 only and Wi-Fi 6 only (no 6 GHz / Wi-Fi 6E) — connectivity is dated for a 2025 phone you're meant to keep for six years.
100W wired SuperVOOC and 50W wireless charging mean even the giant battery refills fast.
The new 3.5x periscope telephoto with OIS is a meaningful step up from the OnePlus 13T's limited 2x zoom and is well-suited to portraits at the classic 85 mm focal length.
Cons
China-only launch with no confirmed global release — ColorOS instead of OxygenOS, no eSIM support, no WearOS support, and missing European LTE band 20 and band 32 make it a compromise outside China.
Notebookcheck measured pronounced sustained-performance throttling of over 50% in 3DMark stress tests, with surface temperatures climbing past 46 °C; SuperSaf hit 50 °C on the back during Wildlife Extreme and saw scores drop from 6,990 to 3,743 inside a single loop.
No ultrawide camera at all — the 'triple camera' is just main + 16MP front + 3.5x periscope telephoto, which is a downgrade versus the OnePlus 15 for anyone who shoots landscapes, group photos or wide-angle video.
Charging port is still USB 2.0 in 2026, which SuperSaf calls 'a choice and not a good one' on a flagship-tier device at this price.
No built-in MagSafe-style magnets — wireless-charging accessories require a separate magnetic case to align properly.
Software-support window is uncertain: OnePlus has not committed to a specific update timeline for the Chinese-market 15T, and the global OnePlus 15 already commits to only 4 years of major Android upgrades — well behind Samsung and Google's 7-year promises.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
Pros
Samsung's six-year OS and security update commitment is the longest in the budget Android segment and a class-leading reason to buy at this price.
The 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED with 120Hz refresh and ~1,900-nit peak HDR brightness punches above the phone's price bracket and is one of the best displays under $400.
Build quality is exemplary for the price — dual Gorilla Glass Victus+ front and back, IP67 dust/water resistance and a thinner, lighter chassis than the A35.
Wired charging has jumped from 25W to 45W, taking the 5,000 mAh battery from 0 to ~60-66% in 30 minutes and a full charge in ~68-70 minutes.
Real-world battery life from the 5,000 mAh cell easily lasts a full day, with reviewers regularly ending with 20-40% remaining.
Awesome Intelligence (Circle to Search, AI Select, Object Eraser, Edit Suggestions, custom filters) brings a meaningful slice of Galaxy AI features down to the A-series without the bloat seen on the S25 line.
Cons
The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is barely an upgrade over 2022's Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and benchmarks at or below the outgoing Exynos 1380 in the cheaper A35 — multiple reviewers reported stutters, with one Wired test finding the carrier-locked A36 actually slower than the $100-cheaper A26.
Samsung removed the microSD card slot that the A35 still had, so 128 GB or 256 GB is the storage ceiling — repeatedly flagged on Reddit as a deal-breaker for long-term-update buyers.
No wireless charging — competitors like Motorola's Moto G Power and Moto G Stylus 2025 offer it at the same or lower price.
The rear cameras are the exact same hardware as the A35 (50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 5MP macro) with only a new ISP and Awesome Intelligence software changes; ultrawide and low-light output remain noisy.
USB 2.0 only and Wi-Fi 6 only (no 6 GHz / Wi-Fi 6E) — connectivity is dated for a 2025 phone you're meant to keep for six years.
The pure cocoa colorway is OnePlus's first-ever brown finish and stands out next to the standard 15's black/violet/sandstorm options.
Calling a 6.32-inch phone 'compact' just normalizes the new baseline — at this size the only thing keeping it small is OnePlus refusing to make the body any larger, not any genuine effort to shrink the footprint.
r/gadgets commenters reject the compact framing outright — '6.3" screen is NOT compact' is the top reply on the official-first-look thread, with multiple users asking for a true 5.x-inch option.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
Samsung gave the A36 a real glow-up in materials this generation: Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both the front and back, a thinner and lighter chassis than the A35, and IP67 dust/water resistance. The frame is still plastic, which keeps the A36 a step below the A56's aluminium-and-glass build, but reviewers consistently say it doesn't feel cheap. The unified camera island replaces the separate-lens look of the A35 and is divisive — some say it looks dated, others find it sleek and more S-series-like.
Build is dual Gorilla Glass Victus+ front and back with IP67 dust/water resistance, and the phone is now 14 grams lighter at 195g compared to the 209g A35.
The piano-black colorway attracts smudges and dust easily, and next to the Moto G Stylus or Nothing Phone (3a) under $400 the design feels generic and devoid of personality.
The A36's plastic frame and plastic camera surround feel a clear step below the A56's aluminium frame and flat metal camera surround, and the extra $100 for the A56 buys a noticeably more premium feel in hand.
Despite the plastic frame and plastic rear, the A36's build quality is exemplary, gaps are even, and it does not feel cheap.
The three rear lenses have been unified into a single oblong camera island, and the A-series no longer looks like an S-series phone — a draw for some, a downgrade for others.
The Awesome Lavender colorway has a holographic rainbow finish that shifts color depending on the angle and adds genuine character to an otherwise utilitarian design.
Reddit's r/Android sums up the build verdict as 'Superb build, dual Gorilla Glass, IP67' — a rare community pro for a budget Galaxy.
Display
OnePlus 15T
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED panel is the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market and pairs that refresh rate with a measured 1,800 nits brightness, 460 ppi pixel density, Crystal Shield Glass, and HDR10+/Dolby Vision support. Native 165 Hz support in popular FPS games is a real differentiator. Notebookcheck flags 120.7 Hz PWM dimming that can cause eyestrain for sensitive users.
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz AMOLED panel achieves a very good 460 ppi pixel density and the advertised maximum brightness of 1,800 nits in standard measurement.
Display sharpness is plenty competent — sharp, smooth, and easily one of the strongest spec sheets you can get on a compact phone.
Native 165 Hz support in COD, Delta Force and Peacekeeper Elite makes this the only small-screen flagship pushing a full 165 Hz gaming experience.
OnePlus claims up to 3,600 nits peak brightness — even on a playground in direct sunlight you can still see everything clearly, no squinting required.
Specifications confirm a 6.32-inch 1.5K (1216 × 2640) resolution with 165 Hz refresh — a configuration unique to the 15T in the compact class.
Display backlight flickers at just 120.7 Hz under PWM dimming — low enough that the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches for sensitive users after extended use.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
The 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED at 120Hz is the standout reason to buy this phone for the money. Notebookcheck measured peak HDR brightness above 2,000 cd/m² and GSMArena clocked 1,230 nits in auto mode — better than most rivals in this bracket. The catch is a 120Hz/240Hz low-frequency PWM dimming pattern that can bother PWM-sensitive eyes, and the bezels are still wider than the cheapest competition.
Peak HDR brightness measured over 2,000 cd/m² in lab testing — exceptional for a sub-$400 phone and even brighter than Samsung's claimed 1,900-nit spec.
The display gets nice and bright for sunny-day use, though colors can look slightly washed out at peak auto brightness.
GSMArena measured the panel at 430 nits manual and 1,230 nits auto, up from the A35's roughly 1,000 nits, and the adaptive 120Hz dynamically drops to 60Hz to save battery.
In HDR, Short Circuit's lab not only met Samsung's 1,900-nit claim but exceeded it, making for an excellent HDR viewing experience on an OLED panel.
Performance
OnePlus 15T
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 paired with 12-16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM delivers flagship synthetic scores — Notebookcheck recorded Geekbench multi-core 10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited 29,901, on par with the larger Xiaomi 17 and Honor Magic8 Pro Air. The problem is sustained: in the 3DMark Wild Life stress test the GPU drops over 50% and the back of the phone hits 50 °C, which both Notebookcheck and SuperSaf flag as a deal-breaker for long gaming sessions.
Geekbench 6 multi-core hits 10,976 — flagship-tier and within 1% of the average 8 Elite Gen 5 result, so there is no compromise on the chipset versus larger phones.
3DMark Wild Life Unlimited hits 29,901 — 5% above the 8 Elite Gen 5 average and ahead of the Xiaomi 17 with the same chip.
In the 3DMark stress tests the OnePlus 15T shows a sharp drop in performance of over 50%, which significantly lowers our rating.
Wildlife Extreme stress test scores swung from 6,990 best loop to 3,743 worst loop in a single run — the chart is 'quite a bit of a bumpy ride' and performance mode did nothing to stabilize it.
Surface temperatures hit 48.3 °C on the back during stress testing and continued climbing to 50 °C near the camera bump — about 45 °C internal — which seems to be the phone's thermal limit.
Genshin Impact averaged 60.3 fps over 30 minutes at just 3.2 W power draw, with the phone staying cool to the touch — and Peacekeeper Elite pushed 164.5 fps thanks to native 165 Hz support.
r/Android's reviewer thread flags the same thermal issue directly: 'Gets kinda hot, over 50 degrees in the corner. This is with its very heavy throttling.'
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
The A36's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is the phone's most consistent weak point. Notebookcheck found it benchmarks roughly the same as the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 from 2022, and in many tests the older Exynos 1380 in last year's A35 was actually faster. Wired's review went further: the carrier-locked A36 actually felt slower in daily use than the $100-cheaper Galaxy A26 sitting next to it. Reviewers agree it's still fast enough for everyday browsing, social, and light gaming, but anyone who games heavily should look elsewhere.
The carrier-locked AT&T A36 produced visible stutters and felt sluggish out of the box, with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 actually scoring lower in benchmarks than the Exynos 1380 in the $100-cheaper A26.
Aside from slightly higher clock rates, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is functionally the same chipset as 2022's Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and the Nothing Phone (3a)'s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is roughly 10-15% ahead in Geekbench.
Benchmarks on the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 are roughly the same as last year's A35, with only a minor boost in raw graphics — overall performance is adequate for daily tasks and light gaming.
Geekbench 6 results land at roughly 1,019 single-core and 2,947 multi-core after a year of updates — clearly on the lower end of the $400 bracket compared to phones like the Galaxy S25 FE.
Camera
OnePlus 15T
OnePlus has dropped the Hasselblad partnership (now Oppo-exclusive) and built the 15T camera around two 50MP sensors — a main with a 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX906 and OIS, plus a new 3.5x periscope telephoto with OIS at the classic 85mm portrait focal length. There is no ultrawide. Notebookcheck still rates the system 'a class above' the iPhone 17, but reviewers agree this is the area where the 15T's compact-and-cheap positioning is most visible — sensor sizes are small, sharpness and dynamic range trail genuine top-tier flagships, and the OnePlus 15 / Oppo Find X9 Pro siblings keep the better imaging.
The new 3.5x periscope telephoto delivers a classic 85 mm focal length perfect for portraits — a huge step forward from the OnePlus 13T's limited 2x zoom.
OnePlus has confirmed the headline upgrade is a LUMO periscope telephoto with both improved hardware and improved algorithms, focused on stronger zoom and better atmospheric portraits.
Despite the small 1/1.56-inch main sensor, the 15T's daylight and low-light photos are 'still a class above' the iPhone 17 in side-by-side comparison.
The 50MP main sensor lacks sharpness and dynamics — good photos are possible in both daylight and dark, but top quality looks different.
There is no ultra-wide-angle camera at all — the omission is partly excused by the new periscope, but it's a meaningful downgrade versus the OnePlus 15's triple-camera system.
The telephoto produces unstable results inconsistent with the main sensor — at night the camera struggles with depth perception and doesn't always switch to the periscope when it should.
The cooperation with Hasselblad is now Oppo-exclusive, and the OnePlus 15T's built-in image sensors are quite small and therefore not very bright.
The selfie camera drops from 32MP on the OnePlus 15 to 16MP on the 15T — a small but real downgrade for anyone who shoots a lot of front-facing video.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
The camera hardware is essentially unchanged from the A35 — 50MP main with OIS, 8MP ultrawide and 5MP macro on the back, with a new 12MP selfie (down from 13MP but with larger pixels). Reviewers agree the new selfie is a genuine improvement; everything else lives or dies by Samsung's image processing and Awesome Intelligence software. Main-camera daylight shots are punchy but sometimes oversaturated, the ultrawide is best avoided in low light, and there's no telephoto — just digital zoom up to 10x.
Main-camera daylight shots have plenty of detail and a nicely wide dynamic range, but exposure and color rendition can be inconsistent and Samsung's processing brightens shadows too much.
Colors can be a little off and you need to stay very still in low light to avoid a blurry image — the usual faults of camera phones in this price bracket.
The new 12MP front camera is a real upgrade over the A35's 13MP unit — selfie image quality has excellent detail and natural skin tones.
Selfie camera looks great with super-natural skin tones — Short Circuit found the front camera the strongest shooter on the phone.
Battery & Charging
OnePlus 15T
This is the section the OnePlus 15T was built to win. The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' cell is the largest ever fitted to a true compact phone — 50% bigger than the iPhone 17's pack in a similar footprint. Notebookcheck measured roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance at 150 cd/m². Wired charging tops out at 100 W, wireless at 50 W. The only friction points are the missing built-in magnets for MagSafe-style alignment and the still-USB-2.0 port.
OnePlus relies on a silicon-carbon-based battery with a large capacity of 7,500 mAh for its mini flagship — in our practical battery test at 150 cd/m² brightness, the 15T achieved an excellent battery life of nearly 1.5 days.
9to5Google's preview confirms the 7,500 mAh cell carries the same 'Glacier' moniker as the OnePlus 15's battery, so the silicon-carbon structure is here too — 200 mAh more than the larger sibling.
Even though the phone keeps the same compact size, it now packs a massive 7,500 mAh battery — to put that into perspective, the iPhone 17 Pro Max only has around 5,000 mAh, and this is a 6.32-inch phone.
Battery life is wild for a phone this size and is actually a hair bigger than the one in the OnePlus 15, which has a noticeably larger footprint.
100W SuperVOOC wired charging and 50W wireless mean even the huge cell refills fast — getting through two full days on a single charge feels totally realistic.
There is no native magnetic Qi alignment — wireless charging works, but accessories require a separate magnetic case for MagSafe-style snap-on functionality.
r/Android's reaction to the battery is unambiguous — 'Incredible battery life makes the compact smartphone competition pale in comparison' is the actual review-thread headline.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
The 5,000 mAh battery is unchanged from the A35 but the bigger story is charging: 45W wired charging (up from 25W) now hits 60-66% in 30 minutes and full in around 68 minutes — faster than the Galaxy S25 itself. Real-world battery life lands around a full day with 20-40% to spare. The catch: no wireless charging, no charger in the box, and you'll need a separate 45W brick with a 5A-rated cable to hit the advertised speeds.
The 5,000 mAh battery comfortably lasts a day, with Wired regularly ending with 30-40% remaining and occasional heavy-use days dropping to 20% by 11pm.
Samsung's quoted charging math — 30 minutes to 65% and full in 68 minutes — matches what reviewers measured in practice and is faster than the Galaxy S25 itself.
Active-use battery score of 11 hours 38 minutes in GSMArena's standardised test is decent for the class, but actually a touch below last year's A35.
There's no charger in the box, and you'll need a Samsung 45W brick (or compatible USB-PD adapter) with a 5A-rated cable — the 3A cable Samsung ships won't unlock full 45W speed.
Software & AI
OnePlus 15T
The OnePlus 15T ships with ColorOS 16 on Android 16 in China rather than the global OxygenOS, though the two skins are now nearly identical in feel. Update commitments are unclear — OnePlus doesn't publish a timeline for Chinese-market hardware, and even the global OnePlus 15 only commits to 4 years of major Android upgrades. Mind Space (AI-powered productivity vault) and Gemini integration are the headline software features.
ColorOS 16 comes pre-installed on the 15T instead of OxygenOS — but the differences are minor overall, with German language and Android Auto supported, though no WearOS watches or eSIMs.
There are question marks over the duration of the updates provided — the manufacturer does not usually provide any information on this for China, though typically a OnePlus 15-class phone should receive security updates for six years.
OxygenOS 16 (and ColorOS 16 by extension) integrates Gemini with Mind Space — you can ask Gemini about any saved memory and it accesses local content to perform tasks, making it the best on-phone AI integration we have seen.
Mind Space is the headline AI feature — a digital vault that takes a screenshot of important content and saves it as a card with URL, summary, title and hashtags for contextual search.
The system feels incredibly smooth — arguably one of the best experiences you can get on Android right now, with useful features for students like meeting summaries and lecture transcription.
Update commitment trails the competition — even on the global OnePlus 15 the company only promises 4 years of major Android upgrades, well behind Samsung and Google's 7-year commitments.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
This is the A36's headline strength. Samsung promises six major OS updates and six years of security patches — the longest commitment in the budget Android segment, beating Pixel, iPhone and effectively everything else in this price bracket. The phone ships with Android 15 and One UI 7 (now upgraded to One UI 8 a year in). 'Awesome Intelligence' brings a thoughtful subset of Galaxy AI — Circle to Search, AI Select, Object Eraser, Edit Suggestions, custom filters — without the heavier AI bloat seen on the S25.
Six major Android upgrades and six years of security patches — effectively undercutting Pixel, iPhone and every rival in this price bracket on long-term software support.
Awesome Intelligence is a scaled-down version of Galaxy AI — you get Circle to Search, AI Select, Object Eraser and Edit Suggestions, but not Now Brief or the full S25 suite.
After a year of use the A36 has already been upgraded to One UI 8, confirming Samsung is staying on top of its update promise rather than letting the A-series fall behind.
The A36 has 'almost none of the AI bloat that has honestly just been more annoying than anything else on the Pixel 9a lately' — basic Circle-to-Search and Object Eraser without the heavier S25 features.
The optical under-display fingerprint sensor is slow and inconsistent compared to the A26's side-mounted capacitive sensor, requiring multiple taps to unlock.
The optical under-display fingerprint sensor is slow and inconsistent compared to the A26's side-mounted capacitive sensor, requiring multiple taps to unlock.
OLED PWM dimming runs at only 120Hz with a 240Hz secondary frequency — too low for PWM-sensitive users who may experience eye strain or headaches.
The screen looks crisp and large for the money, but there is still no official HDR video support flagged by reviewers as a budget compromise.
After a year of use, the 6.7-inch 120Hz Super AMOLED still feels like a full-flagship display in everyday use — bright, smooth, and great for video.
Notebookcheck and Tech Daily both flag that the bezels — particularly along the lower edge — are still wider than what you get on similarly priced Xiaomi or Nothing phones.
Genshin Impact ran at an average 43fps on lowest graphics in lab testing, but only 24fps at high settings — playable but not what gamers should buy this phone for.
The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 has about half to a third of the gaming performance of a couple-generations-old flagship — daily browsing and social are fine, but heavy 3D games will struggle.
Despite the modest chipset the A36 doesn't get hot under sustained load and survived the prolonged 3DMark Wild Life stress test without significant throttling.
Long-time A-series user on r/Android reports the A36 'is just as stuttery as the A35 and A54' — small generational chip refreshes don't seem to be moving the needle.
All three rear lenses (50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 5MP macro) carry over from the A35 — only the ISP and Awesome Intelligence software are new, so don't expect a hardware leap.
The 8MP ultrawide is mostly only useful in broad daylight, and the low-megapixel macro lens isn't worth the bezel space at this point — Nothing managed to fit a 2x telephoto into the Phone (3a) Pro at a similar price.
Compared to the A56, the A36's 1/1.96" main sensor is smaller than the A56's 1/1.56" sensor and pairs with an 8MP ultrawide vs the A56's 12MP — the A56 is the clear pick if camera matters.
Zoom tops out at 10x digital — there's no telephoto lens, so anything beyond 2x relies on crop-from-50MP processing.
Both rear and front cameras can record 4K at 30fps with 10-bit HDR on the selfie cam — solid video specs for the price.
No wireless charging at all — Motorola's $300 Moto G Power and $400 Moto G Stylus 2025 both offer it at this price.
After a year of use Dave2D's retrospective measured the A36 charging from 0 to 66% in 30 minutes with no degradation in real-world battery longevity.
The charge bump from 25W to 45W is more about wall-clock time than the spec itself — a full charge is only about 12 minutes faster than the A35 in head-to-head testing.
Samsung's Knox Vault hardware-secured passcode storage and quarterly security patch supply put the A36 on a security footing few sub-$400 phones can match.
Object Eraser in the native gallery works on this phone but not quite as well as on the flagships — a reasonable compromise for the price.
r/Android calls out 'Android 15 with plenty of AI, 6 major updates incoming' as a top pro alongside build and screen, validating the software pitch from the user side.