Samsung Galaxy A56 vs. Galaxy S24 FE

The hugely popular Samsung Galaxy A series got its annual overhaul recently. The headlining A56 didn't bring a whole lot of improvements over the previous generation, the most obvious being a chipset upgrade. Other than the A55 and the A36, the A56 needs to face another in-house competitor - the S24 FE could turn out to be the better option for someone that's looking to spend A56 money. Let's do a quick comparison.

Table of Contents:

For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor's assessment in the text below.

Size comparison

With both phones based around the same size display, it's no wonder that they have nearly identical footprints, with the 0.2mm that separate the A56 from the S24 FE in either direction being virtually immaterial.

The A56 is 0.6mm thinner and that is probably the most readily observable difference in dimensions between the two. The A56 is also some 15g lighter which may not be immediately noticeable, but it couldn't hurt.

The A56 ushers in a somewhat fresh design language with a more curvaceous frame (probably where that 0.2mm extra width comes from) with a brushed metal finish, next to the relatively nondescript flat satin-finished frame of the S24 FE. Both phones have aluminum frames and the innards are sandwiched between two sheets of Gorilla Glass Victus+ - nothing to set them apart here.

Where there is a small difference is in the IP rating - the S24 FE is IP68 rated, so it should survive submersion up to 1.5m, while the A56 is only good for up to 1m - a dunk in the toilet is covered either way.

Display comparison

There's not a whole lot to separate the two displays. The diagonal is the same at 6.7 inches, and both have a 1080p resolution. Both panels can refresh at up to 120Hz and have rudimentary adaptive behavior switching between 60 and 120Hz. Both panels have HDR10+ support too.

In our testing, we observed a minor difference in maximum brightness, with the FE inching ahead in both manual operation (470 vs. 450nits) and adaptive mode (1372 vs. 1213nits) but neither feels like a meaningful advantage.

Battery life

The A56 has a 5,000mAh battery, which is just a little bit more than the 4,700mAh cell of the S24 FE - neither is a particularly outstanding number. The two achieved very similar overall Active Use Scores in our testing, but they arrived there along different paths. The A56 lasted significantly longer in web browsing (some 35% more), and has a minor advantage in video playback, while the S24 FE is better suited to gaming (24% longer result).

Charging speed

We're no fans of Samsung's approach to charging speeds, but with two Samsungs on the table at least the playing field will be more or less level. Indeed, neither strikes us as particularly fast, but the A56 is closer to acceptable, with a 30-minute charging session from flat giving us 65% on the battery indicator - it's 56% on the S24 FE. As you can see, the 45W rating on the A56 isn't making that big of a difference over the 25W rated capability on the S24 FE, and the A-series model is actually marginally slower to reach a full charge.

Where the FE has an actual advantage is in offering wireless charging - the A56 doesn't have that. And you can also charge other things off of the FE's back, potentially saving you from having to bring a watch charger on trips, for example.

Speaker test

The two phones feature similar speaker setups with a stereo pair formed by a main speaker on the bottom and the earpiece above the display. The S24 FE was a little bit louder in our testing, earning a 'Very Good' rating for loudness next to a merely 'Good' A56. The FE is a bit more mid-forward (which is probably where the extra loudness comes from) but both sound good overall - it's no reason to pick one over the other.

Performance

The Galaxy A56 is equipped with the Samsung Exynos 1580 chipset, an upgrade over the previous generation, but still way behind the Exynos 2400e that powers the S24 FE (itself a marginal downgrade compared to the E2400 that some versions of the non-FE S24s have). Both SoCs are manufactured on a 4nm process.

Both models start at 128GB of storage, but 256GB versions are also very common and not a whole lot more expensive. The A56 starts at 6GB of RAM, and goes up to 12GB, but it's likely that 8GB versions will be the most widely available. The S24 FE only has 8GB versions.

Benchmark performance

The S24 FE's chipset is distinctly more powerful, and it clearly shows in benchmarks - with nearly twice higher CPU results and three times higher GPU numbers. Coupled with the better endurance in our gaming test, the S24 FE is shaping up to be a much better option for gaming than the A56.

When it comes to software, the A56 boots Android 15 at launch and carries a promise for 6 years of OS updates and security patches, while the S24 FE starts at Android 14 with 7 years of updates promised.

We doubt many people will be holding on to either of them for the Android 21 release, but if anyone makes it there, the FE will likely be more functional thanks to its more powerful chipset. It's unclear which phone will be quicker to get the updates in the nearer future - the A series is hugely popular, while the S24 FE has 'S' in the name.

Camera comparison

One of the more important differences between the two phones is in the camera hardware. While the A56 makes do without a telephoto camera, the S24 FE has a dedicated 3x zoom unit - if a bit basic, at just 8MP. Instead of that, the Galaxy has a 5MP 'macro' camera.

The rest of the camera bits are very closely-specced (albeit different). Both phones have 50MP 1/1.56" main cameras with f/1.8 aperture lenses and OIS. The ultrawides are both at 12MP (effectively), with 1/3" sensors, very wide coverage, and fixed focus.

The selfie cameras are different, the FE relying on a 10MP sensor with sort of big pixels, while the A56 has a 12MP unit of undisclosed size. Neither has autofocus though - Samsung is saving that for the high-end models.

Image quality

The camera samples below have been taken from our reviews of the two phones so they have been shot at different times and the framing and weather conditions might be different.

The two phones capture good photos with their primary cameras, with wide dynamic range and pleasing colors. That said, the S24 FE has an advantage in sharpness - the A56 is alright, but the FE is properly good.

Daylight photo samples, 1x: Galaxy A56 • Galaxy S24 FE

The FE maintains the upper hand at 2x as well.

Daylight photo samples, 2x: Galaxy A56 • Galaxy S24 FE

And then there's the 3x zoom that S24 FE offers, which the A56 can't match. Even though these images are upscaled to 12MP from the 8MP sensor, they're still nicely detailed.

Daylight photo samples, 3x, Galaxy S24 FE

The ultrawides are roughly on par, with possibly minor differences in detail processing - the A56's sharpening is dialed a bit higher, the FE is more natural.

Daylight photo samples, 0.6x: Galaxy A56 • Galaxy S24 FE

We'd say the selfies are slightly better on the A56 - slightly sharper, a little better fine detail definition.

Selfie samples: Galaxy A56 • Galaxy S24 FE

In the dark, the A56 does a better job in full auto mode, delivering cleaner images with wider dynamic range. The S24 FE's shots are grainier and have darker shadows.

Low-light photo samples, 1x: Galaxy A56 • Galaxy S24 FE

At 2x, the S24 FE does regain the lead, because even though its output remains noisier, it captures some more detail.

Low-light photo samples, 2x: Galaxy A56 • Galaxy S24 FE

The FE's zoom camera doesn't particularly enjoy darkness, but it's still a better option than not having any zoom camera.

Low-light photo samples, 3x, Galaxy S24 FE

Comparing the ultrawides, we're looking at similar levels of detail from the two and it's mostly a toss-up overall.

Low-light photo samples, 0.6x: Galaxy A56 • Galaxy S24 FE

Video quality

Below we have a few framegrabs from the videos taken by the two phones at each focal length but they have been shot at different times so the framing and weather conditions might be different.

The two phones capture great-looking video with their main cameras and the ultrawides are pretty good too. The results are very similar overall with only the A56 doing a bit more sharpening next to the more conservative S24 FE.

The FE's 3x camera is a significant advantage in this bout, even without really achieving excellence in absolute terms. In the dark, the A56 exposes brighter (a touch too bright perhaps) and is a little sharper than the still perfectly good enough S24 FE.

Video samples, Galaxy A56: 0.6x • 1x • Low-light, 1x

Video samples, Galaxy S24 FE: 0.6x • 1x • 3x • Low-light, 1x

Verdict

While we can broadly label both of these phones as midrangers, that term covers a wide spectrum of devices and the Galaxy A56 and the S24 FE aren't necessarily right next to each other on it. The A56, even though it's the best of the As, is still a bit below the S24 FE (itself a compromise in several ways compared to the proper S24s but that's a different story).

With that in mind, the S24 FE has a few advantages over the A56. In no particular order, those include the more powerful, almost-flagship-grade chipset which is also more frugal at certain tasks, gaming in particular. The wireless charging capability is also a significant differentiator for the right crowd. And finally, a 3x telephoto camera makes the FE a more versatile cameraphone than the A56.

The A56, to its credit, does alright with the cameras that it does have, and just maybe takes better selfies than the S24 FE. It's got a big endurance victory of its own too, the numbers suggesting it would fare a lot better in doomscrolling than the FE. We also tend to find its design more appealing than the mostly devoid of personality S24 FE. Last but not least, the A56 has already dropped in price since launch and will save you a meaningful amount of money compared to an FE with the same storage.

We reckon there's a market for both.