By Florence Ion Published March 26, 2025 | Comments (0) | Samsung's cheap batch of smartphones come with Google's Circle to Search features. Samsung Affordable smartphone season remains in full swing, with Samsung entering the ring with its own affordable set of Android devices. The budget-priced Galaxy A36 and A26 were teased earlier this month alongside a third device. The phones are now available online and through participating carriers, starting at $400 and $300, respectively. Both devices feature mid-range specifications and Samsungs Awesome Intelligence suiteessentially Galaxy AI, pared down for its affordable smartphones. If its a bright, vibrant screen you want under $500, Samsung is the way to go. The Galaxy A36 and the Galaxy A26 both feature a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a maximum 1,200 nits of brightness. Both phones have Qualcomms Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processors with 6GB of RAM. Theyre both limited to a middling 128GB of storage, so youll want an active cloud account if youre looking to hoard photos and files. The Samsung Galaxy A36 has a better-equipped camera system, with a triple-array rear camera with an 8-MP ultra-wide camera, a 50-MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture and OIS, and a 5-MP macro camera. Theres also a 12-MP front-facing camera for selfies. The Galaxy A26 has most of the same camera specs, save for a 2-MP macro camera on the rear and a 13-MP front-facing camera. If youre into artificial intelligence, the Galaxy A36 and A26 have some of Samsungs fancy AI features, though they had to be pared down for this particular set of specifications. Thats why its called Awesome Intelligence instead of Galaxy AI. The abilities youll have access to through these devices include Circle to Search, which is mainly tied to Googles Gemini, and Samsungs AI-driven Object Eraser, which nixes distracting subjects from your photos. Its enough of a taste of Samsungs AI that maybe youll spring for the full-priced thing.Samsungs Galaxy A36 is available in black, lavender, and a unique lime color at Best Buy starting at $400.Samsungs Galaxy A26 only comes in black and starts at $300.Samsungs Galaxy A-series devices arent thebest deal in the business. For instance, Googles Pixel 9a, which was announced but remains delayed, features two more gigs of RAM and more of Googles Gemini features, since it runs natively on Googles Tensor processors. But its delayed and still technically $100 more than the Galaxy A36. With a Samsung phone, you should get a big, bright screen for a decent pricemaybe free, if your carrier will subsidize it.Samsung Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Sherri L Smith Published March 26, 2025 By Kyle Barr Published March 25, 2025 By Jorge Jimenez Published March 13, 2025 By Kyle Barr Published March 7, 2025 By Florence Ion Published March 6, 2025 By Florence Ion Updated March 4, 2025