Samsung’s expansive portfolio in India is divided into different categories, each catering to a niche group of users. The Galaxy S series showcases the brand’s flagship smartphones, and the Galaxy Z series is reserved for its foldables. For users who are on a tight budget, the Galaxy A series has some great value-for-money options. The Galaxy M series has traditionally been the home to Samsung’s battery-focused smartphones. Last year’s Galaxy M35 packed a massive 6,000mAh battery under its hood. And no, this wasn’t a Si/C unit. Its successor, the Galaxy M36, is finally out on sale, priced at Rs 17,499. We used the smartphone for a week to find out how it ranks among other budget offerings in its category. Here is our in-depth review of the Samsung Galaxy M36.
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In This Article
Samsung Galaxy M36 5G Review: Design and Display
The Galaxy M36’s unboxing experience leaves a lot to be desired. Useful accessories like the power adapter and a silicone cover are notoriously absent from the retail box. Here’s what you get inside the packaging:
- Smartphones
- USB Type-C to Type-C cable
- SIM ejector
- Quick start guide
The Samsung Galaxy M36 gets a fresh design. Gone are the individual cutouts for the triple rear cameras. The singular pill-shaped vertical panel houses the three sensors. The macro sensor and primary shooter are grouped together, while the ultrawide lens lies alone at the bottom. The flat back panel has a smooth finish, which tends to attract fingerprints and smudges. The profile of the smartphone is slimmer than its predecessor. Compared to the 9.1mm thickness of the Galaxy M35 (our review here), the Galaxy M36 is just 7.7mm thick. This comes at the expense of a bigger battery pack, which we’ll dive into later.
The plastic frame houses the volume rocker and the side button on its right edge. The side button also doubles as the fingerprint sensor. On the opposite edge lies the hybrid SIM tray, which can also support a microSD card. The storage of this smartphone is expandable up to 2TB. This earns it a bonus point from us. Moving on, the primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille are positioned on the bottom edge of the frame. The noise-cancelling microphone is placed on the top edge. There is no secondary speaker on this device.
The 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display has a 120Hz refresh rate. It is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+, something that’s very rare in this segment. The touch response is fluid, and there are no legibility issues under direct sunlight. After shifting to a punch-hole camera cutout on the Galaxy M35, Samsung has brought back the waterdrop notch on the Galaxy M36’s display for some reason. This immediately makes the phone feel dated. The uniform bezels are gone too, with the thicker bottom bezel sticking out like a sore thumb.
If you can look past the thick bezels and punch-hole cutout, the viewing experience on offer here is pretty good. The Super AMOLED display produces sharp, detailed, and vivid pictures. The signature deep blacks bring out the contrast in the images. Even though the Galaxy M36 uses a single, bottom-firing speaker, its audio output is surprisingly not boxy.
Samsung Galaxy M36 5G Review: Performance and Cameras
Samsung Galaxy M36 is powered by the Exynos 1380 (5nm) SoC. This is the same chipset that powered its predecessor, the Galaxy M35. The smartphone is available in 3 RAM + storage configurations:
- 6GB + 128GB: Rs 17,499
- 8GB + 128GB: Rs 18,999
- 8GB + 256GB: Rs 21,999
Here’s how the smartphone performed in the Geekbench 6 test:
- Single-core: 993
- Multi-core: 2,857
In everyday use, the Galaxy M36 puts up a decent display. It uses a UFS 2.2 configuration for its internal storage, which is a bit slow compared to its counterparts. Apps take a little long to load, but once you’re in the swing of things, the performance picks up. The smartphone does a good job of compartmentalising the background apps to make sure they don’t use a lot of RAM. Routine tasks like calling, instant messaging, emailing, web browsing, and media streaming are handled expertly.
During the review period, we played games like Call of Duty Mobile and Garena Free Fire Max on the Samsung Galaxy M36. The smartphone delivers a decent gameplay when you limit yourself to medium graphics and frame rate settings. We rarely came across stutters, and annoying frame drops were nowhere to be seen. It took 30 minutes of continuous gameplay for the back panel to start warming up.
The Galaxy M36 runs the Android 15-based One UI 7 OS out of the box. There are a few bloatware apps that come pre-installed on the device, but they can be easily removed. New features like Circle to Search, Now Bar, and Gemini Assistant have trickled down from Samsung’s flagship and midrange phones to this budget offering. You also get the handy Object Eraser in the native Gallery app. The biggest highlight of the software experience is Samsung’s promise of 6 major OS upgrades for this device.
The choice of packing the Galaxy M36 with a 5,000mAh battery pack is an odd one. Samsung’s M series is known for its special focus on battery performance. While a 5,000mAh unit is not shabby by any means, the rest of the segment is quickly moving on to bigger, Si/C battery packs. While Samsung’s reluctance to switch to a newer battery model is understandable, last year’s Galaxy M35 packed a 6,000mAh Li-ion under its hood. The M35 feels like a step back in this regard.
Having said that, the Galaxy M36 doesn’t run out of juice before the day ends. On days with regular usage and 4-5 hours of screen time, we were left with at least 20% charge in the tank. Pushing the battery life to 1.5 days requires more conservative usage. The smartphone supports 25W charging. It takes just over an hour to fully charge the device.
The Samsung Galaxy M36 inherits its triple rear camera setup from the M35. This array comprises a 50MP primary shooter, an 8MP ultrawide lens, and a 2MP macro sensor.
The 50MP primary shooter takes good pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The images pack a lot of details and showcase vibrant colours. The saturation level is a smidge too high, but it isn’t a deal breaker. In limited lighting conditions, the Night Mode in the native Camera app does a stellar job of lighting up the shot and minimising the grain. The smartphone assigns accurate colours to the pictures taken at night.
The images taken from the 8MP ultrawide are notably softer, but they retain the colour profile of the primary shooter. We were impressed with how this sensor exposed the sky in daytime shots. In limited lighting conditions, the ultrawide lens lights up the scene moderately well. The images have spots of noise, but that’s something to be expected from a smartphone in this price bracket.
The portrait shots taken by the Galaxy M36 are vibrant and well-focused. The smartphone does a good job of separating the subject from the background and applying the optimum background blur. The 13MP front-facing camera captures clear selfies, limiting the tacky skin tone and texture correction effects. This camera can record 4K videos at 30fps. The 50MP primary shooter can accomplish this feat, too. However, the recording skills of the ultrawide camera are limited to 1,080p at 30/60fps.
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Verdict
After the week-long review period, we were impressed by the display and software experience of the Samsung Galaxy M36. If your biggest priority is media streaming, this smartphone’s Super AMOLED display will not let you down. Even though the device employs a single speaker, its audio output is well-rounded. Samsung’s One UI 7 OS delivers a fun and familiar software experience on this device.
Features like Now Bar and Circle to Search are a great addition to this budget offering. The icing on the cake is the promise of 6 major OS upgrades. Only if the smartphone had employed a larger 6,000mAh battery and an in-display selfie cam would it have been perfect.
Samsung Galaxy M36: Pros
- Nice design and colourful options
- Smooth display
- 6 major OS upgrades
Samsung Galaxy M36: Cons
- Waterdrop notch on the display and thick lower bezel
- Not the biggest battery
