Samsung Galaxy A37 vs. Galaxy A57

The Galaxy A57 and Galaxy A37 have just hit the shelves, and it’s only natural to pit these two siblings against each other. At around €480, the Samsung Galaxy A57 is admittedly quite pricey, while the Samsung Galaxy A37 gets you a lot of the same features at a more reasonable starting price of €380.

So how much better is the Samsung Galaxy A57 to deserve its price premium? Let’s look into it.

Table of Contents:

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

The differences are not major, as you can see. The Galaxy A57 has a more premium build and a faster chipset, and those are probably the most important differences.

Size comparison

Both the Galaxy A57 and A37 pack similarly sized screens and batteries, but the A57 is a bit more compact and noticeably lighter. That is because the Galaxy A57 relies on a dual Gorilla Glass Victus+ build with an aluminum frame, while the A37 has a thicker plastic frame and a plastic back panel. But that’s not the whole story.

The Galaxy A57 uses a more premium Super AMOLED Plus panel, which may have helped with the slimmer screen bezel and possibly, the overall thickness and weight, too.

While the two phones look the same, the A57 surely feels more refined than the A37, hence why it takes the win in this category.

Display comparison

The display specs sheets of these two Galaxies are very similar. Looking at their equally good max brightness measurements, this impression gets even more credibility.

But that’s not the case as the Galaxy A57 uses a Super AMOLED Plus panel, while the Galaxy A37 relies on a regular Super AMOLED.

Super AMOLED Plus panels have a regular RGB subpixel matrix, while the Super AMOLED has the more widespread Diamond Pentile matrix with fewer blue subpixels. Back in the day, there used to be an obvious difference between those two in terms of sharpness, because the displays back then had lower resolution. But now, even if there are more subpixels on this panel, you cannot really see the theoretically crisper image on the A57 if you put it next to the A37 or the A56.

And because of that, even if there is a more premium technology behind the Galaxy A57, for all intents and purposes, those two screens can be considered as equals.

Battery life

Both the Galaxy A57 and Galaxy A37 are powered by 5,000mAh batteries. They both have similar displays, similar speakers, and not that different chipsets. And it was only natural that we would get equally solid battery life scores.

Charging speed

Both the Galaxy A57 and A37 not only feature the same batteries, but also the same charging capabilities. They support up to 45W of fast wired charging, or as Samsung calls it – Fast Charging 2.0 (which is really based on Power Delivery w/PPS). There is no need for a 5A cable to get the maximum charging power – the bundled 3A one will allow you to get the maximum from a compatible USB PD+PPS charger.

As you can imagine, both phones deliver the same charging speed, and a full charge on either one takes about 70 minutes.

Speaker test

Both Galaxies have the same hybrid stereo setup with one bottom-firing speaker and the amplified earpiece doubling as another stereo speaker.

While the Galaxy A37 scored more points for loudness, the Galaxy A57 actually sounds better with richer and deeper output. And because of that, we are inclined to give it the win in this chapter.

Performance

The Galaxy A57 introduces a new chipset – the Samsung-made Exynos 1680 (4nm). It is a marginal upgrade over the Exynos 1580 inside the Galaxy A56, with 12.5% CPU and 13.8% GPU performance upgrades, plus up to 42% NPU improvement. The key features include a promotion of one high-efficiency CPU core to a high-performance one, a new GPU, and updated connectivity. The new chip has an octa-core processor with 1×2.9 GHz Cortex-A720 & 4×2.6 GHz Cortex-A720 & 3×1.95 GHz Cortex-A520. The GPU is Xclipse 550.

The Galaxy A37 is based on the Exynos 1480 chipset. It is actually not a new chip, but one that dates back to the beginning of 2024 and one we have already seen inside the Galaxy A55. It has four Cortex-A78 cores, clocked at up to 2.75 GHz and four Cortex-A55 ones, working at up to 2.0 GHz. The onboard GPU is an Xclipse 530 “Titan”, which is RDNA 3-based. Unfortunately, it lacks some of the more modern Vulkan features available in the Xclipse 550.

Benchmark performance

The chipsets are set two years apart, and the performance difference is obvious. The Galaxy A57 scores 30% better in CPU and 70% better in benchmarks. The Galaxy A37 felt slightly sluggish in day-to-day operations, and the A57 will definitely feel faster in more demanding apps and games.

Furthermore, the base Galaxy A37 has 6GB RAM, which is not always enough, and the system will occasionally kill some apps to free up some space. This did not happen with the Galaxy A57 and its 8GB RAM during our time with it.

In the end, the Galaxy A57 scores the most important win here – it offers far better performance.

Camera comparison

The two Galaxies have similar camera systems, with some of the hardware being identical. Both feature the same main camera with a 1/1.56″ sensor and a 23mm equivalent focal length that is also in charge of zooming in – no telephoto cameras here. Both feature the same 5MP macro cameras, which we’re not necessarily fans of.

A bit of a difference can be seen between the ultrawides – the A37 uses an 8MP sensor, while the one on the A57 is a 12MP one, but both phones will save 12MP ultrawide shots. The more tangible difference here is the coverage – the A57’s 13mm-equivalent lens produces noticeably wider photos than the A37’s 16mm one.

The selfie camera is apparently shared between the A37 and A57, though minor differences in the EXIF data may indicate different hardware – either way, the key specs are the same.

Image quality

Daylight

Daylight photos at 1x are more or less the same between the two phones – and these are some solid photos for the class. Both have slightly soft shadow detail and a bit of a processed look to fine textures, but it’s all within reason.

Daylight comparison, main camera (1x): Galaxy A37 • Galaxy A57

2x zoom photos from the A37 and A57 are also very similar, and while they’re not setting any sharpness standards, they’re still pretty good, and certainly not something to set the two phones apart.

Daylight comparison, main camera (2x): Galaxy A37 • Galaxy A57

The 8MP ultrawide camera on the A37 actually captures 13MP files(!), compared to the 12MP camera on the A57. The A57 has an advantage in pixel-level sharpness, of course, and it’s also got a noticeably wider focal length, so it just might be a good idea to lean towards the A57 if the ultrawide camera is important to you. Still, we think it’s a small difference.

Daylight comparison, ultrawide camera (0.6x): Galaxy A37 • Galaxy A57

Low light

Low-light performance is quite good from both phones. We wouldn’t say either has a particular advantage in general, though the A57’s processing could produce slightly odd results on occasion (take that second scene for example), while the A37 was more consistent in our experience.

Low-light comparison, main camera (1x): Galaxy A37 • Galaxy A57

There’s little to set them apart at 2x.

Low-light comparison, main camera (2x): Galaxy A37 • Galaxy A57

Low-light photos from the ultrawides are hard to like from either phone, with the slightly sharper A57’s results still being prone to color/exposure mishaps, while the A37’s shots are softer and noisier.

Low-light comparison, ultrawide camera: Galaxy A37 • Galaxy A57

Selfies

In good light, both phones take very good selfies that look more or less the same. Detail and dynamic range are great, skin tones are looking nice. The A57 does have a somewhat substantial advantage in low light, however, as the A37’s photos are notably softer.

Selfies comparison: Galaxy A37 • Galaxy A57

Video quality

Video recording capabilities are essentially the same between the two phones, other than the A57’s 4K30 mode on the ultrawide camera – the A37 maxes out at 1080p30 on the ultrawide.

Both phones can record 4K30 with their main cameras, or you can switch to 1080p60 if you’d like to trade off resolution for extra smoothness. The selfie cameras can also do 4K30 on both models (no 60fps modes on either).

Both phones capture very good 4K videos at 1x, with vivid colors, plenty of contrast, and great dynamic range. Detail is essentially the same, only the A57’s sharpening is a notch higher.

At 2x, the A57 is somewhat better, and it also has an advantage on the ultrawide – its 4K is nowhere near good 4K, but it’s still 4K vs. 1080p on the A37, plus the extra coverage could be considered an advantage all in itself.

Daylight video screengrabs, Galaxy A37: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Daylight video screengrabs, Galaxy A57: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Neither ultrawide is any good in the dark, while main cameras are doing decently and are roughly comparable at 1x, with maybe the A57’s footage being a touch less bad at 2x.

Low-light video screengrabs, Galaxy A37: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Low-light video screengrabs, Galaxy A57: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Verdict

If you have read our reviews, you already know that we consider both the Galaxy A57 and Galaxy A37 not the best choices in their respective price categories. The two phones are quite expensive in their launch month, and there are better, even cheaper offers out there.

Once the prices eventually settle down, these Galaxies will be very interesting options, just like the A56 and A36 were. And speaking of those, the first fault of these new Galaxies is the minimal updates over their respective predecessors but that’s out of the scope of this particular comparison.

Still, the Galaxy A57 is the better phone because it’s lighter and faster. And it gets the better ultrawide camera, too. And it has a proper physical proximity sensor as opposed to a virtual one. And you get slightly more premium connectivity features such as Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity.

On the other hand, the Galaxy A37 is cheaper and offers almost the same experience if you are not after gaming, video editing, and/or heavy multitasking.

If everything boils down to the A57 or A37 dilemma, we do think the A57 is worthy of the price premium for its more upmarket build and faster hardware. But if neither is important to you, you can safely opt for the A37 instead.

Check out our TikTok Galaxy A36 vs A56 comparison as well.