With the launch of the new Galaxy A series, we also have the Samsung Galaxy A37. It’s aimed towards a lower price point, but is it a good phone even at that price range? Well, that’s why you clicked on this video, right?
Display
The screen on the Galaxy A37 is pretty much identical to the one we had on the A36. It’s still a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2340×1080 pixels and goes up to 120Hz refresh rate. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
Through our tests, we found out that this A37’s screen can go up to around 1217 nits at most and down to 1.8 nits minimum. A very good range for a phone of this price point.
As for the color gamut coverage and color accuracy, we pushed it to the maximum vividness to know what’s the full capability of this screen – and it can cover 100% of sRGB and about 95% of DCI-P3, yet the ΔE number is very low overall. So, good job here, Samsung.
And when I say the bezel size is too thick, I think everyone agrees. This kind of bezel belongs in 2022, not 2026.
Camera
As for the cameras, we have a total of three cameras here – the last one is a 5MP macro camera just like the one we had on the A57, but honestly – I’m disappointed with that 8MP ultrawide angle camera. I know megapixel count is not the most important aspect of a camera sensor, but you can see the results in the pictures.
To have a look at all of the pictures and videos taken with the Samsung Galaxy A37, watch the video at the top of this review.
Software
The software is identical to the Galaxy A57 too. It is powered with One UI 8.5 on top of Android 16, and it has all of my personal favorite features like Modes and Routines for automation, Good Lock for very granular customizations, and also Samsung Wallet to make payments and save NFC keycards.
Now, just like the A57, we do have some bloatware that are installed without me telling it to do so. Luckily, we can remove them and also disable a lot of the included features. Even Bixby can be disabled.
The box of the Galaxy A36 also stated that this phone will be getting 6 generations of Android OS upgrades and 6 years of security patches.
Performance
Now, with that many years of patches, can the chipset actually handle them? Let’s talk about the performance. Samsung actually did clarify that this A37 is using a much better vapor chamber and also equipped with LPDDR5X RAM. The RAM speed matters a lot – check our video at the top right corner to know why – and it is also equipped with the Exynos 1480 chipset.
The Exynos 1480… was first found in the Galaxy A55. Yeah, that means this chipset is already 2 years old. Usually, a chipset that’s 2 years old isn’t exactly “old” per se, but mid-range chipsets like this are more susceptible to the passage of time. But still, this is a really big upgrade compared to the Galaxy A36 last year, which used the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4. That was a true entry-level chipset.
So, when we look at the gaming performance, it’s not too bad. In Genshin Impact, we can get around 30-something FPS while fighting this boss right here, but the problem is that we have to go through shader caching. So, when we’re doing the actions for the first time, it’ll stutter. But when we’re doing the same action the second time, it’s going to be smooth.
Zenless Zone Zero is the same story as well. It will stutter at first because of shader caching, but becomes smooth once the shaders are cached. Well, not really “smooth” smooth, but no stutter type of smooth. We’re only getting around 20-something FPS, which is still playable, but it could’ve been better.
Wuthering Waves will remain to be the most demanding out of all because of its lack of optimization, and also because the A37 has to do shader caching. Even after caching the shaders, we’re getting around like slideshow FPS numbers – which is to be expected. Driving around is the same as well.
The conclusion that I can come up with when it comes to the gaming test is – the Galaxy A37 is somewhere slightly below the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4, but it’s far better than the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 found in the A36 last year. Also, I had zero problems with the heat in the A37 – so that’s great.
If you want to watch the full gaming test with all the FPS graphs, the wattage, the frame time, temperature – all that stuff, then check out that video down below.
Battery life
Now, the battery life. It is still equipped with a 5,000mAh battery – no idea what’s the Wh value since it’s not published anywhere – and the A37 can last around 14.5 hours. It lasts for half hour more than the A36 from last year – and that’s mostly achieved by swapping over to the Exynos 1480 chipset.
Charging speed
Now, the charging speed. It’s basically the same as the previous generation too. We can get from 15% to completion in around 85 minutes and the temperature is pretty much as to be expected. It is kept below 40°C all the time.
Now, even when the A37 is advertised to have 45W wired charging, it was actually taking in about 41W at most for a short time. Pretty much to be expected, I’d say.
Design
As for the design, the A37 is very similar to what we had before. The dimensions, the shape, the design language – all of them are the same. I hoped the A37 to be a bit thinner, but alas it’s the same thickness as the A36.
The Key Island design is still here – which I kinda like more than the Galaxy S design. Do you agree?
A few more things to mention
And there are a few more things to mention about the Galaxy A37. It has a USB 2.0 port at the bottom, so no display output capability – and it also has a dual SIM card slot, at least for our region. It also has eSIM support. That’s great.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A37?
So then we reach to the end. Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A37? Let’s ignore all the official launch and promotional pricing and we’ll take a look at the retail market. From what I can find out, Samsung themselves are already discounting the A37 down to around RM1,400, but that’s for the 8GB RAM variant. The 12GB variant is around RM1,600.
You can basically save around RM200 for 4GB less RAM. It won’t affect the gaming performance since they’re all LPDDR5X RAM speed, but multitasking will be a bit more… rough.
Looking at the big picture, the Galaxy A37, at the price of around RM1,600 is actually right in line with the realme 16 Pro and undercuts the vivo V70 FE that we’ve reviewed a few weeks ago. The A37 is a competitive alternative to those two phones – and I’d say the cameras on the A37 is actually better than those two phones, and One UI just seals the deal for me.
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