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We recently reviewed both the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G and the vivo V50 5G, two mid-range phones that sit in the under PHP 27K bracket of the segment.
They each bring their own strengths to the table; whether it’s Samsung’s trusted OneUI experience or vivo’s Zeiss-tuned cameras.
Let’s see who comes out on top in this comparison.
Design and Build
Starting with design.
Right off the bat, the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G sticks to a more traditional build with flat sides, sharp edges, and the modern minimalist Samsung aesthetic featuring the triple camera layout and a flat back.
What’s nice about the A56 is it sports an aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus+ for both the front and back glass, giving it a sturdy feel in-hand with some certified drop and scratch resistance.
And yes, it still comes with IP67 water and dust resistance.
Meanwhile, the vivo V50 5G goes for an arguably sleeker, curvier approach.
It features a satin-like finish with curved edges and a curved display in front. It’s lighter and in our opinion, more comfortable to hold.
Unlike the A56, the V50 gets a higher IP69 water and dust resistance rating!
IP67 offers protection against dust and water submersion of up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. IP69, on the other hand, is designed to withstand high-pressure and high-temperature water jets!
And on top of all that, vivo also features a Diamond Anti-Drop Film and a 10-facet internal cushioning structure for added durability.
So for this round, yes design is subjective to each person’s taste. But for this match-up, if we’re after a tougher, flashier, and more ergonomic design, the vivo V50 5G edges ahead here.
Display
For display, the Galaxy A56 5G has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED panel with a Full HD+ resolution, up to a 120Hz refresh rate, and peaks at 1200 nits of brightness. It’s pretty color-accurate especially when set to the Natural display profile.
The vivo V50 5G on the other hand, sports a 6.77-inch curved AMOLED display, also with a Full HD+ resolution and 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.
Both displays offer users inky deep blacks with a vibrant punch if warranted.
The V50’s display can feel a bit more immersive when in use, thanks to its curved screen.
We can make a case that it actually feels a bit more premium while watching videos or playing games, especially when compared to the A56’s thicker bezels (which have shrunken compared to its predecessor but still thicker than the competition.)
So for this round, both displays are excellent which means this round should result in a tie. But in our opinion, the A55’s thicker bezels can sway a lot of users to the V50’s side.
And with that said, we’re giving this round to the vivo V50 5G, giving it its second point.
Performance
For hardware, Galaxy A56 sports a Samsung Exynos 1580, paired with 8GB RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage.
It’s good enough for casual use, multitasking, and a bit of gaming, though don’t expect it to go toe-to-toe with higher-end chips.
On the other hand, the vivo V50 5G is powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, configured with 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of UFS 2.2 storage.
For those wondering, neither handsets feature expandable storage via microSD card.
When it comes to benchmarks, some of you may have already assumed storage speeds to be on the A56’s side. If so, you guys are right, it’s the typical difference between the different UFS classes.
| Chipset: | Samsung Exynos 1580 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 |
| RAM | xGB | xGB |
| Antutu v10 | 902,412 | 839,868 |
| Geekbench Single-Core | 1,356 | 1,154 |
| Geekbench Multi-Core | 3,901 | 3,193 |
| Geekbench OpenCL | 6,875 | 4,119 |
| Geekbench Vulkan | 6,856 | 3,555 |
| 3D Mark Wild Life | 5,019 | 5,282 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 14,292 | 10,809 |
| Antutu v10 Storage | 68,190 | 56,932 |
| Seq. Read | 1,722.0 MB/s | 966.3 MB/s |
| Seq. Write | 1,024.0 MB/s | 839.3 MB/s |
When it comes to general performance, the Exynos-powered A56 beats the Snapdragon-riding V50, seen in both Antutu and PCMark.
When it came to more GPU-intensive benchmarks, the V50 takes the cake albeit not by much.
In everyday use, the A56 can seem a lot snappier when navigating through the interface coming from a sleep state, but other than that, we haven’t really noticed that big of a difference in everyday tasks and general gaming.
But in this round, there is a clear winner. And it’s the Samsung Galaxy A56, scoring its first point in this comparison.
Cameras
For optics, vivo sticks to a Zeiss-tuned dual camera setup, consisting of a 50MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 50MP front camera.
Based on our review, the selfie camera is one of the best in this segment, and the rear setup produces sharp, contrasty images in daylight and decent low-light performance.
As for the Galaxy A56 5G, Samsung didn’t change much from the previous model.
It’s still rocking the same 50MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide, and 5MP macro, and a 12MP shooter for selfies.
Samsung’s camera tuning is generally reliable and leans toward natural color processing with cooler tones.
Checking-out some sample shots.
Right off the bat, we noticed the A56 delivers images with more contrast and slightly more vibrancy compared to the V50.
As expected, the A56 also produces slightly cooler tones compares the V50’s warmer renditions.
The V50 gets the upper hand when it comes to retaining shadow detail, and even produces slightly sharper images compared to the A56. As you can see in some of our samples when zooming in.
Honestly it’s really close between these two camera systems. It’s just a matter of preference between cooler tones with a green tint, or warmer tones with a more magenta one.
And with that said, it’s another tie here in the camera segment.
Battery & Charging
vivo packs a more modern 6000mAh Si/Ca battery on the V50 with support for 90W Flash Charge. And in our usage, it held up well for a day’s worth of work and multimedia consumption.
Just like its predecessor, Samsung packs-in another 5000mAh battery this time with a quicker 45W wired charging rate.
Both phones can last a day, especially when new. Our review of the V50 even claims the phone can last up to two days! (which is pretty wild!)
Comparing battery benchmarks, in our PCMark Work 3.0 tests; The Galaxy A56 lasted 15 hours and 15 minutes, while the vivo V50 scored 21 hours and 3 minutes.
So when it comes to Battery, it seems pretty clear that the vivo V50 takes this one too, for its better battery life and faster charging.
Software
There is one more thing Samsung has up its panels, and that’s OneUI.
The Galaxy A56 ships with the latest OneUI 7 based off Android 15 out of the box, and even though it isn’t the full flagship OneUI 7 experience lacking Dex support and such, it’s still pretty solid nonetheless.
The vivo V50 runs Funtouch OS 15 based on Android 15 as well, and we’re all sure that a lot of vivo-users can vouch that we can still get a pretty clean experience, especially after turning off notifications for very push-notification heavy default apps.
And so, since actual UI usage can still be counted as preferential, let’s take a look at software support.
Samsung promises the A56 will be getting 6 years of major OS updates and Security patches. While the vivo has vouched the V50 will be getting 3 major Android upgrades and up to 4 years of security updates.
So without much of a surprise, Samsung takes round here for its allegedly longer software support.
Price and Final Verdict
Before we conclude this match-up, it’s pretty clear the vivo V50 5G has comes out on top so far in terms of overall value.
But we still need to talk about price.
In the Philippines the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G starts at PHP 23,990 for the 128GB variant while the 256GB storage option sets you back for Php 25,990.
The vivo V50 5G starts at PHP 26,999 for the 8GB+256GB config, PHP 27,999 for the 12GB+256GB option, and up to PHP 30,999 for the 12+512GB variant.
And with that, I guess it’s safe to say we can give the A56 another point for budget, resulting in a tie match.
In conclusion, our recommendation is that Prospecting buyers should opt for the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G if they want the stronger phone in terms of overall performance, longer software support, and a decent set of cameras.
We recommend the vivo V50 5G for those who want a handset with thinner display bezels compared to something like the A56, a higher IP rating, decent cameras, and better battery life and charging.
And that wraps up this comparison review, which team are you guys on for this match-up: Samsung or vivo?
Samsung Galaxy A56 5G specs:
6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED
1080 x 2340 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate
1200-nit peak brightness (HBM)
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+
Samsung Exynos 1580
4nm, octa-core, up to 2.9GHz
8GB RAM
128GB, 256GB storage
Triple rear cameras:
– 50MP f/1.8 main, OIS
– 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide
– 5MP f/2.4 macro
12MP f/2.2 selfie shooter
Dual nano-SIM (supports eSIM)
5G, 4G LTE
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.3
GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
USB Type-C
NFC (supports Digital Key)
Under-display fingerprint sensor (optical)
IP67 dust and water resistance
Dual stereo speakers
One UI 7, Android 15
5000mAh battery
45W charging (wired)
162.2 x 77.5 x 7.4 mm (dimensions)
198 grams (weight)
Lightgray, Graphite, Pink (colorways)
vivo V50 5G specs:
6.77-inch FHD + 3D-curved AMOLED display (453 ppi)
120Hz refresh rate, 4500 nits (peak)
Diamond Shield Glass Protection
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3
12GB RAM
256GB, 512GB internal storage
Triple rear cameras (tuned by ZEISS ):
– 50MP main camera ( f/ 1 .8 8, OIS )
– 50MP ultrawide, Samsung JN1 (f/2.0 )
– Aura Light
50MP group selfie camera, Samsung JN1 sensor (f/2.0)
Stereo speakers
Dual nano-SIM
5G, 4G LTE
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.4
GPS, GNS, BeiDou, GALILEO, QZSS
USB Type-C
FuntouchOS 15 (Android 15)
Fingerprint sensor (in-display)
6,000mAh battery. 90W fast charging support (wired)
70Wh battery, 130W fast charging support
164.16 x 74.93 x 7.58mm (dimensions)
189 grams (weight)
Satin Black, Ancorra Red, Misty Purple
