Samsung Galaxy A37 5G Review: The Galaxy Experience, On a Budget
Jin Soh
Samsung’s A series has long served as the brand’s answer to the question of how much Galaxy experience you can get without paying Galaxy S prices. The lineup has consistently tried to bring features from the S and Z series down to a more accessible bracket, and with the mid-range segment now dominated by aggressively priced Chinese manufacturers, the pressure to deliver value has never been higher.
Samsung launched both the A57 and A37 last month, and today we are looking at the more affordable of the two.
What Is It?
The Samsung Galaxy A37 5G is built around a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR support, powered by an Exynos 1480 processor with either 8GB or 12GB of DDR5X RAM and 256GB of storage across both variants.
Battery capacity is 5,000mAh with 45W fast charging support. The camera setup consists of a 50MP main shooter, an 8MP ultrawide and a 5MP macro lens on the rear, with a 12MP front camera for selfies.
The frame here is plastic rather than the aluminium found on the pricier A57, though the A37 does carry IP68 water resistance ratings. It ships with One UI 8.5 based on Android 16 and comes with a promise of six versions of Android updates and six years of security patches, which is a meaningful commitment at this price point even if it falls short of the seven-plus-seven years offered on Samsung’s flagships.
Samsung’s Awesome Intelligence AI feature suite is also on board, covering Voice Transcription, AI Select, Object Erase, Best Face, Auto Trim and Circle to Search with Google.
The A37 5G is priced at RM1,899 for the 8GB variant and RM1,999 for the 12GB model.
What’s Good
The display is a highlight, as Samsung AMOLED panels tend to be at any price. Colours are vibrant, blacks are deep and contrast is strong, with the 120Hz refresh rate keeping scrolling and navigation feeling smooth throughout. Outdoor visibility holds up reasonably well under direct sunlight, which is not always a given at this price tier.
Battery life is above average with around 18 hours of total use with roughly eight hours of screen-on time puts the A37 5G comfortably in all-day territory for most usage patterns. The 45W Super Fast Charge 2.0 gets the phone from 1 to 50 percent in about 30 minutes, with a full charge taking just over an hour. Neither figure is class-leading in 2026, but it is a practical and reliable combination.
The software support commitment also deserves another mention. Six years of Android updates and six years of security patches is a genuinely good offer for a mid-range device, and it goes some way toward justifying the price for buyers thinking about longevity.
What’s Not-So-Good
Gaming performance is where the Exynos 1480 shows its limits. Even with the DDR5X RAM, Genshin Impact is only playable at its lowest graphics setting, with stuttering appearing even on Low. Frame rates are capped at 30fps throughout, with constant drops making for an inconsistent experience. Those who game regularly on their phone will feel the processor’s constraints. That being said, one saving grace would be that heat dissipation and temperature control are well managed and the phone doesn’t get overly hot when gaming.
Camera performance of the A37 5G is…a mixed bag. Sharpness and clarity are decent in well-lit conditions, but the processing leans heavily on brightening the scene in HDR situations, which flattens contrast and removes some of the natural depth from images.
The 2x zoom is usable, but pushing to 4x or beyond produces soft, muddy results that are difficult to rescue even in editing. The AI camera features work as advertised, though none of them do anything that feels particularly new or exciting in the current landscape.
The broader issue with the A37 5G is that it is hard to point to anything it does that feels like a meaningful step forward from the A36. For a phone at this price in a market this competitive, feeling merely adequate might not be enough.
Is It Worth It?
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy A37 5G is a competent mid-range smartphone that covers the basics well, from its AMOLED display and all-day battery life to the reassurance of six years of software support. It does not, however, do much to distinguish itself from last year’s model or from the Chinese competition crowding the same price bracket.
At RM1,899 for the 8GB model and RM1,999 for the 12GB variant, it sits in a range where the value proposition starts to feel a little stretched. Those with the budget to stretch further would do well to consider the A57 5G at RM2,399, which brings the aluminium frame, better performance and an overall more capable package for the extra spend.