Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Apple iPhone 16e

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy A36 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 ) that was released on March 2, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 16e, which is powered by Apple A18. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
  • Comes with 995 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4005 mAh
  • Delivers 46% higher peak brightness (1224 against 836 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16e
  • 91% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1612K versus 844K)
  • Shows 8% longer battery life (26:44 vs 24:52 hours)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • 19% higher pixel density (457 vs 385 PPI)
  • 3.3x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3281 and 1004 points
  • Weighs 28 grams less
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 6.7 mm narrower

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Apple iPhone 16e crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
6 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
99.7
(Very good)
Value Index
46.4
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED OLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1170 x 2532 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 385 ppi 457 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1900 nits 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 86.5% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 99.9%
PWM 120 Hz 60 Hz
Response time 1 ms 10 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A36 5G
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
iPhone 16e
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~20% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
1224 nits
836 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 162.9 mm (6.41 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 78.2 mm (3.08 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) 7.8 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 195 g (6.88 oz) 167 g (5.89 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Plastic Metal
Colors White, Black, Green, Purple White, Black
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Repairability Good (3.19/5) Average (2.79/5)
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops Good (C) · 90 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Apple iPhone 16e
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 Apple A18
Max clock 2400 MHz 4040 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest
Manufacturing Samsung TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 710 4 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 256 640
GPU clock 1010 MHz 1490 MHz
FLOPS ~517.1 GFLOPS ~1907 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Apple iPhone 16e
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
iPhone 16e +227%
3281
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
iPhone 16e +175%
8035
Compute Score (GPU)
iPhone 16e +586%
24041
Compute Score (GPU) 3506 24041
Single-core score 1004 3281
Multi-core score 2919 8035
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
844447
iPhone 16e +91%
1612788
CPU 311567 485100
GPU 134619 445832
Memory 162720 185536
UX 235541 496320
Total score 844447 1612788
Samples [66 tests] [5 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
iPhone 16e +289%
1226
Stability 98% 82%
Graphics test 2 FPS 9 FPS
Graphics score 315 1226
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 21 FPS
Section 1 - 26 FPS
Section 2 - 21 FPS
Section 3 - 15 FPS
Graphics score - 5507
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 14144 -
Video editing 7296 -
Photo editing 24677 -
Data manipulation 10326 -
Writing score 14497 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-12 (Jhzinnn)AnTuTu 12934820
📘 2026-10-04 -> Arcticmonkeys98AnTuTu 12953956
📘 2026-10-02 (A36XQHYPER)AnTuTu 12938148
📘 2026-09-30 (kazew_)AnTuTu 121005038
📘 2026-09-27 (Abdulgani)AnTuTu 12991604
Apple iPhone 16e
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-03-11 (Matviy)AnTuTu 111600106
📘 2026-02-27 (iPhone user)AnTuTu 111591246
📘 2026-02-10 (Virtuose)AnTuTu 111721718
📘 2026-01-14 (Glib)AnTuTu 111656396
📘 2026-01-13 (киря)AnTuTu 111612788

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 2133 MHz -
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) iOS 18.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
ROM One UI 8.5 -
OS size 22.6 GB 24 GB
OS updates 6 years 7 years
Security updates 6 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 4005 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (60% in 30 min) Yes (57% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:14 hr 1:50 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:13 hr 11:59 hr
Watching video 16:02 hr 15:01 hr
Gaming 04:55 hr 05:04 hr
Standby 115 hr 127 hr
General battery life
24:52 hr
26:44 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8064 x 6048
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 123° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.6
Focal length - 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX882 Sony IMX972
Sensor size 1/1.96" (≈ 0.51 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.7 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP -
Aperture f/2.2 -
Sensor GalaxyCore GC08A3 -
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Stabilization Digital -
Macro lens
Image resolution 5 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Sensor GalaxyCore GC05A3 -
Stabilization Digital -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3184 x 2388 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length - 23 mm
Sensor GalaxyCore GC12A2 Sony IMX714
Sensor size - 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No No
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
90.5 dB
88.4 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2025 February 2025
Release date March 2025 February 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $399 $599
Successor - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G -
SAR (head) 0.53 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.29 W/kg -
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16e:
    - The smartphone doesn’t have a cinematic mode like the higher-end models in the series.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 16e is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
8 (53.3%)
7 (46.7%)
Total votes: 15

User opinions

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