Samsung's affordable phones get Awesome Intelligence upgrade for free

(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)

published 4 April 2025

Quick summary

Samsung's Awesome Intelligence update is now available for the latest Galaxy A series phones.

The update is available to the Galaxy A56 5G, A36 5G and A26 5G and adds a number of features, including Object Eraser and AI Select.

Samsung announced its flagship Galaxy S25 series at the beginning of the year, followed by the mid-range Galaxy A series in March, with both placing a focus on AI.

The Galaxy A series handsets – which comes in the form of the Galaxy A56, Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A26 – aren't as fully-fledged in the AI department as the Galaxy S25 series, but there's still plenty on offer.

Going under the brand "Awesome Intelligence", Samsung has announced several new AI features are now available on the Galaxy A56, A36 and A26 devices. They are "designed to make mobile experiences more accessible, creative and productive for everyone" and there are a number of options available.

What features does Awesome Intelligence offer?

Circle to Search with Google is a feature that was first introduced on the Galaxy S24 series back in 2024, allowing you to draw around images on your screen with your finger to get relevant search results. That's now expanded beyond images, recognising and identifying music too.

There's also AI Select, which offers contextual suggestions based on what is on your screen, and it works for text, images and videos, while Read Aloud converts online text into audio.

A number of editing features are also available within the Awesome Intelligence package, from Object Eraser to remove unwanted objects in photos, to Edit Suggestion that recommends enhancements to images like Erase Reflections and Background Blur.

For the Galaxy A56, there are a couple of exclusive features, including Best Face that allows you to select the best facial expressions of up to five people from motion photos and merge them into one image, while Auto Trim can analyse multiple videos and pick out the best moments into one highlight video. There is also a Filters feature that allows you to create a custom filter by extracting colours and styles from existing images.

The Awesome Intelligence update is available on the Galaxy A56, A36 and A26 devices now, so you can update your device to access the new features.

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Britta is a freelance technology journalist who has been writing about tech for over a decade. She's covered all consumer tech from phones, tablets and wearables to smart home and beauty tech, with everything in between. She has a fashion journalism degree from London College of Fashion and previously did a long stint as deputy editor of Pocket-lint, but you’ll now find her byline on several titles including GQ, the Express, the Mirror, TechRadar, Stuff and iMore. You'll never find her without her Apple Watch on, aiming to complete her rings so she can justify the extra bar of chocolate and she loves a good iPhone trick.