Galaxy A56 Certified for NFC Payments, Arrives with One UI 7

Samsung’s upcoming premium mid-range smartphone, the Galaxy A56, is slowly clearing the formalities ahead of its launch sometime next year. It has been recently certified for contactless payments using NFC technology. This follows certifications from the Bluetooth SIG, 3C, and other regulatory bodies.

Galaxy A56 gets EMVCo approval for NFC-based contactless payments

The Galaxy A56 recently surfaced on the EMVCo database — EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard, and Visa, the three companies that created the standard for this payment system and manage the EMV specifications. The new Samsung mid-ranger received the NFC connectivity certification from the organization, confirming support for NFC-based contactless payments. Users can make seamless and secure payments via the built-in NFC chip.

Additionally, the certification confirms that the Galaxy A56 will ship with Android 15, likely with Samsung’s One UI 7.1 on top. The official listing mentions the model number SM-A566B/DS, which is the global dual-SIM variant. Samsung will ship the devices with the Exynos 1580 processor featuring a peak speed of 2.91GHz. It boasts the AMD-powered Xclipse 540 GPU and might come with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.

Samsung is expected to pack a 5000mAh battery here. A 3C certification revealed support for 45W wired fast charging, a notable jump from 25W charging on the Galaxy A55. The device will likely launch in March 2025 with a slightly different look than its predecessor. The back of the phone includes a pill-shaped, vertically-placed camera module housing three lenses. On the Galaxy A55, all three lenses extend directly from the rear panel.

Alongside the Galaxy A56, Samsung has several other mid-range devices in the pipeline, such as the Galaxy A26 5G and Galaxy A36 5G. The company is also working on some budget handsets for 2025. It may start unveiling these devices early next year. The Galaxy S25 flagships, meanwhile, are expected to debut on January 22, 2025.