This just in. Samsung has sent a media invite over for the launch for the Galaxy A8, set to debut on 30 July. The Galaxy A8 is Samsung’s thinnest smartphone to date, and was just launched last week in China. The 5.7-inch premium mid-range phablet features S6-inspired styling and build.
The A series is Samsung’s new take on the mid-range, upping build quality and sexing up styling. Since last year with the Note 4, Note Edge and recent S6/S6 Edge, Samsung has moved aggressively into the premium/luxury space. With the A series, Samsung injected design cues from its more expensive flagships, putting metal in place of plastic and trimming the fat to make it as thin as possible.
The Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 were the first to roll out from the new stylish factory.
READ MORE: [Review] Samsung GALAXY A5: Stylish in metal
Now, the Galaxy A8 looks to be the best looking and best spec-ed of the lot. It’s also the most S6-inspired, showing off sexy curves, incredible thinness and a metal frame with chamfered edges. On the side, it measures just 5.9mm thin, making it the thinnest phone Samsung has ever built. It also happens to be virtually bezel-free.
It gets a 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display (386PPI) and powered by the mid-range 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor. It sports 2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage and microSD expansion of up to 128GB.
The Samsung A8 gets a similar shooter as the S6 (which IMHO the best smartphone camera currently). However, because of its thin profile, the camera module is a new module which is 5mm thinner than the S6’s. Will it deliver photos as well as the S6? We’ll see. Surprisingly, Samsung has also built in a fingerprint sensor into the home button, and like the S6, you’ll be able to rapid launch the camera app by double-tapping it.
Another great thing about the A8 is that it comes with a generous 3,050mAh, not an easy feat looking at the thin side profile.
The Galaxy A8 will run Android 5.1 Lollipop with the latest TouchWIZ on top. The 16GB variant sells for RMB3,199 (USD515) while the 32GB goes for RMB3,499 (USD565). It is unknown if Samsung Malaysia will bring both specifications for the local market.
This mid-range phablet is not going to be cheap, but hey, style and quality comes at a price.
Watch this space for price and availability updates next week.
