We've been hearing a lot about Samsung's Galaxy A8 (2018) series over the past few weeks. The mid-range smartphones cropped up in a couple of leaked photos, a prematurely published manual, and a hands-on video. Both were expected to be announced at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but late last night, Samsung unceremoniously made the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018) official.

Confused about the phones' naming schemes? Samsung uses incremental numbering for some of its device lineups (i.e., Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8), but with the Galaxy A series, new handsets in the series retain the same name but not the same year. The Galaxy A8 (2018), then, is the successor to last year's Galaxy A8 2017.

Here's everything you need to know about the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018).

Galaxy A8 (2018) Series Hardware

Manufacturers like Xiaomi and OnePlus have moved quickly to adopt the ultra-tall 18:9 display aspect ratio popularized by the LG G6, and Samsung's keeping up the trend. The phones' 18.5:9 Full HD+ (2220 x 1080) Super AMOLED screens have rounded corners that don't taper off at either edge, unlike the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. And they aren't the same size -- the smaller A8 (2018)'s screen measures 5.6 inches diagonally, while the A8+ (2018)'s screen is 6 inches.

The Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus (2018) have IP68-certified dust- and water-resistant glass backs and metal frames, which gives them a look and feel similar to Samsung’s flagship devices. And both handsets have rear-mounted fingerprint sensors under the camera instead of off-center, fixing what’s arguably one of the biggest design flaws of Samsung’s 2017 flagships.

The loudspeaker on both phones is situated above the power button on both handsets, opposite the volume rocker. In single-SIM models of the Galaxy A8 (2018) series, the SIM tray for the nano-SIM slot sits on the left, and the memory card slot’s housed in the upper edge of the device, where it’s accompanied by a dual nano SIM slot on dual-SIM models.

Galaxy A8 (2018) Series Specifications

The Galaxy A8 (2018) phones' system-on-chip of choice is Samsung’s octa-core Exynos 7885, which features two cores clocked at 2.2GHz and six cores clocked at 1.6GHz. Both phones have 4GB of RAM (though at least one model is expected to pack 6GB of RAM) and up to 64GB, which is expandable via microSD cards up to 256GB in size.

The cameras are the real star of the show, though. The Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ are the first-ever Galaxy smartphones to feature dual front cameras. The two-sensor selfie setup consists of a 16MP f/1.9 sensor and a 8MP f/1.9 sensor, and it supports stickers, beauty mode, and Samsung's Live Focus features, which applies a bokeh-like blur effect to the background of images.

The phones both have the same primary shooter: A 16MP rear sensor with a f/1.7 aperture, optical image stabilization, and phase detect autofocus.

In terms of other hardware, the Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ support Bluetooth 5.0, which means they're capable of streaming audio to two sources at the same time, and have USB Type-C ports that are fast-charge compatible. The A8 (2018) has a 3,000mAh battery, and the A8+ (2018) has a 3,500mah battery -- the same capacity as the Galaxy S8+.

Galaxy A8 (2018) Series Availability and Pricing

Excited to get your hands on the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018)? Good news: You won't have to wait.

Both phones go on sale in January and cost $350 - $450, depending on the market. They'll come in an array of colors including black, orchid grey, gold, and blue.

Samsung said it'll announce additional availability and pricing details at its 2018 CES keynote, so we expect to learn more then.

 

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Source: Samsung Newsroom