Before the year is out, Samsung has officially announced its new Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018). These are their latest premium mid-range smartphones that feature a large Infinity Display and dual front cameras that can produce Live Focus selfies.
The Galaxy A8 is the smaller of the duo, with a 5.6” FullHD+ display that pushes a 2220×1080 resolution in an 18.5:9 display aspect ratio. Meanwhile, the A8+ gets a larger 6.0” FullHD+ display with the same Infinity Display treatment. Since the screen dominates the entire front, the fingerprint sensor is now a rear-mounted unit which is placed underneath the main camera.
Both runs on an Octa-core 7885 Exynos processor that has two 2.2GHz high-powered cores and six-1.6GHz efficiency cores. For the Galaxy A8, it gets 4GB of RAM with the choice of 32GB or 64GB of storage, while the A8+ has the option of a higher spec 6GB RAM model with 64GB of storage. You can also expand storage further via microSD up to 256GB.
In terms of battery, the Galaxy A8/A8+ is quite similar to the Galaxy S8/S8+. The smaller A8 gets a modest 3,000mAh capacity unit while the A8+ gets a larger 3,500mAh unit. Both models support fast charging via USB Type-C.
In the camera department, the Galaxy A8/A8+ comes with two cameras upfront with a fixed focus 16MP f/1.9 main shooter + a secondary 8MP f/1.9 camera. You can switch between the two cameras or use the Live Focus feature to add bokeh effects to your selfie shots. Meanwhile, the back gets a 16MP f/1.7 camera that comes with VDis (Video Digital image stabilisation) feature for steadier video recording.
The Galaxy A8/A8+ (2018) also supports Samsung Pay and it has IP68 dust and water resistance. For the first time, the Galaxy A8/A8+ will be the first from the Galaxy A series to support Samsung Gear VR. Out of the box, both models are still running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat.
In terms of availability, the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018) will be released in early January 2018. It will come in Black, Orchid Grey, Gold and Blue.
