Samsung just introduced an upgraded Galaxy A8 smartphone in Japan, spicing up the recipe of the original device to give it more horsepower.
Just recently, the company took the wraps off some new-generation Galaxy A series devices, including the 2016 Galaxy A3, Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7, but the Galaxy A8 did not get an entirely new model.
The rumored Galaxy A9 did not make its debut just yet either, but it seems that the Galaxy A8 now gets a new treatment. While it's not a full refresh, a new Galaxy A8 version for Japan now hit the scene, packing a more powerful processor under the hood.
The original Samsung Galaxy A8 made its debut back in August 2015 and continues to widen its availability to new regions. While that model packed either a Snapdragon 615 processor from Qualcomm or an in-house Exynos 5430 processor from Samsung, the new Galaxy A8 model for Japan now comes with an Exynos 5433 SoC.
This is a notable upgrade for the CPU, as the Exynos 5433 is more powerful than the Exynos 5430 SoC found on the original Galaxy A8. The CPU model numbers may seem fairly close, but the two processors actually have plenty of differences.
The Exynos 5433 runs on an ARMv8-A set rather than ARMv7, and has four Cortex-A57 cores clocked at 1.9GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.3GHz, as opposed to the Exynos 5430's four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 1.8GHz and four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.3GHz. At the same time, the Exynos 5433 also packs a Mali-T760 MP6 GPU running at 700 MHz instead of the 600 MHz Mali-T628 MP6 GPU of the Exynos 5430.
On the other hand, the Exynos 5430 does top the Exynos 5433 in one aspect, namely the memory controller, as it offers a 17.0 GB/s bandwidth instead of the 13.2 GB/s one of the Exynos 5433.
Aside from these differences, the new Samsung Galaxy A8 model for Japan is nearly identical to the original model when it comes to the rest of the specs, sporting the same 5.7-inch Super AMOLED full HD display, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of built-in storage, 16-megapixel main camera, 5-megapixel selfie cam, and 3,050 mAh battery. The new model still comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop on board, not the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The Japan-bound Galaxy A8 version with an Exynos 5433 processor will be available in three color options: White, Black, and Gold. Check out Samsung's product page for the device to learn more.
