The 2017 Samsung Galaxy A5 is in the works, as it turns up on Geekbench with improvements across the board.
First launched back in 2014, a 2016 variant of the smartphone went official just recently, and even though it hasn't been out that long yet, it appears that a refreshed version is already on the way.
Sporting the model number SM-A520F, it's different from its predecessors, confirming that it's indeed the next iteration of the handset. More than that, some of the specs here and there get bumped up by a bit, and needless to say, those are welcome changes.
According to the benchmark results, the 2017 Galaxy A5 is going to pack in more RAM compared with the current model, moving up from 2 GB to 3 GB. On top of that, it's going to house Samsung's home-built octa-core Exynos 7880 coupled with a Mali-T830 GPU, taking things up a notch from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 and scoring 814 on the single-core test and 4,396 on the multi-core one.
More on the memory side of things, it's also expected to offer 32 GB worth of internal storage, yet another step up of the 2016 version's 16 GB default. Of course, that's presumably going to support microSD card expansion up to at least 256 GB.
For the mobile photographer and selfie taker, it's believed to be fitted with 16-megapixel cameras on both the front and back, and the rear sensor could feature a f/1.9 aperture. Concerning battery, it might get a slight increase from the 2,900 mAh pack of the current 2016 Galaxy A5 to 3,000 mAh.
As for the display, it's likely going to come strutting down with the same 5.2-inch Super AMOLED screen with a 1,080 x 1,920 resolution, clocking in at 424 ppi.
Going over the software, the benchmark indicates that it'll run on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box, and of course, it's skinned with the TouchWiz UI. Considering that Android 7.0 Nougat has started to spread, there's more or less a possibility that the 2017 Galaxy A5 could run on it from the get-go — or at least ready for an update soon after launch.
On that note, the 2016 variant received the Marshmallow update back in June, six months after it rolled out. If that's a pattern to go by, it's safe to assume that the 2017 version might get the latest Android in approximately the same time frame.
For those who don't know, Marshmallow began gradually landing on every first-generation Galaxy A5 out there a little over a month ago. As a little reminder, the OS introduces features such as Google Now on Tap and Doze mode, to name a few.
Before wrapping up, it should be mentioned that there's a pretty good chance that the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A7 are going to get updated variants at the same time too, so it might be worth keeping an eye out for them in the wild.
What do you think of the 2017 Galaxy A5 and its improved specs? Drop by our comments section below and feel free to let us know.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
