Newly leaked pictures of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy A8 smartphone revealed that the device has an almost bezel-less display and will feature a fingerprint scanner.
Samsung started the development of the Galaxy Alpha months ago but decided to refocus its efforts on products for the high-end market such as the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy Note 4. However, it seems that the company has resurrected the "A" line as seen with the launch of the Galaxy Tab A that features a sleek and very thin metallic profile.
The Galaxy A8 looks to continue this trend, with Chinese news website PC Online showing images of a smartphone that is amazingly only 5.94 millimeters thin with an almost bezel-less display.
The leaked images acquired by PC Online also reveal the usual external components of a smartphone, including a 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB port. The home button of the smartphone is also seen, with more to it beyond typical navigation purposes such as a fingerprint scanner.
The inclusion of the fingerprint scanner in a mid-range device shows that Samsung is increasingly becoming more focused on providing enhanced security to its users.
In addition to the fingerprint scanner, it has previously been revealed that the Galaxy A8 will feature a super AMOLED display with a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution, internal memory storage of 16GB that is expandable through a microSD card by 128GB, a 3,050 mAh battery and a 5MP front-facing camera. The Galaxy A8, which will be the first non-flagship device of Samsung to feature a 16MP rear-facing camera, will only weigh 142 grams.
The device will be powered by a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB worth of RAM and will ship with Android 5.1 Lollipop pre-installed.
The smartphone is expected to occupy a huge space in the mid-range offering of Samsung, with its specifications able to challenge the power of the Galaxy Note 4, less the Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor and the S-pen stylus of the high-end device.
The Galaxy A8 could have a price tag within the range of $450 to $500 for an unlocked version of the device. The smartphone is determined to be an international phone, as the international model of the device passed through FCC inspections.
There is no definite release date yet for the Galaxy A8.
