If 2018 was the year of the notch, 2019 could be the year of the punch-hole camera cutout. We’ve been hearing rumors for months about the Samsung Galaxy S10 including such a feature, but you don’t have to wait for the S10 to see it. Instead, Samsung has just taken the wraps off of the Galaxy A8s, which has a hole in the screen for the front camera.
The reveal isn’t all that surprising; we had been hearing rumors about the Galaxy A8s for a while, and Samsung did say that it would debut some of its fancy new features on midrange phones. Here’s everything you need to know about the new Samsung Galaxy A8s.
Design and screen
While the likes of Apple, Google, OnePlus, and others have all adopted the concept of the notch for their latest-and-greatest flagship phones, Samsung has so far steered clear of the trend, but is leading the pack along with Huawei and Honor on the punch-hole in-screen camera. The Samsung Galaxy A8s’ LCD display comes in at 6.4 inches, with a resolution of 2340 x 1080, but it’s the presence of the hole in the top left that makes the screen unusual. Instead of a notch, the punch hole — a screen type Samsung calls Infinity-O — contains the selfie camera. The sensors usually found alongside the camera in the notch or bezel have been relocated elsewhere.
The Galaxy A8s’ body is sleek at 7.4mm thick, and although Samsung says the rear panel has a 3D curve to it, the company does not say what material has been used for it. It comes in either gray, green, or blue colors, and all have some kind of gradient effect.
Specifications
The Samsung Galaxy A8s features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor, making it one of the few so-called “premium midrange” devices with a 700-series processor on the market. There are options for either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, though with the included MicroSD card slot, that can be expanded to 512GB. The battery comes in at 3,400mAh, which should help power it for at least a day of solid use.
The selfie camera in the punch hole on the front of the Galaxy A8s has 24 megapixels and an f/2.0 aperture. On the back of the device is a triple-lens camera, set inside a section that makes the phone look like an iPhone XS. The main camera has 24 megapixels and an f/1.7 aperture, along with a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor, and a 5-megapixel sensor used for depth-sensing.
Release
The phone will be available in China starting on December 21, and it’s available for preregistration (no price has been provided yet) through Samsung’s Chinese online store now, but it’s not known if the Galaxy A8s will ever be released internationally. We’ll update this article when we hear more about pricing and availability.
Updated on December 17, 2018: Added further official details on the Galaxy A8s, along with images of the phone.
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