Samsung Unveils Refreshed Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus Mid-Range Android Smartphones

Samsung has pulled the wraps off a pair of smartphones that may appeal to the users out there who can’t bring themselves to part with $1,000 for a high-end device. The new devices are the 2018 versions of the Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus. As you would expect, other than the size of the screen the two devices are very similar. Both have metal and glass designs, Infinity Displays, and rounded display corners.

Both have an annoyingly-placed rear fingerprint scanner, which is beneath the 16MP main camera. The main cameras on both do have LED flash for better images in low-light. One substantial change to the 2018 A8 flavors is that the bezels are considerably thinner than they were on last year's models. Another interesting departure in the design for the smartphones that while they have only a single camera on the back while many devices now have dual rear cameras, they do have dual front cameras. That is something you don’t see often and the A8 and A8 Plus both get 16MP and 8MP cameras on the front.

Samsung integrated water resistance into the devices with both gaining IP68 certifications for water and dust resistance. The SoC inside the A8 and A8 Plus is a Samsung Exynos 7885 14nm 64-bit unit and both feature dual SIM slots. The OS is Android 7.1.1 Nougat with a custom Samsung UI over the top. Other common features include Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, LTE, and VoLTE.

The standard A8 (2018) packs a 5.6-inch 2280 x 1080 Super AMOLED screen with the A8 Plus (2018) offering a 6-inch 2220 x 1080 screen. The A8 has a 3,000 mAh internal battery, 4GB of RAM and comes with 32 or 64GB of storage. There is a microSD slot for expansion. The A8 Plus has a 3,500 mAh internal battery and can be had with 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. It also has a microSD card slot.

Available colors include Black, Orchid Gray, Gold, and Blue. As for pricing, it's not what you might expect for a "mid-range" device, not so long ago these prices were for high-end devices. The Galaxy A8 (2018) sells for $588 with the A8 Plus (2018) going for about $706. The handsets will launch globally next month.