Samsung’s Galaxy A8 is the thinnest handset in their arsenal right now, and hits a fairly underappreciated note in the market. The 5.7 inch device features either a Snapdragon 615 or Exynos 5 Octa, along with 2GB of RAM and a 1920 x 1080 panel stuffed into its thin metal body. The original’s specs aren’t too far off the mark for a mid-ranger today, but it’s apparently already getting a refresh for the current year. As it would happen, the Exynos version of the 2016 Galaxy A8 paid GFXBench a visit, and the result paints a pretty clear picture of the device as a high-mid ranger, verging into budget flagship territory where it would compete with the likes of the OnePlus 3 and ZTE Axon 7.
The breakdown of specs, per GFXBench, points to a 5.1 inch display, though the predecessor was 5.7 inches, and the Zauba listing points to the larger size. In any case, the device’s screen is set at 1920 x 1080, just like the 2015 version. The RAM, however, has had a bit of a bump, with 3GB of the stuff finding its way into the device. The processor has also seen a bump up to the Exynos 7 Octa, clocked at 2.1GHz. An octa-core ARM Mali-T760 MP8 is on graphics duty, and can deliver content up to Open GL ES 3.1. 25 GB of user storage points to a likely total of 32GB, which will probably be accompanied by a MicroSD slot, since the 2015 model did.
On the camera front, we see a 15-megapixel rear camera, accompanied by a 4.7-megapixel selfie shooter. A wide array of sensors is on board, and the whole show is run with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow in the back of the house. Information on the battery size is not available, but given its predecessor’s battery size, the rumors pointing to a 3,050mAh unit seem fairly on point. Given the BIG.little processor and fairly meager screen resolution, such a battery should be able to keep the lights on for a good 4 or 5 hours of continuous usage in theory, though there’s no way to know for sure until the phone is released and put through its paces by reviewers. All in all, it’s shaping up to be a nice bump from the 2015 model, though whether it’s worth the upgrade or not will all depend on use case, since the 2015 model’s specs are enough for most things.