Samsung have put the new, unreleased Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) smartphone through the Wi-Fi certification process, and this has provided us with verification of a few of the device’s features. The Galaxy A5 (2017) has already been leaked with it already appearing online, such as benchmark websites and importing listings, so we know that the device is coming soon. However, the Wi-Fi Certification process shows us that there will be single-SIM and dual-SIM variants of the device and each runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. We can also see that the device has dual band Wi-Fi, that is it offers support for the more common (and congested) 2.4GHz frequency as well as the shorter ranged 5.0GHz frequency. More and more manufacturers are providing support for the higher frequency, higher performance Wi-Fi these days, which is a welcome benefit especially for those customers using their devices in urban areas, as the 5.0GHz Wi-Fi frequency is much less populated with competing Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) networks.
To recap the other Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) features, the rumors point towards the device being based around a Samsung Exynos 7880 chipset backed up by 3GB of RAM. The Exynos 7880 is a big.LITTLE chipset using two tiers: the high performance tier consists of a quad-core cluster of ARM Cortex-A72 processors clocked at up to 1.8GHz and the lower performance, high efficiency tier contains a quad core cluster of ARM Cortex-A53 processors clocked at up to 1.3GHz. There will be a 5.2-inch display, likely to be a Samsung AMOLED panel of 1080p resolution, a 3,000mAh rechargeable battery, and a 13-megapixel main camera. Pictures purporting to be of the Galaxy A5 (2017) handset show that it is a slimline, metallic device, but this is very much as expected from the Galaxy A-series of devices. We would also expect full compatibility with Samsung’s smartphone payment system, Samsung Pay.
The final quarter of the year is an important one for smartphone manufacturers as the Western world’s holiday season tends to drive sales. Mid-range devices such as the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) are a popular gift choice, something that has certainly not escaped Samsung. The fact that the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) has been through the Wi-Fi certification process points towards an imminent launch, but unfortunately at this juncture we do not know the likely markets or price of the device. We may need to wait for Samsung to make the device official.