It seems like Samsung will become the very first company to launch a smartphone with a display camera hole. The company’s Galaxy A8s smartphone has been in the works for quite some time, and the company has just announced that the phone will arrive on December 10. The Galaxy A8s will become official on December 10, announced Samsung, and this announcement came through Samsung’s official “Galaxy” account on Weibo (Chinese social network). This basically suggests that the phone will first launch in China, though it is expected to make it to other markets soon after that, we’ll probably get far more info during or after the launch event on December 10.
As part of the release date announcement poster, Samsung also revealed the partial design of the Galaxy A8s, and it seems like it will resemble the upcoming Huawei Nova 4 quite a bit. This design goes hand-in-hand with the leaks we’ve seen thus far, as you can see, the phone’s camera will be included in the upper-left portion of the display, while the phone will include a really thin “chin” below the display. The display itself will sport rounded corners, while all of its physical keys will be included on the right, the volume up, down and power / lock keys. A dedicated Bixby button is not visible on this render, and it should be included on the left-hand side of the device.
Samsung vs Huawei
Huawei had announced yesterday that the Huawei Nova 4 will become official on December 17, a week after the Galaxy A8s arrives, it seems. Interestingly enough, the Huawei Nova 4 will also make its way to China first, before making it to any other market, so it will be interesting to see which company will bring their smartphone with a display camera hole to consumers in the US and Europe, as both will almost certainly make it to at least one of the two regions. The two phones actually look extremely similar, as you can see in the provided image. Both have the display camera hole in the same place, the upper-left corner of the display, for whatever reason. It is quite interesting that neither of the two companies opted to center that camera, keep it in the upper portion of the phone, but put it in the middle of the phone, instead of the left side, but there you have it. Both phones will have similarly thick “chin” on the bottom, and looking at them from the front, it’s kind of difficult to tell them apart, and that may actually become a thing when it comes to smartphones with display camera holes, at least smartphones which have display camera holes in the same place, as most of them will ship with a thin “chin” below the display. Now, these two phones will almost certainly offer considerably different backs, but we do not really know what to expect in that regard, as their back covers did not leak, only some concept imagery for the Galaxy A8s appeared, but both phones are expected to include glass backs.
The Rest Of The Galaxy A8s’ Design
The front side of the phone got revealed by Samsung today, basically, so we know what to expect in that regard, what about its back side, however? Well, the Galaxy A8s will almost certainly ship with a glass back, and if some concept imagery and rumors are to be believed, the Galaxy A8s will actually ship with three cameras on the back. Those three cameras will be included on the left side of the phone’s back, and will be vertically aligned. An LED flash is expected to be included below those three cameras, and those cameras will protrude on the back a bit. A fingerprint scanner will sit on the back of this phone as well, and below it, you’ll be able to see the company’s branding, of course. A Type-C USB port will be placed on the bottom of the phone, along with the phone’s loudspeaker, while we still do not know whether Samsung plans to include da 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom or not. It is still unknown whether the phone will support wireless charging, though chances are it will not, as this will be a mid-range smartphone after all.
What To Expect In The Spec Department?
The Galaxy A8s will be a mid-range smartphone, and if rumors are to be believed, it will be fueled by one of Qualcomm’s mid-range chips, the Snapdragon 710. The Galaxy A8s will feature a 6.39-inch fullHD+ (2340 x 1080) IPS LCD display, at least according to rumors, and that is quite interesting as the company usually includes OLED displays on all of its smartphones these days, but these displays have allegedly been manufactured by BOE. The phone will sport 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage (expandable up to 256GB via a microSD card) The phone is rumored to include 24, 10, and 5-megapixel cameras on the back, while a single 24-megapixel camera is expected to sit on the phone’s front side. A 3,400mAh non-removable battery is also rumored, and it will be interesting to see what version of Android will ship on the phone, will it be Android 8.1 Oreo, or Android 9 Pie with Samsung’s all-new One UI skin.
More Phones With Display Holes Are Coming
The Galaxy A8s and Huawei Nova 4 are not the only phones that will sport display holes, not even close, as a ton of other companies are planning to release their very own takes on this design. The OPPO R19 leaked with a display camera hole as well, though its display camera hole will probably be centered in the upper portion of the phone’s display, and the OnePlus 7 will probably adopt a similar design. LG had patented a design with a dual display hole on the front, and the company may actually opt to include two cameras in the display, or perhaps use one of those holes to include an earpiece. ZTE, on the other hand, seems to be planning to include an earpiece in the display, at least one of its design patents suggests so. These are only some companies that will introduce smartphones with display holes in the coming months, but it is quite possible that Samsung and Huawei will be the only ones to introduce such phones before the end of 2018.