Samsung Galaxy A8s: It's official. Here's all you need to know

Samsung Galaxy A8s made its first official public appearance at the launch event of the Galaxy A6s and Galaxy A9s in China. Variants of these two phones, with the latter rocking a massive four camera lenses on the back, are already selling in multiple global markets, however, it’s actually the Galaxy A8s that makes up for an interesting story.

In case you didn’t know, Samsung’s business in China hasn’t been great lately thanks to competition from local players like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Huawei, among others – all of whom are really pushing beyond what’s possible in matters of smartphone design. Samsung wants in and to do this, the Galaxy A8s is one that’s up to the task.

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So, what does the Galaxy A8s bring to the seemingly already full table? Read on to find out.

Galaxy A8s specs

6.4-inch 19.5:9 FHD+ Infinity-O LCD display
Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor
6GB or 8GB RAM
128GB expandable storage
Tri-lens 24MP + 10MP + 5MP main camera
24MP front camera
3400 battery
Android 8.1 Oreo
Extras: Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, No 3.5mm audio jack, Rear-mounted FPS, etc.

Galaxy A8s-1

With Samsung having already spilled the beans, it was only a matter of when before the Galaxy A8s arrived. The design language is the same as the one in the teaser image from Samsung, featuring an Infinity-O display design that pushes the front-facing camera to the left corner of the display screen, but this time housed by a punched hole in the actual panel.

This is the same display technology that will make its way to the Galaxy S10 family of phones, but the A8s is here to give us an early look into what to expect on the flagships.

Being an A series device, the Galaxy A8s rocks the most premium midrange chipset from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 710. This is a product of the 10nm process used to make the flagship chipsets from 2017 and 2018, among them Snapdragon 835 and 845 as well as Exynos 8895 and 9810 processors that power some units of the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S9, Galaxy Note 8, and Galaxy Note 9. What this means is that you are getting an equally powerful device that promises great performance and efficient battery life thanks to the improvements brought by the 10nm process.

To make it even better, Samsung has crammed up to 8GB RAM and 128GB storage in the Galaxy A8s, although the base model has 6GB RAM (with the same storage volume). This should make up for an interesting device.

For a while, the Galaxy Note 9 held the crown of the biggest display screen on a Samsung phone with its massive 6.4-inch panel. Well, it is now joined by the Galaxy A8s that rocks a same-size Infinity-O screen, but it has a weaker 1080p resolution, a hole for the camera, and for the first time, the Galaxy A series gets an LCD panel. Unlike what we had seen in renders and leaks, this hole looks pretty big and definitely noticeable, especially when there is a background contrasting with the black color of the lens.

The Galaxy A8s borrows the camera configuration of the A7 2018, where it packs a tri-lens setup on the back that consists of 24MP + 10MP + 5MP lenses while the front gets a 24MP unit for selfies and video calling.

In terms of software, you are getting Android 8.1 Oreo preinstalled, although an update to Android 9 Pie is expected at some point in 2019. Whether this update will also bring the new One UI to the Galaxy A8s is something we can only hope for. Other basic things you find on the A8s include a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, no 3.5mm audio jack, and USB-C port for charging and data transfer.

You must be wondering if you read that right no? Well, the Galaxy A8s doesn’t come with a 3.5mm audio jack and while this isn’t the first time the Chinese market is getting a Samsung phone without the traditional headphone jack (the 2018 and 2019 flip phones don’t have it), it’s likely going to be the first Samsung Galaxy smartphone to hit the global market without this much-loved feature considering how widespread the Galaxy A series is.

Galaxy A8s pricing and availability

As already noted, the Galaxy A8s has been launched in China, where it should start selling very soon. Price details for the Chinese market are still unknown and the story isn’t so different for the global market. In fact, Samsung hasn’t confirmed the availability details of the Galaxy A8s in markets outside China, but it shouldn’t take long before these details come out. We’ll update this post when we get this info.

Galaxy A8s-1