UPDATE: The Galaxy A9 (2018) is now official. Read all about it here.
The leaks just keep on coming for Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy A series. Shortly after @evleaks had shared camera details of the Samsung’s new quad-camera smartphone, another reputable leakster, Roland Quandt, has dropped almost everything we need to know about the device.
The 4x fun device is the Galaxy A9 and it appears to be an improved version of the Galaxy A8 Star.
For starters, the Galaxy A9 (2018) is speculated to come with a 6.3″ Full HD+ AMOLED display that pushes a resolution of 2160×1080 pixels. Like most Samsung flagships and premium mid-range models, the device also comes with an always-on display which can show the current time and notifications while the screen off.
In terms of specs, it also runs on a Snapdragon 660 processor as the Galaxy A8 Star but it is said to come with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. If you need more, it can support microSD card expansion of up to 512GB on its dedicated slot.
As seen earlier, the Galaxy A9 (2018) comes with a quad-camera array. It has a 24MP f/1.7 main camera, 10MP f/2.4 telephone camera with 2X optical zoom, 8MP f/2.4 ultra-wide camera and a 5MP f/2.2 depth camera. There’s no mention of its selfie camera and from the pictures, it appears to come with just a single camera.
According to Roland, the device is powered by a 3,800mAh battery and it can support fast charging via USB-C. What’s interesting is that the device will come with a twilight gradient effect in pink, blue and black. So far there’s no mention of any form of dust and water resistance.
The price is speculated to be higher than 550 Euros (about RM2,663) but take note that Malaysian pricing is often much cheaper than Europe. As a comparison, the Galaxy A8+ was priced at RM2,499 which is quite expensive while the new Galaxy A8 Star appears to be more reasonably priced at RM1,799.
Overall, the Galaxy A9 (2018) hardware looks quite good for a mid-range smartphone, but the price tag will be a deal breaker. If it’s priced anywhere close to the RM2,000 mark, it will need to compete against so many other flagship options including its very own Galaxy S8 that can be purchased for less than RM2,000.
The Galaxy A event is taking place today, 11 October at 5PM Malaysian time. We will be there at the launch so keep it locked on to us for the latest details.
