Samsung recently launched its Galaxy A9s smartphone, along with its first Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) phone, the Galaxy A6s in China. While the Galaxy A6s is a good upgrade over the Galaxy A6+, the Galaxy A9s is a local version of the Galaxy A9 (2018) that features a quad rear-camera setup. At the tail end of the launch, Samsung teased its upcoming Galaxy A8s smartphone, which is rumoured to feature a pinhole for the front camera so that there’s no notch on the display. The announcer at the event refrained from sharing any details of the upcoming smartphone but confirmed the camera hole. ITHome says that the company might also house proximity and ambient light sensors in the pinhole, which might be placed on the upper left corner of the device’s display.
There is no other information regarding the smartphone but we expect more details of the Galaxy A8s to surface with time. Earlier, the company detailed its roadmap for smartphone design in 2019 during the Samsung OLED forum. It announced that it’s working on under display sensors that include fingerprint as well as camera sensors. So, it won’t be surprising to see a Samsung phone with a pinhole camera in the coming months. The company has also changed its strategy and is equipping newer technologies in its mid-range smartphones instead of waiting till its flagship launch.
The recently launched Samsung Galaxy A7 (2019) and the Galaxy A9 (2019) smartphones feature three and four cameras on the rear respectively. The Galaxy A7 features an 8MP 120-degree Ultra Wide Lens, a 5MP depth-sensing camera and a third 24MP camera. On the front is a 24MP camera with adjustable LED flash. The Galaxy A9 comes equipped with an 8MP 120-degree ultra wide lens, a 10MP telephoto camera, a 24MP main camera and a 5MP depth sensor. There’s a 24MP camera on the front with a f/2.0 aperture. While the Samsung Galaxy A7 starts is priced at Rs 23,990 for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant, its 6GB RAM + 128GB variant costs Rs 28,990. The Galaxy A9 is yet to be made available in India.
You can read our review of the Samsung Galaxy A7 here and the first impressions of Galaxy A9 here.