Samsung is now taking pre-orders of Galaxy A8 (2018) starting today in South Korea and the handset will go on sale on the 5th of January.
The handset will be available from mobile carrier KT, which is the second largest carrier in South Korea. KT has mentioned that the Galaxy A8 (2018) can be purchased outright for 599,500 Won ($564), though it will be cheaper if customers purchase it together with a mobile plan.
At the moment, the smartphone is available in three colors, including black, blue, and gold. The A8 (2018) is priced higher in South Korea compared to Vietnam, where Samsung had confirmed the device would be available for slightly less than $500. Of course, there is a reason Samsung is targeting higher prices this time around.
The Galaxy A8 comes with a 5.6-inch Super AMOLED display with an FHD+ resolution of 2220 x 1080 pixels. The handset is powered by an Exynos 7885 64-bit octa-processor coupled with a Mali-G71 GPU processor. It features 4GB of RAM and support for microSD card up to 256GB. The handset is available in 32GB and 64GB of storage variants.
For the camera, the handset includes a single 16-megapixel rear camera assisted by Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) and a LED flash.and dual front cameras. The dual front cameras are made up of one 16-megapixel sensor and one 8-megapixel sensor.
The A8 is powered by a 3,000mAh non-removable battery with support fast charging. Samsung has also decided to include IP68 certification for this phone, making it dust and water resistant.
Connectivity options available on the handset include 4G LTE with support for VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC. This dual-SIM device ships with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box with Samsung’s custom UI laid on top of it.
The Galaxy A8 (2018) also comes with support for many of Samsung’s services which are usually only available for its flagship smartphones. This includes Samsung Pay, a contactless payment service, and it is also capable of pairing to the Samsung Gear VR, a virtual reality headset developed by the company.
The general release date for South Korea is set for February 5, a day ahead of the A8’s release in Vietnam. Release dates for other regions remain unknown for now, although Samsung’s regional arms will be making availability details in the future.
