Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 announcements this year might have introduced the company’s most powerful handsets to date, but they didn’t really show us anything new. That honour seems to have been reserved for the company’s Galaxy A-series announcement today that detailed the Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A9.
Though it’s not exactly a surprise, we got our first proper look at the Galaxy A7 (which was announced last month after a few felines escaped their sacks), Samsung’s first triple-camera smartphone, and the Galaxy A9, anyone’s first quad-camera handset. Looks like Huawei will have to add another sensor next year to keep up with the pace.
Small Galaxy Exploration
Galaxy Quest
Whichever option we get, the A9 ships standard with 128GB of storage and support for up to 512GB of microSD extras. The rear fingerprint scanner and face unlock features from the S9 lineup have made it here, as has a 3,800mAh battery and fast charge.
Sign of Four
The new addition here, if you’ve been paying attention, is the telephoto lens. The A7 matches the A9 in terms of camera specs, the (we assume) pricier handset just gets a little closer to your subject. Samsung’s fiddling with a new bit of pixel technology, attempting to improve camera performance even further.
Have they pulled it off, though, or is this just a way to add something different to the packaging? The only way that we’re going to know whether Samsung’s A9 quad-camera setup is more genius than gimmick is to actually get our hands on one and test it out in the real world. Thankfully that won’t take too long.
The Samsung Galaxy A9 will be launching in November, for “select markets”. The company hasn’t mentioned which markets those are yet, but we’re hoping to be included on the guest list.