In recent times, no Samsung device has leaked so often as the Galaxy A5, and to some extend, the Galaxy A3 and A7. We had noted before that it was surprising that despite so many leaks, Samsung was holding off an official announcement (the Galaxy A7 still isn't official.) Initially supposed to be announced sometime in the third quarter of the year, the Galaxy A3 and A5 were unveiled earlier this month, and now, thanks to our insiders, we have info on exactly why the Korean manufacturer took so long before it took the wraps off its first all-metal Android handsets.
Well, being Samsung's first attempt at making smartphones with full metal bodies (ones that take away the traditional Samsung feature of removable batteries), the company was met with low production yields while manufacturing the metal casings. According to our source, the casings did not meet the quality requirements Samsung was aiming for, and only around 50 percent of the yield came out right. Samsung is a big company with a lot of resources, but it's not that surprising that they had problems with making full metal devices as the company's usual production lines have always been geared at making mostly fully plastic smartphone shells, and since very recently, those with metal on the sides.
The low yield is also a reason why the Galaxy A3 and A5 will initially be launched only in Asia – there are simply not enough units to go around, and given the popularity of low-cost devices in the Asian region, it's the region where Samsung is focusing on in the beginning. Hopefully, the company's ability to make these metallic smartphones will mature quickly in the coming months, and that the Galaxy A3's and A5's it does sell to consumers don't face any build issues.
