Two of Samsung's new Galaxy A lineup of devices are now available in China for purchase. Samsung hadn't said anything about a release date when the phones were announced, and a Dutch retailer had listed January 8th as the day the Galaxy A3 (2016) and the Galaxy A5 (2016) would become available. But it seems consumers in China can already pick up the A5 and A7, which doesn't come off as surprising given Samsung launches many of its non-flagship products in China before any other market.
The Galaxy A5 (2016) and Galaxy A7 (2016) are priced at 2,398 Yuan and 2,699 Yuan, or roughly Euro 340 and Euro 380, prices we had exclusively revealed when the handsets went official. Also notable is the fact that the two phones seem to come with updated icons for built-in apps, icons which we also saw on the Galaxy A9 in the hands-on video that showed up yesterday. The Galaxy A3 (2016) doesn't seem to have these new icons, and it's possible these icons will not be present on these devices outside China.
Speaking of the Galaxy A3 (2016), the smallest of the trio isn't listed on Samsung China's website, which is further indication that the new (and improved) icons are exclusive to the Chinese variants. The icons look rather Material Design-ish, so we can only hope Samsung will be bringing them to existing/upcoming devices and replacing the rather appalling round icons it introduced with the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+.
The Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 2016 feature metal and glass bodies, 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED displays, octa-core processors, 2/3GB of RAM, 13-megapixel rear cameras with optical image stabilization, fingerprint sensors with Samsung Pay support, and 2,900 mAh and 3,300 mAh batteries. Both phones run Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, and for those in China, come with an option to remove pre-installed apps.
Thanks, Justin Choi!
