Two of Samsung's new Galaxy A series phones, the Galaxy A5 (2016) and Galaxy A7 (2016), have been launched in India today. The original Galaxy A series was somewhat successful in the country (you could see more Galaxy A devices in the wild than the company's flagships); the Galaxy A3 (2016) isn't part of the launch, but that is likely because Indian consumers have an affinity for large displays.
The A5 (2016) is priced at Rs. 29,400 (roughly $435) while the new A7 will cost Rs. 33,400 (roughly $495). Both phones will go on sale in India on February 15; retailer Snapdeal will exclusively sell the handsets in gold, black and white color options. The phones will come bundled with 30GB of free data for six months for Airtel subscribers. The pricing is in line with previous Galaxy A devices in the country, though the A7 (2016) offers a better overall package for a very slight increase in price over the Galaxy A8 from last year.
The Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 (2016) are metal and glass beauties with 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED displays, 1.6GHz octa-core processors, 2/3GB of RAM, and 13-megapixel rear cameras with f/1.9 aperture and optical image stabilization. They also have 16GB of expandable internal storage, fingerprint sensors (along with support for Samsung Pay, though the company's payment service isn't available in India), 4G LTE connectivity, and dual SIM slots. The large batteries are a major highlight – the A5 and A7 (2016) have 2,900 mAh and 3,300 mAh batteries with support for fast charging. Both handsets run Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with the latest iteration of Samsung's TouchWiz skin.
SamMobile's reviews of the entire Galaxy A (2016) series will be online soon. In the meantime, check out our Galaxy A5 (2016) and Galaxy A7 (2016) previews here and here.
