Samsung Galaxy A8 Gets Dual Front Cameras for Portrait Mode

If we had to whittle the world of smartphones in 2017 down to just two trends, they’d be shrinking bezels and dual cameras. That’s why it should surprise no one that the first couple of new phones from Samsung for 2018 are going to tap exactly into those two trends, but likely at a price point more affordable than a flagship Galaxy Note 8. That’s where the Galaxy A8 steps in.

The “A” series from Samsung doesn’t get nearly as much love and attention as the “S” and “Note” series and understandably so. It’s not the flagship and it doesn’t break new ground. It started with the Galaxy Alpha and its premium build before progressing to the Galaxy A3, A5 and A7. The Galaxy A8 will follow in those footsteps.

According to a leaked manual, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A8 will borrow some inspiration from more expensive phones like the Galaxy S8. Most notably, the schematic calls for an 18:9 aspect ratio Infinity Display.

While many other phones now have dual cameras on the back, very few have dual cameras on the front. The leaked user manual seems to indicate that the Galaxy A8 will be among the select few that do that. In fact, we even get a screenshot showing how the dual front cameras will be used for a portrait mode, complete with a “background blur” slider.

We’re expecting to see both a Galaxy A8 and a Galaxy A8+, offering what will likely be very similar phones in two different sizes. Unsurprisingly, there’s USB-C on board and, thankfully, the headphone jack appears to remain intact, found on the bottom next to the microphone.

The fingerprint sensor has been moved below the rear camera, which will hopefully be easier to reach than the placement on current Samsung phones beside the rear camera. This also means we still won’t get the “behind the display” fingerprint reader, as it is much more likely that Samsung would debut such a feature on a flagship, like a Galaxy S9 or Galaxy Note 9.

Will we learn more at CES next month? Maybe!