One of the phones that was showcased by mobile giant Samsung during this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is the Galaxy A7. The A7 is the last in the A-series, completing the triumvirate together with the A3 and A5.
Like the other A-devices, the A7's form factor is encased in a premium metal chassis, but what sets it apart is its thinness. Measuring only 6.3 mm, the A7 is the slimmest in its class, thinner than both the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6.
Noticeably larger than its cousins, the A7's screen is a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED with a 1080 x 1920 resolution, and a high pixel density of 401 ppi. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, with speeds up to 1.5 GHz. It has 2 GB of RAM and an Adreno 405 GPU. For storage, the A7 features 16 GB of internal storage which is expandable up to 64 GB via microSD card; this is also one feature that sets it apart from the just-recently announced S6.
As the A7 completes the Galaxy A-series, Samsung hopes that these three mobile phones, designed to be a hybrid between premium style and mid-range performance, will give competitors a run for their money.
One company in mind that Samsung presumably hopes the A-series will deal with is Xiaomi, with its Mi line-up. The China-based company has already made its mark in the mobile device industry, garnering a third of China's market even in the early months since it launched.
To counter Xiaomi's increasing popularity, the A3 and A5 were launched first in China before the global markets, eschewing Samsung's previous launches. Samsung also made the A-series unique by coming up with a dual-SIM version for each of the three phones.
No details yet for which networks will have the A7 in its line-up, or when it will be globally available.
