Samsung launched Galaxy A8 in India to expand its smartphone offering as a way to bring affordable alternative to its own flagship. The new handset borrows some of the key specs from the prominent Galaxy S6 and competes with the likes of mid-range handsets like Gionee Elife S5 and Oppo R5.
The Galaxy A8 features fingerprint scanner, brilliant camera and good-looking design much like the high-end Galaxy S6. It is fitting to see how the mid-range smartphone fares against its own high-end sibling.
We are comparing the Galaxy A8 with Galaxy S6 smartphone by their individual specs in order to see if it is worth settling for the slightly downgraded handset by saving up some extra cash.
Display
Samsung Galaxy A8 sports a 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display with 1920x1080 pixel screen resolution and 401ppi. The flagship Galaxy S6 has a much improved 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED screen with eye-popping 577ppi display, which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. There will definitely be a massive difference while comparing both smartphones side-by-side, but a 1080p display is good enough for daily use when it saves some cash.
Processor
Samsung powered its Galaxy S6 smartphone with industry's fastest 64-bit Exynos 7 octa-core 7420 processor based on 14nm architecture, which has earned industry-wide recognition and appreciation. As for the Galaxy A8, Samsung used a slightly downgraded Exynos 5430 series octa-core (1.3GHz quad-core + 1.8GHz quad-core) processor in India.
RAM and Storage
Samsung Galaxy S6 features 3GB LPDDR4 RAM, which is said to boost smartphone's battery by up to 20% and consume less power. The Galaxy A8, on the other hand, packs 2GB LPDDR3 RAM. On the storage front, Galaxy A8 gets treated with 32GB built-in memory along with support for microSD card expansion up to 128GB while Galaxy S6 comes with fixed 32GB/64GB/128GB storage options.
Camera
Both Samsung smartphones feature almost equivalent cameras. The Galaxy S6 packs a 16-megapixel rear-facing sensor with f/1.9 aperture, OIS and LED flash. A similar sensor is found on the Galaxy A8 to deliver quality images. Pressing the home button twice launches the camera on Galaxy A8, just as in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Both Samsung smartphones feature 5-megapixel front-facing snappers.
Battery
There's a bigger 3,050mAh battery in the Galaxy A8 compared to Galaxy S6's 2,550mAh unit. The ultra-power saving mode will enhance the life of the smartphone's battery by a few hours when you are almost running out of juice. The Galaxy S6 smartphones are equipped with wireless charging support, which is left out in the Galaxy A8.
Add-ons
Samsung Galaxy A8 stands out in the mid-range category with its extra features. The design of the Galaxy A8 is almost identical to the Galaxy S6, with a flat front and rear design along with metal frame edges. In addition, the Galaxy A8 packs a finger-print scanner, which has only been reserved to high-end Galaxy S and Note series. Other standard features such as dual-SIM slots, 4G LTE support, NFC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are included.
Price
Samsung Galaxy A8 is priced at Rs 32,500, which is a great savings compared to the Galaxy S6. The current price of the Galaxy S6 32GB in India starts at Rs. 39,490 on Flipkart. But the launch price of the Galaxy S6 was set at Rs 49,990.
