Samsung Galaxy A9 Launched in China

In the build up to CES 2016, we are seeing more and more devices rush their way through regulatory authorities in order to be ready for an announcement during the event. This time, we caught the Samsung Galaxy A9 as it passed through Chinese regulatory authority TENAA.

Design wise, it looks like a standard Samsung device that we could expect in 2015-16, following the now very familiar design language of the flagships of 2015. For the display, the A9 will pack in a substantial 6″ AMOLED FHD display, putting this device well within the phablet category. Device dimensions are 161.7 mm × 80.9 mm × 7.4 mm, with the A9 weighing around 200 grams.

On the inside, the Samsung Galaxy A9 will sport a 1.8 GHz octa-core processor, as the TENAA listing specifies. The exact processor is not mentioned, but talk around town is that it will be the Snapdragon 620 (or Snapdragon 652, as it is now called), with its 4x Cortex-A72 and 4x Cortex-A53. The A9 sports the Adreno 510 for the GPU, and 3GB of RAM. There is 32GB of onboard storage, as well a micro sd card slot for expandability up to 128GB.

As far as confirmed specs from the TENAA listing goes, the Galaxy A9 will feature a 13MP rear camera, and a 8MP front camera. The device will come with Android 5.1.1 out of the box, but we should expect Android 6.0 Marshmallow to hit the device as per Samsung’s schedule (which isn’t the quickest for non-flagships).

Rumors and unconfirmed reports point that the device will be sporting a fairly large 4,000 mAh battery, which is expected to be non-removable. There will also be a fingerprint scanner on the home button, much like the other phones in the Galaxy A 2016 lineup.

EDIT:

The Samsung Galaxy A9 has gone official in China, just as we were done writing this article. Official spec list for the device is as below:

• 6″ FHD Super AMOLED display with 2.5D curved glass
• Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor (4x Cortex A72 @ 1.8GHz + 4x Cortex A53 @ 1.2 GHz); Adreno 510 GPU
• 3GB RAM
• 32GB Internal Memory, expandable upto 128GB via microsd card slot
• 13 MP rear camera: Samsung S5K3L2 sensor, f/1.9 aperture, OIS, LED Flash
• 8 MP front camera, f/1.9 aperture
• Fingerprint sensor
• 4G LTE
• Dual nano SIM card slots
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.1, NFC, ANT+
• 4,000 mAh battery, with fast charging
• Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Color variants: White, Gold, Pink

Pricing and availability is still unknown at this stage. Stay tuned for more information on this!

What do you think about the Samsung Galaxy A9? Does a 6″ device spark any interest for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!