Samsung may have recently killed off the Galaxy Alpha smartphone, but that doesn't mean it's giving up on devices with a premium metallic build. After replacing it with the similar, but cheaper Galaxy A5 and A3, the company is now following up with a bigger and more capable variant in the Galaxy A7.
The device retains the full aluminum, unibody construction of its siblings but packs more computing power thanks to a Snapdragon 64-bit octa-core SoC, which itself consists of two separate quad core processors, clocked at 1.8GHz and 1.3GHz, or 1.5GHz and 1GHz for the dual SIM version.
Samsung is also using a larger 5.5-inch super AMOLED display but hasn't officially detailed screen resolution – apparently it's the same 720p panel as the A5, though. Elsewhere there's 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and support for microSD, LTE Category 4, a 5-megapixel front camera and 13-megapixel rear camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and Android 4.4.
Supporting the larger display and more powerful specs is 2,600 mAh battery, which is a slight upgrade from its other A-series phones. That didn't stop Samsung from making the A7 a bit thinner than the A5 and A3 at 6.3mm.
There's no word price yet. The company will likely target Asian markets initially where it's seeing a lot of pressure from low-cost competitors.