Samsung Galaxy A7 sports octa-core Exynos CPU, selfie-grade cameras

Samsung has announced another shiny new phone, but its definitely not the one we were hoping for. The Galaxy A7 is the latest in Samsung’s Alpha-level line, embracing the company’s new love for unibody construction and a new in-house Exynos eight-core CPU.

At 5.5-inches, it’s about the same size as Samsung’s 2014 star — the Galaxy S5 — but its 6.3mm body is more crisp while it weights just a gram less. The screen has also been given the sAMOLED treatment, but we’re not quite sure if Samsung’s eloquent use of “HD” means 720p or the 1080p standard.

Digging beneath the body, Samsung has given the top-of-the-range A7 an octa-core processor, typically featuring two quad-cores running at 1.8GHz and 1.3GHz respectively. In the dual-SIM version, those speeds are bumped down 300MHz for some particularly strange reason, but the architecture remains the same.

Nevertheless, both models receive 2GB RAM alongside 16GB storage. Chances are that that will never be enough for the storage lover, but at least there’s a microSD expansion slot available (nice to see Samsung learning its Alpha-lesson).

Read more: Samsung’s all-metal Galaxy Alpha is this year’s most pointless phone

It also seems that Samsung’s targeting social photographers with a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP snapper up front with “Wide Selfie, Rear-cam Selfie [and] Beauty Face Features” modes.

To keep users snapping all day, there’s a meagre 2600mAh battery powering the device, but the new eight-core chipset may go a long way to ensuring that battery life is fair. The Samsung Galaxy A7 is also only available running Android KitKat, but a natural progression to Lollipop in the works.

No pricing information has been made available as yet, but as per usual, Korean residents should see the phone first in Q1 2015.