2016 Samsung Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 officially announced, equipped with fast-charging, Samsung Pay support, OIS cameras, more

It’s not quite the end of the year yet, meaning we still have a few more weeks for companies to squeeze in some product announcements before 2016 rolls in. Samsung has just officially announced its Galaxy A-series of phones for next year and — from the spec sheets alone — they look like decent alternatives to pricey flagships…

The all metal and glass series has returned for 2016 with the usual high/mid-range features in a package which will undoubtedly cost less than the Galaxy Note 5, S6 or next year’s Galaxy S7.

All three phones share many of the same specifications, although there are differences between them. As you’d expect, they come in three different sizes, although they do all share the exact same design, with ultra-slim bezels and a chassis that’s just 7.3mm thin. The Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 have 4.7, 5.2 and 5.5-inch screens respectively, and all feature 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras.

Of the three phones, the A3 is most definitely the low-end model. It’s the only phone without a full HD resolution screen, OIS-equipped rear camera, octa-core processor or a fast-charging battery. You can check full specifications of all three phones below.

Galaxy A7 (2016) specs:

• 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution Super AMOLED display
• Measures 151.5 x 74.1 x 7.3mm
• 1.6GHz octa-core processor
• 3,300mAh battery with fast charging
• 13MP f/1.9 camera with OIS
• 5MP f/1.9 front camera
• 3GB RAM
• 16GB storage (expandable to 128GB via MicroSD)
• Fingerprint scanner
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.1
• NFC + Samsung Pay
• Dual SIM option
• Android 5.1 Lollipop

Galaxy A5 (2016) specs:

• 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution Super AMOLED display
• Measures 144.8 x 71 x 7.3mm
• 1.6GHz octa-core processor
• 2,900mAh battery with fast charging
• 13MP f/1.9 camera with OIS
• 5MP f/1.9 front camera
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage (expandable to 128GB via MicroSD)
• Fingerprint scanner
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.1
• NFC + Samsung Pay
• Dual SIM option
• Android 5.1 Lollipop

Galaxy A3 (2016) specs:

• 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 resolution Super AMOLED display
• Measures 134.5 x 65.2 x 7.3mm
• 1.5GHz quad-core processor
• 2,300mAh battery
• 13MP f/1.9 camera
• 5MP f/1.9 front camera
• 1.5GB RAM
• 16GB storage (expandable to 128GB via MicroSD)
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.1
• NFC
• Dual SIM option
• Android 5.1 Lollipop

Although it hasn’t mentioned pricing yet, Samsung has revealed that the Galaxy A (2016) series will be launched in China in mid-December, with a global launch to follow.