Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018), which is touted to be the world's "first rear quad camera" smartphone, was launched in India on Tuesday. The handset sports four separate rear cameras with a setup featuring telephoto, ultra-wide, and depth sensors. There is also a 24-megapixel sensor at the front that supports a handful of beauty features as well as a software-backed Face Unlock functionality. Apart from the optics, the Galaxy A9 (2018) features a full-HD+ Infinity Display panel with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC. The smartphone also has up to 8GB of RAM and sports a 3D Glass curved back. Additionally, it comes preloaded with Bixby voice assistant as well as Samsung Pay and Samsung Health.
The Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) price in India starts at Rs. 36,990 for the 6GB RAM variant, while its 8GB RAM model comes with a price tag of Rs. 39,990. Both models come in Bubblegum Pink, Caviar Black, and Lemonade Blue colour variants. The Galaxy A9 (2018) will go on sale in the country through all online (Airtel Store, Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, and Samsung Shop) and offline channels starting November 28. Customers can pre-book the handset from today. Moreover, customers will also be able to avail a cashback worth Rs. 3,000 when purchasing the Galaxy A9 using an HDFC debit or credit card.
Samsung has also tied up with Bharti Airtel to offer the Galaxy A9 6GB RAM variant through the Airtel Online Store at a down payment of Rs. 3,690 and EMI of Rs. 2,349, while the Galaxy A9 8GB RAM variant will be available at a down payment of Rs. 4,890 and EMI of Rs. 2,449. Customers purchasing the handset through the EMI options will receive Airtel postpaid plan bundles along with benefits such as unlimited voice calls, national roaming, and a free subscription to Airtel TV.
To recall, the Galaxy A9 (2018) was unveiled in Kuala Lumpur last month with a starting price of EUR 599 (roughly Rs. 48,900) and GBP 549 (roughly Rs. 50,300).
The dual-SIM (Nano) Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) runs Android 8.0 Oreo-based Samsung Experience UX and features a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080x2220 pixels) Infinity Display that has a Super AMOLED panel and an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, there is an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC that has four cores clocked at 2.2GHz and four cores clocked at 1.8GHz. This is coupled with 6GB and 8GB RAM options. The Galaxy A9 (2018) has a quad camera setup at the back as its USP, along with an LED flash. The setup includes a 24-megapixel primary sensor along with an f/1.7 aperture, a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with 2x optical zoom and an f/2.4 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with a 120-degree lens supporting an f/2.4 aperture, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. The primary sensor notably uses a pixel binning technique to combine four pixels into one. For selfies, there is a 24-megapixel sensor at the front that comes with an f/2.0 aperture. The frontal sensor enables a preloaded Face Unlock feature.
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) First Impressions
The Galaxy A9 (2018) is touted to recognise 19 different scenes and optimise colour settings to produce shots matching the content. It also detects flaws such as closed eyes, facial blur, or backlight in the images you clicked and notifies you to re-click them. For the front camera, there are features such as selfie focus and pro-lighting. There is also an AR Emoji feature to let you create up to 36 animated emojis.
Samsung has provided 128GB of onboard storage on the Galaxy A9 (2018). The inbuilt storage is expandable via microSD card (up to 512GB). In terms of connectivity, the phone has 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (dual-band, 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, NFC, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sensors on board include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, magnetometer, proximity sensor, and an RGB light sensor. There is a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. Besides, there is a 3,800mAh battery that supports fast charging.
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