The Galaxy A7 goes official as Samsung's thinnest smartphone yet

Samsung Galaxy A7
Shock horror, the A7 is alive

Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy A7 handset, the latest entry in its relatively new Galaxy A range of smartphones.

There have been so many leaks and rumours in the run up to the launch of the Galaxy A7 that in some ways it feels like the handset has already been out for quite some time.

With Samsung's official announcement we can now see how correct those rumours were, and put to rest some of the more outlandish claims.

The Galaxy A7 sports the same metallic unibody as the Samsung Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5, which Samsung claims is the slimmest on the market today at just 6.3mm thin.

The Galaxy A7 also features a 5.5-inch 1080p sAMOLED display, 2GB of RAM, 2600mAh battery, 16GB of storage space and a microSD slot for cards up to 64GB.

There will be two versions of the Galaxy A7; a single SIM and a dual-SIM variant. The single SIM version features a 32-bit Exynos 5430 processor, while the dual-SIM version contains a 64-bit Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor.

The main camera is a 13 megapixel snapper with autofocus and LED flash, and the front-facing camera comes with a 5 megapixel sensor.

Still on the chocolate

The A7 will ship with Android 4.4 KitKat, though we'd expect an upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop to happen not too long after launch.

According to Samsung the Galaxy A7 sets 'a new standard for social interaction' thanks to a number of features including 'Ultra Wide Shot' and 'Auto Selfie' settings for the front facing camera, and voice and gesture commands for taking photos.

The LTE 4G connectivity should help make browsing social networks like Facebook and sharing your photos nice and quick – if you're that way inclined.

Samsung Galaxy A7

Source: Samsung

Samsung hasn't provided details about price and release date just yet, though the SamMobile website is suggesting that it will be priced at €509 (around £398, $600, AU$740), and will be on sale towards the end of the first quarter of 2015.

So far Samsung has simply stated that the Galaxy A7 will be available in selective markets in Pearl White, Midnight Black, and Champagne Gold. We've contacted Samsung to clarify what countries these 'selective markets' might include.

Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. Ever since he got an Amiga A500+ for Christmas in 1991, he's loved using (and playing on) computers, and will talk endlessly about how The Secret of Monkey Island is the best game ever made.