Samsung Launches Galaxy A7 with Triple-Lens Camera

After weeks of rumors, the Samsung Galaxy A7 smartphone is now official. And it has something the iPhone XS and XS Max lack: a triple rear camera.

Credit: Samsung — (Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung announced the handset in a statement on Thursday (Sept. 20). It comes with a now-familiar design, featuring thin bezels at the sides and slightly chunkier bezels at the earpiece and chin. There's no physical home button on the front, however, so you'll need to use the virtual home button built inside Samsung's Experience software to navigate.

The phone's standout feature is its triple-lens rear camera. The top camera is the "depth" camera and features a 5-megapixel sensor. The bottom lens comes with ultra-wide shooting and has an 8-megapixel sensor. At the center, Samsung has bundled a 24-megapixel shooter with auto-focus.

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According to Samsung, the triple-lens camera system is designed so you "never miss a moment." You can use the ultra-wide lens to capture a large area and use the 24-megapixel and depth lenses to create "stunning photos" with the bokeh effect. In fact, thanks to the depth-lens camera, you can adjust the bokeh effect, or blurring effect behind your subject, on the fly. It's a feature similar to what Apple unveiled last week in its new iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max.

Samsung hasn't skimped on the Galaxy A7's front camera, either. That shooter comes with a 24-megapixel sensor that similarly allows you to use the bokeh effect to create more interesting photos.

Aside from the cameras, Samsung's new smartphone ships with a 6-inch Super AMOLED display with a full-HD+ resolution of 2,220 by 1,080. There's an octa-core processor inside the smartphone and between 4GB and 6GB of RAM, depending on the model you choose. You can also opt for 64GB or 128GB of onboard storage.

On the software side, Samsung has bundled Android 8.0 (Oreo) and says that the handset's built-in near-field communication chip means you can use it for wireless payments via Samsung Pay.

Samsung is launching the Galaxy A7 in four colors — blue, black, gold, and pink — and will start hitting store shelves this fall. The company has yet to announce an exact ship date and price.

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Don Reisinger is CEO and founder of D2 Tech Agency. A communications strategist, consultant, and copywriter, Don has also written for many leading technology and business publications including CNET, Fortune Magazine, The New York Times, Forbes, Computerworld, Digital Trends, TechCrunch and Slashgear. He has also written for Tom's Guide for many years, contributing hundreds of articles on everything from phones to games to streaming and smart home.

3 Comments Comment from the forums

davva

Have to wonder whether all those megapixels even matter when the sensor is so small. People talk about APS-C sensors reaching their limits at about 30 megapixels and they are many times larger.

Guess the proof will be in the quality of the pictures.
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mlogic

who give a f* ... samsung phones are generally crap and poor/lousy customer service is poor and if not worst Ive seen. LTS for any their product and updates are not good. its not flagship product either can't be that good.
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naldynator

"...you can adjust the bokeh effect, or blurring effect behind your subject, on the fly. It's a feature similar to what Apple unveiled last week in its new iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max."

This statement can mislead the reader into thinking Samsung is copying this feature from Apple, when, in fact, Samsung (and many other Android phones) already let you adjust the bokeh effect either on the fly or after taking the photo. So, perhaps, the statement should read: "Like other Samsung and Android phones in the past, you can still adjust the bokeh effect, or blurring effect behind your subject, on the fly - a feature Apple recently announced in its new iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs-Max, last week." But, silly me, that doesn't sound very pro-Apple at all. Just truthful.
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