Report: Samsung discontinues the Galaxy Alpha to focus on more affordable smartphones
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha was a very important smartphone for the company. It marked the first time they made a big change in their Galaxy lineup’s design language, using a fair amount of metal to introduce a phone that felt more “premium.”
But it looks like it isn’t doing so hot. The company is reportedly preparing to end production on the Samsung Galaxy Alpha once they exhaust their remaining stock of build materials. The reasoning? To introduce something a bit more affordable.
That’s not to imply Samsung is going to go back on their word and return to their plastic roots, though, so those hoping to see some of that love inside the Samsung Galaxy S6 or Samsung Galaxy Note 5 don’t have reason to worry. Instead, Samsung’s going to continue in their new direction with a wrinkle that sees them making use of more moderate specs to keep costs down.
The Galaxy Alpha, for instance, has an Exynos 5 Octa chipset, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 4.7-inch 720p display and a 12 megapixel camera. While that’s not all too impressive next to their top-line flagships, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A5 will look to take on a similar build and style as the Alpha, except it’ll do so with a Snapdragon 410 chipset (though it’s worth noting other specs are an improvement on paper, including a 5-inch 720p display and a 16 megapixel camera sensor).
Samsung has a lot of work ahead of them if they want to slow down the bleeding their mobile division is suffering, and this tweak in focus can be seen as a big first step toward turning that boat around. Let’s just hope they’ll continue to fill their cornerstone flagships with the class-leading horsepower we’ve grown accustomed to.