Leak suggests Galaxy A9 will retail for just under $500 in China

Samsung’s latest phablet has come as a surprise for some: unlike the other members of the Galaxy A 2016 family, the Galaxy A9 has no such “subtitle” for it is the first of its kind. Sporting a 6-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display and with a metal unibody frame, the device is perfect for those who wanted a truly large phone from Samsung yet had to make do with a Plus 5. Today, a new leak out of China has added a possible price point as well: 3199 yuan (about $490).

Given the device’s prime positioning as an upper mid-range phone, the cost would appear to be a fair price, all the more considering how expensive the Galaxy A8 was in some territories.

Those in need of a spec recap will be happy to note that the Galaxy A9 comes with the aforementioned 6-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display (complete with 2.5D glass), a 64-bit Octa Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front camera, an integrated fingerprint sensor, Dual SIM support, a 4,000mAh battery, microSD support, and Android 5.1.1.

While the exact release date for the extra-large phone is still unknown, it is possible Samsung will announce its plans in the next few weeks given the decision to launch it prior to CES 2016. At the same time, the phone has currently only been announced for China and is therefore operating on a slightly different release schedule. Perhaps it will hit stores just before Chinese New Year.

What do you think of the cost? Assuming the leak is legitimate, would you pay around $500 for such a device? Is it too expensive given the competition? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!