Samsung announces Galaxy J5 (2016) and Galaxy J7 (2016) for South Korea

These days Samsung phone leaks are a dime a dozen, though the actual launches often come dozens of weeks later. Such was the case with the 2016 variants of the lower-end Galaxy J phones when they finally landed some weeks ago. Today, the company has expanded the offering to its home country of South Korea, with the Galaxy J5 (2016) and Galaxy J7 (2016) handsets. The precious pair of products had been previously purchasable only to people in China.

Both models will be sold on the KT network, and offered in black and gold color options. Samsung Korea has done this in the past as well for items it likely feels will be of limited popularity: offer them in a reduced number of color options, and on a single carrier, often KT. Despite the relatively lower-end specs, the 2016 Galaxy J series is made something special by its use of a metal frame.

See the specs

The Galaxy J5 (2016) will retail for 290,000 won, or roughly $254. It packs a 5.2-inch 720p Super AMOLED display, a 1.2 Ghz Quad Core SoC, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera with LED flash, a 3,100 mAh battery, and will ship with Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The Galaxy J7 (2016) will retail for 363,000 won, or roughly $318. It packs a larger 5.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED display, a faster 1.6 Ghz Quad Core SoC, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera with LED flash, 16GB of on-board storage, a larger 3,300 mAh battery, and will ship with Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

It was mentioned that the Galaxy J3 (2016) is also going to land in the manufacturer’s home country at some point in the future.

Spec situation

SamMobile has pointed out that the Galaxy J7 (2016) has actually been downgraded from the original variant that hit China. Said model featured a full 1080p sAMOLED display and 3GB of RAM. The Samsung-specific-site also made reference to reports that the devices are rumored to be launching in Europe and India soon.

Given today’s news, it now becomes a minor mystery as to just what internals Samsung plans to include with the Galaxy J7 (2016) when it hits international markets, as well as any spec changes that may also be made to the smaller J5 or J3 models.

Are you excited about the Galaxy J (2016) series? Eager for it to release in your country? Leave some comments down below!