Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy A8 may be a midrange smartphone, but it’s going to be a darn impressive one. According to the latest claims, the device will be packing a 16-megapixel camera that’s been specially optimized for the A8’s super-slim form factor.

The Galaxy A8 is set to be Samsung’s slimmest smartphone yet, measuring just 5.4mm thin. So, how exactly is Samsung going to stick a 16-megapixel sensor inside it?

“It appears that Samsung had to cut some corners to make that happen,” SamMobile explains, “and the ISOCELL camera sensor (LSI3P3) used in the Galaxy A8 has a reduced pixel size of 1.0 µm, and an overall thickness of the module is just 5mm.”

This makes the sensor 23 percent thinner than the 16-megapixel Sony sensor found in the Galaxy Note 4, and allows it to fit comfortable inside the 5.8mm A8. But of course, making a sensor this slim by reducing its pixel size means there will be some compromises.

Smaller pixels mean reduced image quality, particularly in low light environments. That doesn’t necessarily mean the A8’s camera will be poor — we’ll have to wait and see how it performs when it gets here — but it certainly won’t compete with the Galaxy Note 4 or the new Galaxy S6.

But either way, a 16-megapixel camera in a midrange device is terrific. It’s expected to be accompanied by a 5.7-inch 1080p display, a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage.

The A8 will also have a 5-megapixel camera on its front, a 3,050mAh battery, and an updated version of TouchWiz, which can be seen in the recent A8 hands-on video.

• SourceSamMobile