Just when you thought the Samsung Galaxy range couldn’t possibly get more premium, comes the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha – quite possibly the sexiest-looking smartphone the brand has ever conceived.

It’s the first phone from Samsung to have a full metal casing (like the iPhone 5s and the HTC One M8), and in the looks department it is a 10 out of 10. However, in the specs department it might be a case of looks being deceiving. Despite the Galaxy Alpha’s sleek exterior, it is not as powerful as the Galaxy S5. 

The Alpha runs Android 4.4.4 (KitKat), and has a 4.7-inch 720p Super AMOLED display (which is smaller than the 5.1-inch screen of the Galaxy S5). It’s still plenty powerful, though, pairing a 1.8GHz quad-core processor plus a 1.3GHz quad-core, together with 2GB of RAM. This is certainly no mid-level phone.

You can expect a very decent 12MP rear-facing camera (the Galaxy S5 has a 16MP), as well as a 2MP front-facing camera. It weighs in at a featherweight 115g and has a 1 860mAh battery. The Alpha also comes with a fingerprint scanner.  

The side-view looks distinctly Apple-ish to us. Perhaps this is Samsung’s way of testing the market with a new look before going all-out with a premium metal body smartphone? Watch this space – we could be seeing a new side to Samsung soon!

The good-looking Samsung Galaxy Alpha will be available through Vodacom from September. It comes in five colours: Charcoal Black, Dazzling White, Frosted Gold, Sleek Silver, and Scuba Blue – but not all of these will be released in South Africa. Pricing for Prepaid and contract options are still to be announced.