Created: 2 August 2023 · Last edited: 27 September 2026

The Summer 2023 collection, surprisingly, features not one but two flagship models: the Aquos R8 and the Aquos R8 Pro.

The "smaller" AQUOS R8 is sold by docomo (SH-52D), SIM-free (SH-R80), and under the AQUOS R8s name (SH-R80) in Taiwan.

The docomo Aquos R8 reached stores in the first half of August. What's interesting about it is that the Aquos R8 features a Leica "Hector" 1/1.55-inch large image sensor, Sharp's top-range IGZO OLED 240 Hz display, and conforms to the MIL-STD-810G standard for impact resistance, heat resistance, etc. This is the first top-range phone by Sharp to feature this level of protection.

The Aquos R8 comes with two rear cameras: the main one is 50.3 megapixels and is located in the very centre of the device like in the previous Leica-sensor-equipped flagships, namely the R6 and the R7. This sensor has an aperture of f/1.9 (wide-angle 85° focal length 23 mm equivalent) combined with electronic image stabilisation.

The secondary camera is 13 megapixels and is placed to the side of the main sensor. With aperture value of f/2.3, it ensures super-wide-angle 118° capture that is 17 mm focal length equivalent, also combined with electronic image stabilisation.

Sharp advertise the camera setup on the Aquos R8 as being capable of faster image processing when shooting HDR.

The front camera has an 8-megapixel sensor, f/2.0 lens, wide-angle 78° focal length 26 mm equivalent.

The Aqous R8 boasts a 6.39-inch Pro IGZO OLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 px with variable 1Hz to 240 Hz screen refresh rate. The display features the Dolby Vision and Atmos technologies for enhanced viewing experience. It has a native contrast of 13,000,000:1 and a 1300 nit brightness. The display, like all in Aquos R-series phones, comes with native support for 1 billion colours.

This is Sharp's first display that comes with an approx. 50% blue light reduction (compared to the Aquos R7) that does not impair image quality, thus reducing the strain on the eyes that every (O)LED display has.

All of this is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform that has been fine-tuned by Sharp to yield 32% higher CPU performance, 24% higher GPU performance, and about 50% better AI performance. The latest ROM memory standard, UFS4.0, has been adopted that should ideally increase reading speeds by 60% and writing speeds by 70%. The phone's RAM (all 8 GB of it) is also manufactured according to the latest LPDDR5X standard.

Further improvements in heat dissipation design have been made as well: the Aquos R8 now also uses the camera ring space to release excessive heat.

While improving specifications on all fronts, you would expect this would comes at the expense of increased weight. Sharp, however, have managed to score excellent gains in weight reduction, too. The Aquos R8 weighs approx. 170 grams – last year's Aquos R7 weighs 208 grams!

The Aquos R8 supports the following radio frequencies:

• 5GNR: sub6: n1 / n3 / n5 / n7 / n28 / n38 / n41 / n77 / n78 / n79
• 4G LTE: FDD-LTE: B1 / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5 / B7 / B8 / B12 / B13 / B17 / B18 / B19 / B20 / B21
• 4G LTE: TD-LTE: B28 / B38 / B39 / B40 / B41 / B42 / B66
• 3G W-CDMA: B1 / B2 / B4 / B5 / B8
• 2G: GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz

The above ranges will vary depending on the carrier.

The Aquos R8 naturally supports Osaifu-Keitai (Felica) and NFC.

It is nanoSIM + eSIM DSDV compatible.

While the phone comes with stereo speakers, to the enjoyment of audiophiles, the 3.5 mm jack is available.

The AQUOS R8 is of course water- and dust-resistant but, unlike the R8 pro, it is also impact-resistant according to MIL-STD-810G and conforms to MIL-STD-810H for waterproofing, rain, vibration, high- and low-temperature operation and storage, temperature shock, and low-pressure operation and storage.

The Aquos R8 is offered in blue or cream colour.

The Aquos R8 is released running Android 13. This is the first Sharp-made Android device that is guaranteed not two but three OS version upgrades and security updates for up to 5 years (carrier-dependent).