Samsung Galaxy S6 vs Apple iPhone 6 Specs & Price Comparison: A Tough Choice for 2015 Premium Smartphone Consumers
With the expected April release date for the Samsung Galaxy S6 -- Samsung's completely redesigned 2015 response to the latest edition of the powerhouse Apple iPhone series, the iPhone 6 -- just a month away, here's how the two rivals stack up from a technical perspective.
Samsung Galaxy S6 vs Apple iPhone 6: Overview
Samsung has upped its design game with the new Galaxy S6, unveiling the new flagship smartphone during the Mobile World Congress alongside a special edition Galaxy S6 Edge, which has two curved edges that hold special features along the right and left side of the screen.
But the Samsung Galaxy S6, itself, presents a much prettier challenge to Apple's premium smartphone dominance as well, with all metal and glass construction, a new NFC payment system with the lookalike name "Samsung Pay," and the best hardware Samsung (not Qualcomm) can offer at the moment.
To get a sense of how the Samsung Galaxy S6 will fare against the incredibly popular Apple iPhone 6, let's take a look at the specifics.
iPhone 6 vs Galaxy S6 in Specs:
Display
The iPhone 6 comes with a larger screen than Apple has ever put on an iPhone (not counting the concurrent iPhone 6 Plus), at 4.7-inches across -- much to the delight of most long-term iPhone fans.
Samsung, meanwhile, actually scaled back the display of the Samsung Galaxy S6 compared to its predecessor, the middling Galaxy S5, from 5.2-inches to a slightly more modest 5.1-inches. However, the Galaxy S6 packs a 2K 1440 x 2560p resolution, which means about 577 pixels per inch on its brilliant Gorilla Glass 4-protected Super AMOLED touchscreen.
The Apple iPhone 6, meanwhile, upped its screen resolution, but still comes in at the tail end of the pack of premium phones with a 750 x 1334p (326 ppi).
Point: Samsung.
Speed, Power, and Storage
A brand new 64-bit Apple A8 processor powers the iPhone 6, with graphics performance Apple boasted as 50 percent better than its predecessor and a CPU boost of around 25 percent. In most benchmarks last year, the iPhone 6 was only bested on graphics and various CPU measurements by the iPhone 6 Plus. The old Samsung Galaxy S5 came close on many tests, but rarely outperformed Apple's newest offering.
But Samsung may offer quite a challenge in the Galaxy S6. Early benchmarks have the Samsung Galaxy S6 handily beating the old Samsung Exynos 5433 system on a chip (SoC), as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. It should be noted that Qualcomm lost Samsung as a customer for the Galaxy S6 during development, because its best SoC couldn't keep up with the Samsung's new Exynos 7420, which is what powers the new device.
Meanwhile, both devices offer up to 128GB of storage, and this year there's no expandable microSD slot to differentiate Samsung. But the Korean smartphone maker continues to pack a heavier, but longer-lasting 2550 mAh battery into its latest Galaxy S (though it's now non-removable), which likely will outlast the iPhone 6's meager 1810 mAh power pack.
Point: Samsung (probably).
Camera
Apple continues to offer its 8-megapixel shooter, which can record HD video, has dual-LED flash, a responsive autofocus, and software users have come to love for its simplicity and dependability.
Meanwhile, while Samsung's camera software has always been less user-friendly and its cameras have been less responsive than many other premium smartphones, this year the Galaxy S6 comes with the same 16-megapixel shooter, but with optical image stabilization and what should be an improved autofocus.
Still, it's hard to see Samsung winning over the average smartphone consumer when it comes to ease of use, especially compared to Apple.
Point: Toss up.
Operating System, Software Ecosystem
Here's where it really gets difficult to declare a winner. Some people like Apple software because of its simplicity and large ecosystem of apps, some of which are exclusive to iOS, and some people like the flexibility and customizability of Google's Android OS.
It should be noted that the Galaxy S6 comes with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop out of the box, which offers a simpler interface and a lot of handy features that make it, by far, the best OS Google has ever offered.
And while Apple continues to dominate in the cohesive device/app ecosystem department, Google is branching out to TV, automobiles, smartwatches, and other devices with a similarly cohesive strategy.
It also helps that Samsung is reportedly paring down its TouchWiz software so it's less intrusive and complicated, while dropping some of the pre-installed bloatware in favor of some excellent apps from Microsoft.
Point: Pick your poison.
Release Date, Availability, and Price
Samsung just unveiled the Galaxy S6, which has a release date in the U.S. and elsewhere on April 10. Expect to find Samsung's shiny iPhone-like smartphone at AT&T, Verizon, U.S. Cellular, Sprint, and T-Mobile on that day.
Ironically, that new iPhone-rivaling metal and glass design is rumored to cost consumers more than the iPhone 6 upon arrival, though Samsung has been mum on the subject.
Nevertheless, unconfirmed rumors that have it costing as much as $250 for the 32GB base model on a 2-year contract (and $750) led to 60 percent of an early ecoATM survey of potential buyers (via Phone Arena) to respond that they wouldn't upgrade without an expired contract or suddenly breaking their current phone.
The 16GB base model iPhone 6 continues to cost about $200 on contract, with the lowest-cost used iPhone 6 handsets still costing over $500 without a contract.
Are you interested in buying the Samsung Galaxy S6? How do you think it compares to the Apple iPhone 6? Let us know in the comments!
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