The summer is winding down, but the smartphone wars are just heating up. With the recent release of the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ and the imminent release of the Motorola Moto X Style, we have another example of closely matched mega-smartphones that may be difficult to make a decision between. This comparison review should help.

Moto X Style 2015 vs Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+

Design

The first and easiest way to differentiate these phones is in their look, feel, and design.

While the Moto X Style is a continuation of incredibly well-balanced design, obviously created with the users' everyday convenience in mind and customizable through Moto Maker, Samsung has brought something entirely new to the table with the Galaxy S6 edge and its plus-sized phablet follow-up.

The Motorola Moto X Style looks similar to the previous years' versions, it just comes with a bigger screen this year.

That's a good thing, all around, because while the Moto X has been known as a mid-tier handset since its original release, it's also won critical acclaim for how nice it looks and feels. Especially if you spring for a custom backplate, like bamboo or leather, through the Moto Maker virtual build-a-phone site, you'll have a phone that not only works great, but will catch eyes as well.

But compared to the new Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ (even with the nice custom backplate materials) the Moto X Style still looks like a regular phone -- not a phablet from the future.

If you're looking for something that will stand out in a crowd, there's no better smartphone to get than the Galaxy S6 edge+. Its dual-curved display that cascades down to the bottom edges on both sides of a brilliant screen is simply amazing eye candy, plain and simple.

Hardware Specs

Display

Speaking of the display, if you're just looking for real estate and a high-resolution quad HD screen, both the Moto X Style and Galaxy S6 edge+ have that. Both displays are 5.7-inches with 1440 x 2560p resolution, resulting in an eye-popping ~520 pixels per inch for each.

There are some differences between the two, though. For one, the Galaxy S6 edge+ sports the latest generation of protective Gorilla Glass (4), while the Moto X Style sticks to Gorilla Glass 3. Also, the Super AMOLED touchscreen on the Galaxy S6 edge+ is likely to create truer blacks (think: watching Netflix at night) compared to the Moto X Style, though with the latter, you'll probably get brighter and truer whites.

Each has a trick up their sleeves when it comes to the display. You already know what the Galaxy S6 edge+ offers, but hidden around the Moto X Style's face are IR sensors that can wake the screen up when you approach it and keep the screen on and bright as it senses you're still looking at it. Pretty cool either way.

Power

Here's where we get into some tricky territory, because the Galaxy S6 edge+ clearly outmatches the Moto X Style on processing power. But there are considerations to make regarding price and performance per dollar.

The Moto X Style comes with a decent Snapdragon 808 processor, with six cores and Adreno 418 graphics, assisted by 3GB of RAM. That's not the top of the line, even for its release year, but it'll do the job, it's 64-bit future-proof, and cost less than the Galaxy S6 edge+'s Samsung-designed Exynos 7420. However, that octa-core Exynos, with 4GB of RAM, is an industry leader at the moment.

On the battery front, though, both are evenly matched, with each sporting a (non-removable) 3000 mAh battery. With Samsung, you get the bonus of wireless charging, while Motorola claims the Moto X Style is the fastest-charging smartphone on the market, reaching about a third capacity in only 15 minutes.

Camera and Storage

Despite the difference in megapixel specs, both phones are well-matched here, too. The Moto X Style makes up for previous years' camera deficiencies with a 21-megapixel shooter with phase detection autofocus, dual-tone LED, and a flash on its 5-megapixel front-facing shooter.

The Galaxy S6 edge+, on the other hand, comes with a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization. Samsung's camera and software has been widely praised, but the Moto X Style's offering has also been favorably compared against it, beating it in some tests, even.

Where the Moto X Style definitely comes out on top, though, is in storage space for all those photos and flash-photography selfies. It comes with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of internal storage, but also a microSD card with up to 128GB of extra storage. The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, part of this year's "premium materials" redesign, sacrifices Samsung's long tradition of including microSD card slots for the nicer feel. Because you can't always get what you want.

Availability, Price, and Final Considerations

Here's where the rubber hits the road. In an increasingly unsubsidized smartphone market, the Moto X Style was designed for, and will be launched, without carrier dependence.

In fact, it's the first smartphone in the world that has "universal LTE banding," meaning you can get the fastest connections on Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, or any other carrier on the same device. Just pop in the SIM card of your choice, and it'll work.

Also, it's designed to be cheaper at an "unlocked" or full, unsubsidized price. When its release date comes, thought to be Sept. 3 or at least by mid-September, the Moto X Style will cost about $400 at the base price. That's about $300 to $400 less than competitors.

The same can't be said of one of those pricey competitors, Samsung. The Galaxy S6 edge+ costs about $300 to $350 if you manage to get a subsidized 2-year contract phone.

Without the subsidy, you're looking to pay about $700 at least. The phone is available on all major carriers, and pretty much any retailer you throw stone at. Just keep in mind, if you want to leave one carrier and go to another, you might have to swap your particular model.