Samsung has finally taken the wraps off the Galaxy S6, the next flagship smartphone in the popular Galaxy S line.
A number of reviewers have suggested that the Galaxy S6 will be the so-called "iPhone killer." But just how does the new device stack up against Apple's latest smartphone offering?
Design
Samsung has seriously stepped up its game in the area of design, doing away with the cheap plastic back and instead offering a flagship phone with a metal and glass build. It screams quality, and is a huge upgrade from the Galaxy S5.
Apple, however, is the design king. In fact, it seems as though Samsung took a number of design cues from Apple. While the Galaxy S6 is a big step up, it has a few drawbacks such as the protruding camera. While the iPhone 6 does have somewhat of a protruding camera, it's barely noticeable, and nothing like the one found on the Galaxy S6.
Despite the massive improvement in the design department for Samsung, Apple still goes unrivaled with its simplicity and beauty.
Display
Another way that Samsung has stepped up in a big way is in display quality. The resolution is now 2,560 x 1,600 pixels, with a pixel density of a whopping 577 ppi. There's really no competition here, with the iPhone 6 having a resolution of 1,334 x 750 pixels and a density of 326.
The huge pixel density difference is made even more impressive by the fact that the Galaxy S6 has a 5.1-inch display, which is a little bigger than the 4.7-inch display found on the iPhone 6.
Camera
Samsung is bringing the camera to new heights, now offering a 16MP rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera of 5MP. The camera can shoot video in up to 4K too, which is great for those wanting to future-proof their videos and even better for 4K users hurting for some actual 4K content. Samsung even goes as far as to offer optical image stabilization on the S6, which is something Apple only offers on the iPhone 6 Plus.
By comparison, for some reason Apple still thinks offering an 8MP rear-facing camera and a 1.2MP front-facing camera is acceptable.
Having said that, a camera is more than just megapixels. Apple is known for having nice-looking cameras, so while the Galaxy S6 will certainly be able to shoot photos of a higher-resolution, as well as future-proof them as displays gain higher resolutions, we won't know which device truly captures better photos until we see more photos from the Galaxy S6. On paper, at least, the Galaxy S6 is the clear winner.
Other
Both the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S6 offer 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of on-board storage. The Galaxy S6 is also bigger than the iPhone 6 to accommodate for the larger screen size.
The Galaxy S6 also uses one of Samsung's new Exynos processors, which are based on a 14nm process and is 64-bit, which is great considering the fact that Android now supports 64-bit processing.
To help with that processing, Samsung has included 3GB of RAM, which is three times as much as the 1GB found on the iPhone 6.
Of course, the iPhone 6 runs iOS 8, with the Galaxy S6 running Android 5.0. For those with their feet firmly planted in either camp, well, comparing specs really isn't useful. For those who aren't as worried about operating system, however, it is worth looking at the specs.
Conclusions
The Samsung Galaxy S6 clearly has a better spec sheet than the iPhone 6, But then, so did the Galaxy S5, really. Is the Samsung Galaxy S6 the iPhone killer? Of course not. There will still be millions of people who prefer to buy a phone because of its operating system rather than its specs. The Galaxy S6 is, however, one of the best, if not the single best, Android smartphone soon to be on the market.
Photo Credit: David Ramos | Getty Images / Apple
