Here we are merely comparing the specs. For more information read our full and our first look at the S6 in our .
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Price and UK availability
When the Samsung Galaxy S5 was announced in March 2014 it had an RRP of £579, but even before its release it was reduced to around £550, and within a month or two, £500. A year later and the Samsung Galaxy S5 costs £383 SIM-free at Amazon. Also see:
is accepting preorders on the Samsung Galaxy S6 (32GB) at £579, with the device going on sale on 10 April. As with the S5, wait a couple of months and you'll almost certainly get a better deal.
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Design and build
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is a plastic handset with a removable rear cover that has a perforated texture, supposedly in order to feel more natural and aid grip in the hand. It's a removable cover, allowing access to the also removable battery and microSDXC slot.
With the Samsung Galaxy S6 we find a more premium-looking design with a metal chassis and mirrored finish to the rear and tougher Gorilla Glass 4 at both front and back. The device is no longer waterproof (for that check out the rumoured ), and the battery no longer removable. With 32GB of storage as standard, Samsung has also removed the microSD card slot. We thought the design would look more similar to the , but the Samsung Galaxy S6 reminds us more of the .
The screen is a key difference between these two smartphones. While the Samsung Galaxy S5 packs a 5.1in full-HD (1920x1080, 432ppi) display, the S6 has a 5.1in Quad-HD (1440x2560, 577ppi) panel. Both use a Super AMOLED screen, so the key difference is in the resolution. However, the S6's screen is also 20 percent brighter at 600cd/m2.
All the screen software tweaks built into the S5, such as Smart stay and Adapt display, are also found in the Galaxy S6.
The super-thin Samsung Galaxy S6 is just 6.8mm thick (143.4x70.5x6.8mm) and weighs a tiny 138g, making it thinner and lighter than the 8.1mm, 145g Galaxy S5. In one of many digs at Apple during the Samsung Galaxy S6 launch event, Samsung also claims it won't bend. The S6 comes in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Blue Topaz, matching the S5's Charcoal Black, Copper Gold, Electric Blue and Shimmery White.
As with the S5, the S6 includes a heart-rate monitor on the rear, plus a fingerprint scanner built into the Home button - but this one is more intuitive to use, with touch- rather than swipe-based input.
In common with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, the Galaxy S6 will be available in two versions: the standard Samsung Galaxy S6, plus the . This is similar to the , which has a curved edge to one side of the screen to show notifications and the like, except this handset offers two curved screen edges.
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Hardware and performance
Originally thought to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chip in the UK, fears over overheating issues led Samsung to reconsider and fit the Galaxy S6 with its own Exynos 7420, a 64-bit octa-core processor that's apparently 30 percent more power efficient. It has two quad-core sets (2.5GHz and 2.1GHz), with one geared toward efficiency and the other performance. Samsung says the lag and stuttering has gone from TouchWiz, too. This Exynos 7420 chip is backed up with 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32-, 64- and 128GB storage models.
By comparison, in the UK the Samsung Galaxy S5 has a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, Adreno 330 graphics, 2GB of RAM and 16GB (or apparently 32GB) of storage with the same microSD support. It performs very well in our benchmarks, netting 2869 points in Geekbench 3.0 multicore, 824ms in SunSpider, and 28fps in GFXBench 3.0 T-Rex. We don't know exactly how fast is the S6 yet, but we're expecting a significant boost in performance over S5. Also see:
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Audio
Sound quality in the S5 is acceptable, but nothing out of the ordinary. With the S6 Samsung claims the built-in speaker (still a single speaker) offers 1.5 times the volume.
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Cameras
Both Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S6 are fitted with 16Mp rear cameras, but the S6's version has been improved with smart optical image stabilisation (as seen on the Note 4), plus a f1.9 wide-angle lens that allows for better shots in low light. The S6's camera is always on in the background too, so it will spring into action and be ready to shoot in just 0.7 seconds. Plus an IR sensor can automatically detect and adjust white balance.
The front camera has been boosted from 2- to 5Mp, and now supports real-time HDR, while 4K video recording is supported at 30fps.
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Connectivity
Connectivity options are largely the same, but with the S6 swapping the S5's Bluetooth 4.0 for 4.1. In both S5 and S6 you'll get 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC and dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, plus MIMO technology and a unique Download Booster that combines the power of 4G LTE and 802.11ac Wi-Fi to deliver super-fast downloads.
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Software
While the Samsung Galaxy S5 is sold running Android KitKat, the S6 will come with Lollipop. You can read up on the key differences in our , but keep in mind that Samsung is also rolling out Lollipop to the S5.
TouchWiz features on both S5 and S6, but in the S6 Samsung says it is no longer laggy.
There's the S Health 4.0 app, which will track your activity thanks to the various sensors including a barometer and is also used in conjunction with the heart rate scanner on the rear of the device.
Samsung's new Samsung Pay is made available thanks to the NFC chip, too, though it isn't set to launch in the US until the second half of 2015 so won't arrive in the UK for a long time.
One interesting thing is that the S6 comes with Microsoft Apps pre-installed, and you'll get OneDrive with 115GB of space for two years, as well as Microsoft's OneNote app.
Samsung KNOX is present with security features including Find My Mobile.
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Battery life
The Samsung Galaxy has a 2800mAh removable battery and an Ultra Power Saving mode that ekes out every bit of life (up to 24 hours) from the last 10 percent of juice by turning off all unneccessary functions and using a greyscale display. The S6's battery capacity has a reduced capacity of 2550mAh, but has some nice upgrades. Wireless charging is optional, while you can get up to four hours use from a 10-minute charge. Samsung says the S6 charges in half the time of the iPhone 6.
Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S6 comparison: Verdict
We've yet to run the Samsung Galaxy S6 through our benchmarks, but on paper it sounds as though it should be significantly faster than the Galaxy S5. It also has a beautiful Quad HD screen that's significantly higher in resolution and much brighter than that on the S5. The new Galaxy shows a vast improvement in design, too, and there are some nice upgrades to the camera - particularly at the front. Some sacrifices have been made, though, with the S6 losing the removable battery and microSD card slot that have long been favoured by Samsung fans.
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