The last couple of Galaxy S flagships had iterative designs (much like the HTC One M9 that was announced today). But with Apple now making big-screened phones, the pressure is on Samsung – and it just launched two phones that mark the biggest physical changes to the Galaxy S lineup: the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.
Long known for plastic builds, Samsung has stepped up its game of late in the materials department. First several Samsung phones like the Galaxy Note 4 added metallic edges, and now the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge lose the plastic altogether, instead using metal frames with glass backs (Gorilla Glass 4, to be exact).
Both handsets have 5.1-in Quad HD, Super AMOLED displays. That's the same screen size as last year's Galaxy S5, but with a big jump in resolution (these two have an insane 577 pixels per inch).
The Edge's display continues the trend we saw with last year's Galaxy Note Edge, which had a sloped curve on the right side of its display. The Galaxy S6 edge, though, has a similar curve on both sides.
The GS6 and GS6 edge are also both compatible with Qi wireless chargers out of the box. They also have fast-charging technology, juicing up for about 4 hours of use in just 10 minutes (as usual, this should only apply to when the phone's battery is already low).
As far as specs, both phones (as rumored) ditch Qualcomm in favor of octa-core Samsung Exynos processors, and have 3 GB of RAM along with 32/64/128 GB storage options (they do, however, lose the microSD card slots that were nearly universal in older Samsung phones). They have 16 MP rear cameras and 5 MP front cameras, along with 2,550 mAh (GS6) and 2,600 mAh (GS6 edge) batteries. Both run Android 5.0 Lollipop skinned with the latest version of Samsung's TouchWiz UI.
As you can see above, both phones are incredibly thin, measuring 6.8 mm (0.27-in) thick for the Galaxy S6 and 7 mm (0.28-in) for the Galaxy S6 edge. They're also very light, at 138 g (GS6) and 132 g (edge).
We'll have to wait for review units to say anything definitive here, but, at the very least, these show a Samsung willing to acknowledge the biggest criticisms of its brands and reinvent its flagship product line.
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are set to launch on April 10. They'll be sold in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6 only) and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 edge only) color options.
For a refresher on the first version of Samsung's Edge Display, you can hit up Gizmag's Galaxy Note Edge review from late last year.
Product page: Samsung
