As we gear up for the International Consumer Electronics Show on January 6, eager tech fans are excited to see any and all news that we might expect from the big names at the Las Vegas show. One such bit of news is a supposed leak showing off Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S6 smartphone's new design.
According to reports, the new Galaxy S6 (codenamed "Project Zero") will be an all-aluminum unibody construction and is already in India. The leak was made by trusted French publication NoWhereElse and Indian tech site Zauba.
Word is that the new model, number SM-G920F, has already been delivered to India for research and development purposes, and the tracking information is the part that has been leaked to Zauba. According to the info, the test phone is a singular unit and the shipping value is rated at INR 18,938, which is about $300. This value has very little to do with the actual projected retail value of the phone, as GSM Arena points out.
But the leaks provided by the French site focus more on the aesthetics of the new phone, pointing to a few photos that show off an entire set of aluminum unibodies that are speculated to be used for the next Samsung Galaxy device.
Apple has been using an aluminum unibody in the last iPhone, as well as iPads and MAcbooks, but this would be the first time Samsung has gone in that direction. With the disappointing sales of the Galaxy S5, the Korean tech giant looks to be starting from scratch on an all-new design for the S6.
As for rumored specs, the S6 is said to have a 5.5-inch display running 1440 x 2560 resolution, and some are even saying that the display will be curved. A quad-core Snapdragon 810 processor from Qualcomm is expected under the hood, as is 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage standard.
Several other rumors have been making the rounds regarding the S6's display. It's almost a sure bet that quad HD will be standard as it was already introduced on Samsung's Galaxy Note 4, but it's the curved part that many are unsure about.
According to Digital Trends, an analyst speaking at a Korean conference said, "Samsung may use a version of the curved screen introduced on the Galaxy Note Edge on the Galaxy S6. What's more, it could cascade down both sides of the display, instead of only the right-hand side. Apparently, this was the original plan for the Note Edge, but it was altered just before announcement for an unspecified reason. Perhaps the technology couldn't be perfected in time. A Samsung executive has said the company hopes introducing curved screens could help it sell more expensive smartphones in the future, making all Galaxy S devices possible showcases for the technology."
But the question is, will this curved feature be standard on the S6 or will it be offered as a similarly specced alternate model, like the Galaxy Note Edge?
Another point of speculation for the S6 is its camera. A camera upgrade is almost always an anticipated and expected feature in any new smartphone model, so some believe that the S6 will sport a 20-megapixel camera in the rear. A 2013 report from Samsung stated that the company planned to make 20 megapixels standard across all Galaxy devices by 2015, so they may be right in line with that original goal.
Regardless, we're betting that we'll learn much more at next month's International CES conference.
