As Samsung's Galaxy S6 looms just over the horizon, the biggest question on the mind of Samsung fans is how the Korean company could possibly overtake Apple's iPhone 6 in 2015. We take a look at both smartphones side-by-side to see if it's possible.
It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that Samsung could easily win the hearts of Apple fans if the Galaxy S6's launch goes more smoothly than that of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. But Samsung is going to need to pull out all the best bells and whistles to win over enough users to make an impact on Apple's industry domination in the U.S.
The design of the S6 is said to be much more similar to the iPhone than ever before considering the fact that it's rumored to sport a metal casing. And while the S6's 5.2-inch screen is said to be slightly larger than the iPhone 6's 4.7-inch display, the iPhone 6 Plus wins that competition with its 5.5-inch screen. There's no indication that Samsung wants to go that large with the Galaxy S6, especially considering the fact that anything larger would creep into the Galaxy Note 4's territory.
But if Samsung can put out higher screen resolution than Apple's highly touted Retina HD display, it will have a definite advantage. Apple has been pushing the Retina pixel density, but the iPhone only has 326 pixels per inch while the 6 Plus has a much more impressive 401 ppi. If Samsung can beat that, they're onto something.
The iPhone 6's CPU is frankly not hard to beat with its dual-core 64-bit A8, but the Samsung's rumored Exynos cip flaunts an impressive eight cores on that same 64-bit architecture. The iPhone 6 also only has 1 GB of RAM while the S6 is expected to have at least 4 GB. The bad part of that, however, is that the Android operating system will take up half of that anyway.
Comparing the cameras, the S6 is expected to have a 20-megapixel shooter which blows away Apple's 8-megapixel offering. Even though megapixel count isn't everything on a smartphone, the Samsung device is evolving much more rapidly than the iPhone in the camera department; the iPhone has had an 8-megapixel camera since the 4S.
One aspect that is seriously hindering the S6, though, is the battery. The iPhone's 1,810 mAh non-removable battery brags 14 hours of talk time, while the S6 is rumored to have a 2,600 mAh battery that is not as efficient. Android 5.0.2 may fix that over the Galaxy S5, though.
But perhaps the one thing that Samsung has up its sleeve that may blow away the Apple products is a curved display on the Edge version. All rumors point to either a separate curved-display model or the S6 itself featuring the same type of feature that is already a hit on the Galaxy Note Edge. If the dual-surface screen turns out to be not as gimmicky as some are saying, it could become the new standard for smartphones. And while Apple has its share of innovations, it's not usually known for adopting innovations introduced by competitors.
So now we wait and see exactly what Samsung can pull out with the Galaxy S6/S6 Edge. As Forbes puts it, "Samsung has played all its cards right up to now and Apple is a marketing master. So with both companies looking like they will be at the top of their game in 2016 the real winner from all this is most likely to be their customers."
