The Samsung Galaxy S6 is going to be launched in just a couple of weeks now, with a release date confirmed to coincide with the MWC show in Barcelona - see below. Our team will be at the event to give you live coverage of the announcement and our hands-on opinions of all the new hardware at the event, including the Galaxy S6 itself and its heavily-rumoured curved-edge variant.
It may be a couple more weeks to go before the launch, but there're lots we already know about the new handset. We've collated all the best leaks and rumours below, discussed how accurate they're likely to be, and given our own thoughts on how they will affect the success of the Galaxy S6.
Samsung Galaxy S6 release date - 1st March launch CONFIRMED
After a lot of speculation and hearsay, the official invite has gone out and we know that the Samsung Galaxy S6 will launch on the 1st March 2016 at the MWC show in Barcelona. This follows the same pattern as last year, where the Samsung Galaxy S5 was also launched at MWC; prior to that the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy S4 launched at dedicated events later in the spring.
The teaser image used for the press invite shows what looks like a very thin profile of a smartphone with a rounded kink in the screen, this supports rumours that Samsung will be bringing the curved screen technology seen in its Galaxy Note Edge to its flagship device. We expect to see two handsets, one with the curve and one without. Some fans have already been speculating on Twitter about what the teaser image might be hiding, with some users even mocking up their own images to show a distinctly Note Edge-type device.
Of course, a launch event doesn't mean you can head out and buy the handset the next day. Samsung has been pretty slow in getting its phones on sale in the past. The S5 didn't go on sale until April 11th, and unless Samsung has done something radical we wouldn't expect the S6 to be in our hands until early April either.
Samsung Galaxy S6 - no more bloatware
It'll be good news all-round if this rumour turns out to be true: Samsung's going to ditch the bloatware. According to a source talking to Sammobile, Samsung is ready to ditch all of the pre-installed apps on its phone, cutting it down to near-stock Android levels. As well as saving on storage space, it should do wonders for the phone's performance, while giving people the cleaner installation that they want. With this system, users need only download the apps that they actually want.
We don't know which apps Samsung is removing, but it is apparently going to add in some Microsoft apps, including OneNote, OneDrive, Office Mobile and Skype. This is a result of Microsoft wanting to push its technology on the popular Android platform, as Windows Phone has yet to truly deliver, but it may also be as a result of the recent patent case between the two companies. As far as we see it, the reasons aren't important; less bloatware and a slicker experience are something to look forward to.
Samsung Galaxy S6 design - All metal
Samsung launches a huge number of smartphones every year and although the new S-series model is the biggest, you can learn a lot by looking at the designs of the others. In late 2014, we had the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, which is the company's new premium-build handset constructed from a metal case. Samsung then rolled out the same design on the Galaxy Note 4 and its upcoming A series of Galaxy phones, such as the A3 and A5 and the newly announced A7, which will also be getting full metal unibodies.
Samsung also confirmed in its earnings report that it will be moving away from plastic smartphones this year, further indicating that the Galaxy S6 will either be made from metal or glass as previous rumours have suggested. Samsung revealed that its mobile business had had "weak earnings" in 2014, but it hoped to "focus on recovery by differentiating its mobile devices using new materials and designs".
That theory looks to have been supported by a leak of pictures on the French website www.nowhereelse.fr. For starters, from the side view, the phone is reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. These handsets were Samsung’s first step towards using premium materials, with both phones have a metal rim, although they had plastic backs to provide a removable battery.
With the Galaxy S6, the photos show a full-metal unibody design, which would suggest that the battery on this model will not be removable. Given the likely power savings from an improved Exynos CPU and, potentially, the new PoP memory, a removable battery is no longer a necessity for a lot of people. Besides, from our point of view, we’d rather have a metal phone that looks and feels like a premium device than a plastic phone with a removable battery that looks and feels a little cheap.
From the bottom, the design looks very similar to that of the iPhone 6, with a curved metal base. Even the micro-USB port on the bottom is in the same place as the iPhone 6’s Lightning port.
That said, from the side views, the Galaxy S6 looks substantially different and it’s good to see Samsung use better-quality materials in its phone. Whether it’s enough to convince people to buy this model will have to be seen, but things are starting to look up already for the company. We’ll be at the launch event in Barcelona to bring you the full details of the phone as it launches.
Samsung Galaxy S6 - Exynos or Qualcomm?
Previous Galaxy S-series phones were available with different specifications in different territories. You could get an S5, for example, with Samsung's own Exynos chipset or Qualcomm's Snapdragon depending on where you bought it on the planet. Thankfully that looks to have ended with all the current rumours suggesting that all the S6 models will use Samsung's own Exynos chip.
This is due to several outlets reporting that the Snapdragon 810 chipset has been having significant heat emission problems, causing phones to run too hot. As a result, Qualcomm has supposedly been working on a new version of the chipset especially for Samsung, which Phone Arena says should be ready in time for March. Though that's far from certain.
Further to this, Qualcomm's Q4 financial report revealed that it had "expectations that our Snapdragon 810 processor will not be in the upcoming design cycle of a large customer's flagship device." While this could refer to any major phone manufacturer, the recent rumblings suggest that Samsung may well be the "large customer" in question.
Adding further fuel to the fire is the fact that Samsung has just announced that it's started to mass produce its own ePoP (embedded package on package) memory for its high-end smartphones. The chip squeezes 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (plus a memory controller) into a single package that can then be stacked on top of the mobile processor without taking up any additional space. Previously, Samsung used two-package eMCP (embedded multi-chip package) memory, which was placed alongside the processor on the main circuit board. The new ePoP solution, on the other hand, saves a lot more space and will potentially allow Samsung to use that extra room for a larger battery.
What's particularly interesting about this announcement, though, is that this 3GB memory specification fits in exactly with the rumoured Exynos version of the Galaxy S6, not the supposed 4GB Snapdragon.
Samsung Galaxy S6 - Specs and Benchmarks
Working on the presumption that it'll be a Exynos chip, nearly all the Galaxy S6's specs were leaked online when it was spotted being benchmarked on the AnTuTu app in China. According to the rumours, this version will have a 64-bit octa-core Exynos processor with an ARM Mail-T760 GPU and 3GB of RAM. It will also have at least 32GB of storage and will be running Android 5.0 Lollipop.
PhoneArena has also spotted the S6 Edge in the GeekBench results, showing that it could be even more powerful than Apple's iPad Air 2. The key figure here is its multi-core score of 5,077, which is almost 500 points above Apple's latest tablet, which currently holds the top score. That's pretty impressive, as it should mean lightning fast performance that's far and above anything else that's currently available on the market.
The single-core score isn't quite as impressive, as the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the Nexus 9 tablet have all managed higher scores, but we doubt any difference in speed will become a noticeable bugbear when the handset actually launches.
Samsung Galaxy S6 - Display
The AnTuTu leak also states the phone will be following in the Note 4's footsteps with a 5.5in 2,560x1,440 resolution display. Samsung has been gradually increasing its screen sizes other the years, moving from a 4.8in screen on the Galaxy S3, to a 5in screen on the S4 and a 5.1in screen on the S5. 5.5in seems like too big a jump to us, it may match the LG G3, but then LG don't have a popular phablet like the Note 4, and surely Samsung will want to keep these clearly seperate.
The Edge variant of the phone has been rumoured to have just such a smaller display, with a 5.1in screen being seen on leaked specs attached to the AnTuTu benchmarks. This looks to be the size we'd expect on the new handset, maybe with a small reduction is size as the screen is nestled even more closely to the edges of the handset. it's hard to know if the 5.1in figure includes the edge sections of the phone, but we reckon not as those parts of the screen are probably driven seperately and so are unseen by the benchmark.
Samsung has also said that it wants to keep boosting screen resolutions and has claimed it will launch a 4K 3,840x2,160 smartphone in 2015. We think such a 4K display is far more likely to appear on the Note 4's successor, rather than on the S6, though.
Samsung Galaxy S6 - Camera
Either way, the Galaxy S6 will almost certainly be getting a 20-megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation, which seems likely given what Samsung's done before with its rear-facing snappers. The S3 had an 8 megapixel snapper, the S4 upgraded to 13 and the S5 had 16 megapixels. With smartphone cameras being such a huge selling point, Samsung is certain to once again upgrade the camera hardware and software. We'd also expect to see optical image stabilisation to match the Galaxy Note 4. It will almost certainly be capable of 4K video recording, and will likely include several custom shooting modes and effects exclusive to the S6.
Samsung Galaxy S6 - otherwise known as Project Zero?
Samsung has traditionally referred to its flagship smartphones and phablets as Projects internally, with the Galaxy S5 known as Project K and the Galaxy Note 4 referred to as Project T. According to the latest leaks from Samsung's HQ, the company is currently calling the Galaxy S6 Project 0 - the first time the company has used a number rather than a letter. That suggests it is planning a completely fresh approach, starting from the ground up rather than evolving an existing design or strategy.
It makes sense, as the Galaxy S5 has underperformed at retail; if the Galaxy S6 is to succeed, it needs to be genuinely different. Although that contradicts much of the information listed in the section above, we would certainly welcome it - the Galaxy S5 was a fairly restrained update that didn't excite us as much as some of the competition. Of course, this could all be smoke and mirrors designed to drum up excitement for the handset, so it's definitely worth waiting until we get more information before holding your breath.
Samsung Galaxy S6 apps - Samsung Pay
You could soon be paying for items with your Samsung Galaxy S6 if the latest rumours are to be believed, as a recent specs report by BGR has hinted that Samsung may be developing its own wireless payment system called Samsung Pay (we wonder where they got that name from). It will apparently work with 90% of existing magnetic strip and NFC payment terminals, letting you pay wirelessly with your phone instead of fishing out your debit or credit card.
Not much else is known about whether the alleged Samsung Pay feature will work for in-app purchases, but if true it could pose a significant rival to Apple Pay, which is currently up and running in the US. If it did work in a similar way to Apple Pay, we would assume you'd also need to verify your payment by swiping your finger over the phone's fingerprint sensor in the home button.
Samsung Galaxy S6 operating system
The Galaxy S6 will almost certainly launch with Google's Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system, but it looks set to tone-down its additions and tweaks to the OS. According to SamMobile, Samsung are chopping down on pre-downloaded apps on the Galaxy S6, letting you download the ones you want instead.
SamMobile was unsure about which apps would be getting the chop, as Samsung uses both standard apps as well as integrating some of them into the general settings menu, but it assumes that many of its own services such as S Voice and S Translator would be relegated to Samsung's app store for users to download at will rather than come pre-installed on the phone. However, it goes on to say that bigger, more important apps such as S Health would likely stay put on Samsung's new streamlined interface, as these are more major selling points for consumers.
Samsung Galaxy S6 price
Again, Samsung is pretty reliable and we'd expect the Samsung Galaxy S6 to cost roughly the same as the S5. In the UK that means £549 SIM-free, direct from Samsung. There's a chance it could be a little cheaper or a little more expensive, depending on the hardware and display, but Samsung has keenly stalked Apple's pricing of the iPhone for some time so the S6 will likely do the same. The S6 will be a high-end handset, so expect it to have a high-end price to match.
Until we get official prices, though, we may have a rough guideline courtesy of Android Pit, whose 'trusted source close to the matter' said that there will be 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models which will be priced 749, 849 and 949 Euros respectively. In the UK that will roughly equate to £567, £643 or £718 - which is pretty much the same as the official prices from the Galaxy S5. The Edge variant will cost a little more with the 32GB model starting at 849 Euros and heading up from there.