With sales of the Samsung Galaxy S5 not living up to expectations, the company has gone back to the drawing board for the Galaxy S6. Unveiled today, the new handset is a complete reworking of the popular Android phone, dramatically boosting its specs and improving the build quality. In this article, we’ve got all of the official launch information, but if you want to see what we thought of the handset, read our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S6 review. You can also find out what we thought of this handset’s big brother in our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge review. You can also see the live stream of the Unpacked 2015 event by watching the YouTube video below.
Design and finish
As widely leaked, Samsung has abandoned the plastic case of the S5 and previous Galaxy handsets, moving to a metal and glass body. This should do wonders for build quality and give the Samsung Galaxy S6 the premium finish that this handset has always deserved. Samsung has developed a new colour finish, which it uses here and on the Galaxy S6 Edge. It gives the metal a slightly transparent finish, layering colour in a unique way. The handset is available in four colours: White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6 only).
Although moving to a metal case and keeping the same 5.1in screen size from the Galaxy S5, Samsung has managed to make the new handset slightly smaller and lighter: 143.4x70.5x6.8mm and 138g for the S6 vs 142x72.5x8.1mm and 145g for the S5. Impressively, the new handset is very similar in size and weight to the iPhone 6.
Display
The S6’s 5.1in screen is the same size as on the S5, although Samsung has improved resolution from 1,920x1,080 to 2,560x1,440 (QHD). With a pixel density of 577ppi, the S6 outdoes the LG G3, which has the same resolution, but a larger screen.
Samsung is, as you’d expect, using its Super AMOLED technology. This is used to make some of the best smartphone screens that we’ve ever seen and the S6 could have the best yet, with Samsung boosting brightness to 600cd/m2. This should make the phone easier to view in daylight.
Battery and wireless charging
Gone is one feature that many S5 users loved: a removable battery. Moving to an all-metal design has meant that Samsung can no longer provide the necessary removable panel. The company has also reduced the battery size from 2,800maH on the S5 to 2,550mAh on the S6. When this information was leaked, the initial concern was that battery life would be reduced. However, with the new 14nm processor (more of that next), the phone’s more efficient and the battery should actually last longer.
Charging is via both USB and wireless, with the WPC and PMA standards supported as standard; in other words, practically any charging mat will work with this handset. Samsung is also promising a fast charging mode, with 10 minutes of power giving two hours of HD video playback.
Processor and RAM
Samsung has ditched Qualcomm completely and is instead fitting the Galaxy S6 with its own quad-core 2.1GHz Exynos SoC, which also has a low-power 1.5GHz quad-core CPU using ARM's big.LITTTLE architecture. This is the first smartphone processor to be manufactured with a 14nm fabrication process, which means that it should run cooler and require less power. It’s also a 64bit chip, which means that it will be able to make the most of Android Lollipop. Samsung has also fitted 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM.
Operating System
Samsung has gone for Android Lollipop, which is a 64bit operating system. On top of this is the TouchWiz interface, although Samsung has streamlined it and improved performance. The company has also reduced pre-installed apps by 40%, which means a leaner, cleaner OS install. Apps that Samsung has removed are available for download.
Samsung has also done a deal with Microsoft to provide OneNote, OneDrive and Skype, although these apps come as shortcut icons only; you tap one to download and install the actual app.
Camera
The camera has the same resolution as the S5’s: 16-megapixels. While the resolution hasn’t improved, other changes should help to boost image quality. First, the lens now has an f/1.9 aperture, which lets in 34% more light than that of the f/2.2 lens on the S5. There’s also Optical Image Stabilisation, which should improve low-light photography by reducing blur. Real-time HDR processing is there to improve the dynamic range of photos. Finally, there’s a 5-megapixel camera in the front.
Storage
Samsung no longer provides a microSD card slot for the S6, instead relying on the phone’s internal storage only. While this may make the handset more expensive, we can understand why Samsung has gone down this route. With 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions available you should be able to find the version that matches your storage requirements.
Samsung has said that its new flash memory is 30% faster than its old memory, which should make opening files and apps quicker and more responsive.
Wireless and sensors
You get all of the latest wireless technologies, including LTE Cat6 (up to 300Mbit/s), 802.11ac Wi-Fi (up to 620Mbit/s), and Bluetooth 4.1 (LE). There’s also all of the sensors you’d expect, including an accelerometer, barometer, gyroscope and heart rate monitor.
Fingerprint sensor and mobile payments
Samsung has fitted a similar fingerprint reader to the one used in the S5, built into the home button. As well as being used to unlock the handset, it will also be used with Samsung’s upcoming mobile payments system, Samsung Pay, which will compete with Apple Pay. We’re told that this will launch later in the year for people in the US and South Korea, but we don’t have a UK launch date yet.
Accessories
There’s the usual range of accessories to accompany the phone’s launch, including new cases and an official wireless charger. We like the Clear View cover, which lets you see through the front to a special information display on the phone’s screen.
Price and availability
Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S6 will be available globally from the 10th April, although we don't yet have UK pricing. We'll update this article with that information as we get it.