The Samsung Galaxy S6 is set to launch in 2015, but what we can expect from the company's next flagship handset? With the Samsung Galaxy S5 (pictured above) now old news Samsung is already busy working on its latest shiny thing. Samsung has reliably launched a new flagship phone once a year every year for some time now, with rumours already appearing about the Galaxy S6. You can expect it to launch with Android L 5, a bigger screen, faster processor and with an even better camera. We've collected together all the latest rumours and speculation on the hotly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S6 and will be updating this article regularly.
Samsung Galaxy S6 release date
Samsung is pretty reliable with this sort of thing and launches a new flagship smartphone once a year. The Galaxy S3 came out in May 2012, the S4 in April 2013 and the S5 in April 2014. We'd expect the Samsung Galaxy S6 to launch in either April or May 2015. Samsung is very likely to announce and or launch the Galaxy S6 at (or around the time of) Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with the show starting on 2 March.
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, 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.
Samsung Galaxy S6 specs
Expect the S6 to have a Super AMOLED screen at a higher resolution than the S5. Samsung has said that it wants to keep boosting screen resolutions and has claimed it will launch a 4K 3,840x2,160 smartphone in 2015. Could that be the S6? Regardless the firm has already released the Galaxy S5 LTE-A in South Korea, which has a resolution of 2,560x1,440. The S6 looks likely to surpass that and then some.
Samsung has also been creeping up screen sizes other the years, so the S6 will almost certainly grow again. The Galaxy S3 had a 4.8in screen, the S4 had a 5in screen and the S5 measured 5.1in. It seems logical than that the S6 will have either a 5.2in or 5.3in screen - even that would be smaller than the 5.5in screen on the huge LG G3. The actual size of the phone might remain broadly similar, with Samsung also trimming down the bezel size. Could Samsung squeeze a slightly larger screen onto the same size phone with an almost non-existent bezel? The S6 may provide the answer.
The S6 looks certain to launch with Google's Android 5 L operating system. With Android 5 bringing support for 64-bit processors the S6 will almost certainly run on one. Either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 or 810 seem likely, with the latter supporting 4K displays.
The camera on the Samsung Galaxy S6 could top 20 megapixels for the first time. Looking at what Samsung's done before it seems likely. The S3 had an 8 megapixel snapper, the S4 upgraded to 13 and the S5 16 megapixels. With smartphone cameras such a huge selling point, Samsung is certain to once again upgrade the camera hardware and software. We'd expect at least 20 megapixels.
Samsung Galaxy S6 design
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha (or is it an iPhone 5S?) has somewhat thrown the spanner in the works with its metal frame and thin design. At only 7mm thick, it ditched some of the plastic found on Galaxy handsets in favour of metal, while keeping the plastic front and dimpled plastic rear.
What does this mean for the S6? It would be odd if Samsung's next flagship handset didn't take its cue from the Alpha and there has been speculation that the S6 will indeed have a metal chassis. If true we would also expect the Galaxy S6 to be thinner than the S5.
