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Apple took to the stage earlier today to announce the brand new iPhone 6S, as well as a few other big products. This is the Andre the Giant of the mobile world for Samsung, and their Galaxy S6 is going to have to compete with the iPhone 6S for market share, mind share, and ultimately dollars. So how do they stack up? Well, let’s dive right into a head-to-head slobberknocker!
Display
The Samsung Galaxy S6 took honors of having the best display on any smartphone, and it held that crown until its bigger brother Samsung Galaxy Note 5 came and stole it. The device features a 5.1 inch Super AMOLED display with Quad HD resolution (2560 x 1440), which is a pixel density of 577 ppi.
So where does the iPhone 6S weigh in? Only 1,334 x 750 pixels stuffed into a 4.7 inch space. Looks meager in comparison on paper, no? That said, it’s important to remember Apple’s displays look just as good and sharp as any other when you see it in person, and unless you’re using an iPhone for virtual reality (which isn’t really a thing for Apple devices right now) you should be quite satisfied with what you’re seeing.
The iPhone 6S does do something that the Samsung Galaxy S6 can’t boast, though — 3D Touch, which is basically a mobile rendition of the Force Touch feature they introduced on the latest Macbook. 3D Touch allows you to use varying levels of pressure to open up different views, dive deeper into apps and more.
A light touch on an email might bring up a shortened preview, and pressing even harder in that same view will let you bring the email up in its own view so you can do more. As much as we like to rag on Apple for playing catch up all these years, we can’t say this is something anyone else has been able to do. And it comes off as more than just a gimmick, too: this has the potential to be one of the biggest fundamental innovations in display technology since, well, multi-touch. Ball is in your court, Samsung.
Camera
This is another area where Samsung is considered top dog. The 16 megapixel sensor on the Samsung Galaxy S6 can shoot 4K video, and its f/1.9 aperture has yet to be bested by any other smartphone out there. But Apple is upping the ante themselves, with the iPhone 6S getting an upgraded 12 megapixel camera. This marks the first time an Apple device has had a camera with double digit megapixels.
It’ll also enable 4K HD video recording, an Apple first. They also finally match Samsung on the front with a 5 megapixel shooter there, and they bring low-light fixing to the front in a unique way: using that bright ass LED panel that’s already on the front of the device. How’s that for front-facing flash?
Both phones emphasize fast autofocus, great low-light performance, accurate color reproduction, dual-tone flash and HDR as their key camera features, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything wrong with either sensor.
Oh, by the way — Apple is touting this “revolutionary” new feature called Live Photos. You long press any photo, and it turns into a video. Amazing! Well, really it’s just a photo, that happens to play a short clip of the moments just before and just after you shot it. It can be viewed within any app thanks to an API Apple has built for it. But really, it’s just a video.
Performance
It’s somewhat amazing to see 2GB of RAM in an Apple device as they have stuck to 1GB for years, but it’s finally happened: 2GB of RAM in the iPhone 6S. Samsung has been on 3GB of RAM in their flagships for a while now, so it’s understanding Apple didn’t make much noise about it. The point is moot, though, because performance on Apple devices has always flourished despite not looking as good as the competition on paper. That’s what happens when you have full control over both the software and hardware.
And with a promised 80-90% improvement in the 64-bit A9 chip over the A8, an already fast phone becomes faster. Cool beans. Samsung’s 64-bit Octa-Core Exynos 7420 was also a pretty big jump up from the Snapdragon 801 used in yesteryear’s flagship, though with so many RAM management issues and the need to push 2560 x 1440 pixels, that doesn’t always translate to sheer practical performance improvements.
Design
For Apple, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are identical to last year’s models. They’re beautiful for sure, featuring a glutton of aluminum, clean lines and Apple’s trademark simple design. But there’s nothing new to catch your eye — it’s an iPhone.
But for Samsung, the Galaxy S6 was a big departure from their usual plastic-filled affair. There’s metal now. Well, there was before, just not enough that you could call it a metal build.
And the metal is flanked by strong slabs of Gorilla Glass on both sides. Unfortunately for Samsung this design meant giving up luxuries such as water resistance, microSD slots and removable batteries, but at least it finally looks and feels like a quality smartphone.
Conclusion
Two great phones by two of the great behemoths in mobile — which one has your eye? iPhone 6S? Samsung Galaxy S6? Neither? Let us know your early thoughts straight ahead!
SEE ALSO: iPhone 6s Plus vs Galaxy Note 5 [CHART]
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