By Talk about the Samsung Galaxy S6 at AndroidForums.com!
Samsung is one of the few companies who have stuck to their guns in making sure the removable battery and microSD card slots don’t die off, but one of those features is said to be absent from the Samsung Galaxy S6. According to Korean Press, the Samsung Galaxy S6 battery will not be user replaceable.
This is sure to be bad news for folks who love being able to carry multiple batteries or use aftermarket batteries with bigger capacities. It also makes it difficult to replace a battery in case it goes bad in its lifespan.
But it’s said this decision was made for good reason — it facilitates Samsung’s design choice for the sixth entrant in their flagship lineup. The Samsung Galaxy S6’s rear panel will reportedly be covered in glass. That, plus the metal unibody chassis the device is expected to have, means Samsung would have to give up access to the rear.
It likely wouldn’t be the end of the world for Samsung’s most loyal fans, but this could become a deal breaker for a crowd that only buys Samsung devices because of their flexibility. We’ll have to wait until its likely unveiling at Mobile World Congress in March to see if the device’s improved design was worth one of its most valuable features.
We can thank all those “build quality” fanboys who prefer look over functionality. As if we needed metal frames and non-removable batteries.
And, also thank Apple for selling people on the idea and getting them use to not having phone batteries accessible. Now, it is fairly accepted to have a sealed phone.
It’s obviously Verizon’s fault for not getting the proper Z3.
No no… this has nothing to do with the Z3, Z3v to be more precise, stay on topic please.
I say make it a paid upgrade for all of those technoposers & watch it not sell
But what if I want to carry a charger and send my phone in for repairs when only the battery needs a change? What if I want my phone to built nice when I slap a case on it? What if I wanted a smaller battery in a slimmer build. Thanks Apple fans.
Meh, we won’t have to wait until March… Photos and full specs will have leaked by then…
This should be fun to watch..
As long the battery is 3000+ mAH 3500 would be best
Battery is less than 3000+ unfortunately
That sucks, but not a deal breaker. Every phone can be opened with the right tools. Now, they go removing the SD card… then I am out.
Glass back…oh dear!
Glass backs are never a good idea.
My Z2 has been breddy gud :DDD
I’ve had my Z3 for 3 days…I’m loving it..and I put a lanyard in it to protect from falls…
What about a case?
Yup. Heavy and thick. That is NOT a good reason.
I love my Glass Back!!! ( New Sony Z3 owner)
I’ve enjoyed mine past three months. Great phone
Do people still carry spare batteries these days? It’s such a hassle powering off the phone that I would have assumed an external battery charger would be much more likely as the weapon of choice for those seeking all day battery life.
Yes. I do. But that’s not the main reason to have removable batteries. My main reason is the fact that batteries do and can go bad after awhile. When they do go bad, then your choice is to carry around an external all the time or get a new phone. I’m not in the market to continually replace phones and having a removable battery means I can just buy another battery and continue getting more out of my phone’s life.
Naw.. you can open any phone with (1) the right small tools off ebay for about $1-2 and (2) watching a video on YouTube. No reason to ditch a sealed phone when the battery starts to wear down. Now, I want removable batteries – but this is not as doom and gloom as you act.
Except that the average cell phone user (like me) isn’t going to play around trying to open a $500-$700 phone and potentially muck it up and now you’re left with a brick. Especially when some of those batteries are glued on, and there are delicate ribbons and wires. Heck NO.
Ha. No way. Hassle powering off the phone? My G3 goes down in 10 seconds, and comes back up in under 30.
How is that more of a hassle than hooking up an external battery charger?
Any of those battery packs are much larger than my spare batteries, too. My batter y is no thicker than 3 credit cards and fits inside my wallet.
Samsung doing this is losing my consideration for my next purchase. I already abandoned HTC over it.
It’s just a rumour so far guys. Don’t go nuts yet.
I know. And there were tons of wrong rumors before the S5 came out too. It’s good to ridicule any potential move like this as early as possible. Taking away the option of a removable back so you can gain weight and thickness isn’t a ‘good reason’.
Don’t forget smashability. The old glass back certainly keeps the repair shops in business.
cool! so now when i drop it the front AND the back will be cracked!
great job sammy! who needs a removable battery when i can have a 360 cracked phone!
my body is ready..
If they do this with the Note 5 I don’t know what I’ll do with my life.
It’s the end of the line.
yeah, if this is true, no good. The battery/sd is the one thing that has kept me away from nexus all these years. If these two benefits go away, there is nothing that is going to keep my dealing with touchwiz anymore.
Surely Samsung engineers can’t be so ignorant as to take away one of its great selling points & making their top seller both less flexible AND more fragile. On the other hand though, they were stupid enough to move the Note 3’s speaker from a bad position on the bottom to the absolute worst position on the back (& then had the idiocy to say that the Max volume was louder so users can waste even more battery). Samsung executives & engineers would have to be total imbeciles to not make a glass back a paid upgrade for techno posers. Are you complete imbeciles Samsung & Co?
One of their better ad’s even highlighted just how useful the removable battery is.
It’s becoming an increasingly differentiating feature.
Um, the back speaker has been around. Look at the Note 2 and S3
That’s part of the point I’m trying to make. They improve the position from the worst place, which was the back and put it on the bottom with the note 3 then regress to the crappy back position for the note 4. But the best place of all is in the front. Even if you did just one front facing all-purpose speaker it would be better than the idiocy of putting a speaker on the back where it gets muffled when you lay it down or hold it in your hand. It also requires the more energy to give the same volume as a front facing speaker.
Back speakers get blocked when you hold the phone to play a game or watch a movie. They also make it more difficult to hear navigation & speakerphone calls (especially in a vehicle). And this usb even talking into account that you waste more energy trying to get the equivalent volume out of a rear facing speaker compared to one in front because you have to turn the rear one up higher to get an equivalent volume. Surely you aren’t going to argue that when you turn a speaker away from you that the sound is the same in volume and quality?
If they go with a non-removable battery & a glass back or any combination of the two, the S5 will be my last Samsung phone. I don’t need more breakable & tied down specs in my phone. Besides the screen, I’d say Samsung is one of the leaders in sales because of the durability (okay, that’s a stretch) & functionality.
Simple Solution: come out with two variants. Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6c. ( or something like that).. Everybody wins!!!!
Sometimes I do think Samsung is trying to get rid of me (sarcasm, but somewhat true). They introduce Tizen which I have no interest in. Their smartwatch is good, but the charging cradle is crap. Customer support is laughable. Now they want to put a glass back and non-removable battery? Saygus V2 is getting my next expendable funding.
I’m carrying an LG G3 these days because they went to a removable battery and SD card making them an option. Looks like I won’t be getting tempted to give Samsung a shot again.
Who doesn’t use a case anyways? I have NO desire for a fancy back or premium material. My case covers it anyways…
A lot of people actually. I see naked devices pretty frequently. I myself haven’t had a case on my phones for 3 years.
I didn’t use a case for over a year till I got a Zerolemon battery which is held in place with a TPU case.
I have not used a case on my last 3 phones or my tablet. No interest in cases.
They released a ‘wall huggers’ advert for the S5 in July that highlighted its removable battery functionality; I doubt they would remove this one generation later (at least, I very much hope not).
Look T-mobile started slamming the competition in their adds for not having rollover data a whole month after they were doing it themselves.
I’m Interested to see this
The article reads ” Samsung would have to give up access to the rear”. I guess now only Apple will have access to their rear.
cue the whining in 3…….2…….1…..
hmm…if this is true then they will be losing quite a bit from accessories, like the various replaceable backs, and the extra battery chargers
Ahh, the same old rumors that pop up year after year. I’m sure we’ll be hearing about a retinal scanner any day now.
I’d so first read that as rectal scanner
Nah, that’s going to be in the One Plus Two.
As a One Plus One Owner… It’s over rated.
But with a glass back panel there’s no access to the rear ;-)
The mSD slot and removable battery are two things that made me want to go the Android phones in the first place. I really hope these are just rumors. I will likely get a GS6 or 7 (or the GS successor) to replace my GS4.
It really isn’t a rumour…. Unfortunately but it’s got the premium feel that the world has been asking for not just us techies
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
[sobbing in my shower naked in the fetal position]
WHYYYYYYY?????
make a sexy device and people will buy it!!
It’s a phone people! Not a girl, wow just wow, people are so superficial, it is just a phone, it doesn’t have boobs, it isn’t going to give you a blowjob.
Man relax, you take things too literally.
I will never buy a phone without a removable battery.
After owning a G3 + spare battery and charger, I agree 100%.
The general user doesn’t understand the convenience of having a removable battery because they never had one. I don’t charge my phone anymore, i simply swap batteries and I am on my way. If i upgrade, which I won’t, i would have to plan my phone’s battery power for the day in my head. This is similar to having to figure out how much fuel I will need to last me to the end of a race. If I am burning too much fuel I will have to throttle back my usage of the phone. That is right, a non removable battery makes me use my phone less because I will be anchored to an outlet for at least 2 hours a day and that is because these phones cannot make it for a day on a full charge. This is heart breaking.
Then forget about the S line
Removable batteries are overrated…. Period.
I don’t know how anyone could think that. I haven’t charged my phone in over two years
Try and go snowboarding for a full day using a Bluetooth headphones and shooting videos all day… By 2 pm I need to switch.. That’s why having that choice rules and make the removable batteries a must option.. I’ll never buy a phone with a degrading battery locked inside…
Period
If this is true Samsung is finally giving in to the dark side…
When I think “Flexibility”, Samsung does not come to mind. They want to be like Apple, where their wearables only work with their phones, and trying to get their own OS going. This is just the next step in the Applization, the sealed battery. That and the glass back aren’t going to win people back, and they already lost ground last year with the GS5.
Will not buy. Prefer not to give up access to the rear.
If this is true, Samsung learned nothing from Apple and LGs failed glass back panels. A non-removable back, not necessarily a deal breaker, but a glass back panel, no way! Seriously hope it’s not true or I may be looking toward LG for my upgrade.
Two variants
1. S6 flat
2. S6 edge (double sided- think of note edge)
Both same specs. 3gb ram, in house chi(not Qualcomm)
Speaker grill is at bottom – looks like apples iPhone but fewer holes
Glass back with protruding camera – looks like Sony Xperia a line
Yes, no more removable battery and memory card however comes with a lot of memory
Just my wild guess Phandroid.
P.S thank me later
I consider myself a loyal Samsung Fan. But, one of those reasons is becasue of the removable battery. I am currently on the Note 4, and hoping it lasts a long time…especially if removable battery phones disappear. But…I suppose, if they get to the point that the battery actually lasts a while, it may not be so bad. While my Note 4 does quite well, it still is not quite there for me battery wise. So, glad to have the removable battery.
If that’s the case I’ll have to switch to LG.
There goes the only reason me and my family bought a Galaxy. Removable battery and reliable plastic. Screw fragile glass
Its a make or break moment for every manufacturer. If it sells less than expected then they will know people want to have access to a battery. If it sells the same or more they will say nobody cares and we will never see removable batteries again…from ANYONE.
I could live without a replaceable battery if the manufacturer offered a service to install a new battery when needed.
A glass back? This is not the correct coarse change Samsung needs in design. Reviewers who bash Samsung’s plastic rear out themselves as Apple loyalists — removable battery and rugged backside make this the best choice. The most galling design feature for years has been the fake chrome plastic frame which has thankfully been thrown out in the Note 4 (along with some MUCH improved physical buttons). All they really needed to do was put the finger sensor on the back (less the swipe requirement), replace the polycarbonate body with something better, and tweak the lines and curves.
Never really understood glass backing. Yes it looks really nice, but don’t most people use cases anyway? So you wont even be able to see glad baking. The flexibility is the only reason I’ve stuck with Samsung so long. If that goes I’ll most likely start looking elsewhere.
I’m seriously considering upgrading from the S4 to the Moto X 64GB Pure Edition (2015), but I will wait to see what Samsung brings to market for the S6, I swear, people put way too much emphasis on superficial looks of a smartphone. But for the time being, I’m happy with my S4, and it continues to perform just fine.
Moto X? Not only is the battery not removable, it’s too small.
Small? The 2014 Moto X has a 5.0 inch screen, I wasn’t aware that a 5.0 inch screen is considered small.
Small BATTERY.
Ahh…well I’m not fixed on it. My S4 with T-Mobile will be completely paid off by the end of April, so I justmight get an S6. In additionto the Snapdragon810, I am hoping for support forthe new charging standard micro-usb type 2 charging port, 1440p AMOLED, and of course 700mhz Band 12 with carrier aggregation.
People on here will care but the average buyer won’t, in the grand scheme of things I don’t think it will affect them too much.
Rumor
noun
1.
a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts:
a rumor of war.
2.
gossip; hearsay:
Don’t listen to rumor.
Seems like people didn’t know the definition of rumor… so I helped! maybe the whining will stop now.
Nope, hoping against hope that someone associated with Sammy might read this (it’s like a free test group) & put their 2 cents in to vote against this sort of stupidity. Maybe if more people had voiced their opinion, we wouldn’t have otherwise great media phones with speakers on the back.
PS- Feel free to not read things if you’re against people voicing their opinion.
It’s not the voicing of opinion. it’s the whining that i can’t take… i Stated that “maybe the whining will stop now” not people voicing their opinion. People are talking about jumping ship all over something that isn’t confirmed.
It’s still a free country last time I checked. One where people are able to voice what their “line in the sand” is to be willing to buy a product. When Sammy pulled the idiocy of moving the speaker to the worst place on the back, they crossed my line and prevented me from going from the Note 3 to the N4. I’m not going to call anyone an idiot if they love the phone (or its speaker) ‘cuz this is ‘Merica and you can say what’s on your mind.
Bad move Samsung. That is their only differentiator now a days, and the main reason many people still buy their phones.
I switched to Samsung because HTC stopped offering this feature. If they don’t offer it why would I buy Samsung?
Glass back? Heavy, fragile, stupid.
the removable battery of the galaxy s4 and s5 are very appreciated in consumers, if the samsung galaxy s6 will not have a removable battery it can annoy many people, samsung may would make the design of the galaxy s6 like the iphone 5s prix