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We know, you’ve no doubt heard the claims that the iPhone 6 is the “best smartphone” in the market. At least, according to some. Now that the Samsung Galaxy S6 has finally launched, you’ve probably been curious to see how the 2 heavy weights match up. Wonder no more, friends. This is our Galaxy S6 vs iPhone 6 face-off.
Design/Build quality (Winner: Galaxy S6 Edge)
Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, but there’s no denying Samsung did a bang up job updating the Samsung Galaxy S6 for 2015. We’ll admit, the Samsung obviously took some design cues from the iPhone 6. The familiar billet drilled speaker holes, headphone jack placement. Sure, the rest of the phone is all Galaxy, but the bottom of the S6 looks nearly identical to the iPhone’s.
And where someone might make the argument the rest of the phone is similar too, the Galaxy S6 Edge smashes previous conventions with an all new double-sided curved display. It’s not really functional so much as it is just damn cool to look at.
We still love the 2.5D glass on the iPhone 6, but it’s clear the Galaxy S6 Edge is a double threat — rock solid build quality, coupled with futuristic design. The Edge most certainly has the edge in this category.
Display (Winner: Galaxy S6)
The iPhone 6 was released nearly a year ago, a time where every Android flagship was boasting a 1080p display. While there is no excuse for Apple to release yet another iteration of the iPhone with a 1334×750 display, the iPhone 6 made up for it with Apple’s new multiple-domain LCD panel or “dual-domain pixels” that allowed for exceptional viewing angles. Color reproduction is top notch as well, even if things can occasionally look a tad washed out.
Samsung on the other hand has built a thriving business around their display panels, with Super AMOLED being their crown jewel. AMOLED offers the deepest blacks, the most saturated colors, and fantastic refresh rates. Arguments of over saturation are quickly laid to rest thanks to Samsung’s TouchWiz software which allows you to tone it down to your liking. And while 2K display sounds a bit like overkill, it’s hard to go back to anything else after your eyes have been spoiled by it for a few weeks.
The Galaxy S6 Edge also uses a flexible version of Samsung’s AMOLED panels, one that is curved around both sides of the device. It sounds great in theory, but when viewing the device head-on, images become warped and colors can look off at an angle. The Edge panel might win in sex appeal, but it’s clearly the loser here.
Hardware (Winner: Galaxy S6)
There’s no denying the iPhone 6 is built well enough, but mobile technology has been advancing at a lightning quick pace. Quicker than even Apple can keep up. The iPhone 6 added NFC capabilities, but they’re tied down to Apple’s payment method and not open to anything else.
Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S6 features technology that supports both wireless charging standards, has adaptive fast charging that brings the battery to 50% in only 30 minutes, heart rate monitor for health nuts, a much louder speaker, and a fingerprint scanner that performs as flawlessly as the iPhone’s. Users can also use NFC right now to transfer data, sync with Bluetooth devices, or yes, make mobile payments using Google Wallet. Once Samsung Pay is officially ready, you’ll be able to use the phone as payment anywhere regular credit cards are swiped via Magnetic Secure Transmission.
With a doubt, the Samsung Galaxy S6 takes the hardware win on this one, leaving the iPhone 6 back in 2012 where it belongs.
Camera (Winner: Galaxy S6)
You know the story. The iPhone has long been the standard of mobile photography. Mixing a stupid simple interface with consistently great output, there hasn’t been an Android device that could really compete with the iPhone — until now.
For the Galaxy S6, Samsung has added a 16MP sensor that produces crystal clear visuals. This is thanks in part to a new f/1.9 aperture lens that allows more light to hit the sensor, and Optical Image Stabilization to compensate for shaky hands. The result are photos that look great no matter the lighting conditions. Oh, and there’s also a high resolution 5MP front facing shooter for selfie addicts.
The iPhone 6 on the other hand is using an 8MP camera with f/2.2 lens, along with a 1.2MP from facing camera. We’re not going to sit here and tell you photos taken with the iPhone 6 look bad by any means. It’s just the iPhone has finally been trumped by the Samsung Galaxy S6 which offers sharper images, more shooting modes, superior imaging hardware, and better control of the camera with a new Pro mode.
Battery life (Winner: iPhone 6)
Battery life is always one of the hardest specs to talk about in mobile devices, mainly because it’s never the same between 2 people. Having spent months with the iPhone 6 and a few weeks with the Galaxy 6, I think I have a good idea of how far the battery will take me on each. For the most part, they’re evenly matched despite their huge battery size differences: the iPhone 6 is equipped with a meager 1,810mAh, while the Galaxy S6 packs a much larger 2,550mAh battery.
I found that both will take my about 15 or so hours depending on use. Battery life on both seems to deplete evenly the more you use them. But it’s only on the iPhone 6 that when left alone, the battery barely drops at all when in standby. Keep in mind, that’s with all the same social apps, and constant notifications coming through the entire day waking up the display.
The battery on Galaxy S6 on the other hand seemed to drop no matter what I did. We have seen reports of battery life issues across various carrier versions of the device, so that’s definitely something to consider (although my devices didn’t show any of the symptoms). A buddy of mine sends me screenshots on the daily of his great battery life, meanwhile both my regular S6 and S6 Edge are barely pushing 12 hours if I’m lucky. Not sure what gives, but until Samsung can get their house in order, the iPhone 6 takes the win on this one.
Software (Winner: Galaxy S6)
We’ll admit, Apple’s been doing some great things with iOS as of late. Notification widgets are interesting and background app refresh are all nice additions Android users have been enjoying for years. Oh, and who can forget those cute new emoji.
But when you leave software features to the big boys, Samsung always comes out ahead. We mentioned this in our review, but despite Samsung removing much of their bloat from TouchWiz, the OS itself is still chock full of features. There’s too much to list here, but our favorites are Multi-view window for displaying 2 apps at the same time, quick gestures, and emergency features.
The best part is these software features no longer bog down the OS. TouchWiz is finally as fast as stock Android, making it a joy to use.
If you’re an iOS user, don’t worry. We’re sure you’ll see a few of these features in a few more years. Maybe with iOS 10.
Price (Winner: Tie)
The base model Samsung Galaxy S6 starts at $200 on contract for 32GB model, or $680 full price (there’s also the $800 unlocked international model). From there it jumps $100 for every storage increase — 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB. The Galaxy S6 Edge also sees another $100 bump simply for its gorgeous curved AMOLED display.
The iPhone 6 on the other hand, starts at 200 for the 16GB model ($650 unlocked), then jumps an extra $100 to the 64GB version, and another for hundred bucks for the 128GB option. For whatever reason, there is no 32GB model, a clever move by Apple to nudge consumers into grabbing the 64GB iPhone 6.
While pricing is for the most part the same across the board, the regular Galaxy S6 offers more internal storage at the base configuration. It’s the next 2 tiers — 64GB and 128GB — that things even out, with the S6 Edge being the most expensive out of the bunch.
Verdict
If you’ve made it this far, we think it’s pretty obvious the Samsung Galaxy S6 is the clear winner in this race. The phone offers more hardware for your money, a superior camera, and all around better software experience. From here, the real question is whether you’ll be opting for the S6 Edge, and in what color.
The Galaxy S6 scores almost a clean sweep in our comparison, tidily defeating the iPhone 6 in just about each of the categories we examined. For those keeping score at home, here is the final tally:
- Design/Build: Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
- Display: Samsung Galaxy S6
- Hardware: Samsung Galaxy S6
- Camera: Samsung Galaxy S6
- Battery life: Apple iPhone 6
- Software: Samsung Galaxy S6
- Price: Tie
Who do you got?
It’s pretty obvious which phone we would want to have in our pocket, though the decision might not be so close for others. There is no denying the iPhone 6’s place among the smartphone elite, but does Samsung win this round? Let us know which phone you are going with in the below poll.
[polldaddy poll=8807396]
Annndd why did you do a poll about which phone is better on an Android website?
But the battery issue of the S6 is really making me hold off for a bit until I get word that Samsung fixes the drain via software update. Besides, my M7 is still going strong.
I haven’t had any issues… The only problem I have been having has to do with speakerphone echoes
Mine was bad, but I updated that Samsung app and now it is good. Almost on par with my nexus 6 and better than my Moto x
For reasons.
Because Phandroid is still objective imo and if the iPhone 6 did came out as the winner than that’s a given fact and shows how much Samsung has to catch up. There’s nothing wrong with that and good for overall competition.
iPhone 6 are not winner today?
iPhone hasn’t been the winner ever since the HTC Evo took the stage…
Winner in what sense? Sales, Apple reigns supreme. With specs? No mainstream phone has the title for specs right now. Like the Saygus V2 was much better than the late 2014 phones. There are phones coming out with 4GB of RAM, 64 bit soc, etc.
Trying to use sales as a metric to determine who wins the title of BEST is a joke…there is literally no direct correlation between the two. I was definitely referring to capabilities. Don’t fall into the logic trap of thinking that no clear WINNER (meaning that there are many phones who have an argument they can make for the top spot) doesn’t mean you can’t spot a clear LOSER. Every capability that the iPhone has can be found in their entirety in other phones, as well as a few others to boot. For instance, there isn’t a single thing that the iPhone 6 or 6+ has/can do that cannot be replicated by the Galaxy s5, but that phone includes an IR blaster, heart rate monitor, has a water/dust resistance rating, expandable storage, replaceable battery, fast charge, etc. It also has a few extras you can get, like a new battery cover that gives it Qi wireless charging capabilities.
As I said earlier, this has been the case ever since the HTC Evo, which had that nice HDMI out port along with the replaceable battery and expandable storage.
Chris, You have been using an iPhone 6 for months? I just bought an S6 on launch day. We should have couple of beers and discuss which one is great!
I’m down! I actually like the iPhone 6 a lot, but there are just too many things that keep me from using it exclusively. No matter how hard Apple tries, iOS just can’t beat Android (at least not for me).
Atta boy! Brownie points to you for mentioning that!
On a serious note, I have the same worse standby times on Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 on 5.0.2 but 5.1 drastically improved it. On moderate usage, i was getting 2 days usage with 5.1 on Nexus 5 with 2.5 hours of screen on time.
I am really hopeful that 5.1 should bring a positive change to battery woes.
That sounds extremely promising.
I’ve always wondered Chris, why didn’t you got for the 6+? I returned my 6 for the plus and liked it much more.
Is it the bezels? Haha
That’s probably how the conversation started between those two roommates who stabbed each other! I hope your medical is paid up!
/s
Yea I’ll be getting the Galaxy S6 (since there isn’t a Nexus phone anymore), but sadly the iPhone 6 still wins for several very high-use cases. iMessage makes Hangouts look like a joke. Visual Voicemail is still not standard in Android, you need GV installed which is garbage. Finally, Office/PDF documents still don’t open and perform well in Android. Considering I use my phone 75% for business I’ve actually considered an iPhone this time around… Android still has a major ways to go in these categories.
I’m so sick of these supposed geniuses at Google can’t make an iMessage competitor. Hangouts should be on EVERY Android phone doing what iMessage does by now, and it should be named “Messenger” and they should get rid of their duplicating Messenger app because the name Hangouts is terrible.
Also, the iPhone 6 is really not “almost a year old”, it’s a fall phone and the GS6 is a spring phone, they are basically half a year apart.
What’s the point if people use What’s App? People are too grounded into what works for them. I have the 5c and 6 Edge. Both can piggy back from each other’s success, but it’s not going to happen. But the fact you can reply on iMessage from any screen is a now growing trend that companies are looking at. I had the same feature on the G3 and now the S6 Edge.
IPhone users don’t understand that iMessage is inferior to Whatsapp. No matter what phone you have anyone can use it to both and receive messages from other people using the same service and you can even make calls using the app.
I used to agree with you, but now I like keeping my messenger and text apps separate. Too often myself or the recipient would be in a bad area for data, and the imessage wouldn’t go through – while a regular text message would. The “send as sms” only seemed to work about half the time or take WAY longer than the supposed 5 minutes to send. So while there are definitely some benefits to iMessage, reliability doesn’t trump straight up texts.
And FWIW, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all offer visual voicemail for free in the US. I know that doesn’t cover everybody everywhere, but just FYI.
Samsung phone have visual Voicemail. At least my ancient S3 does. I agree it should be standard and even though I user hangouts it’s a joke with a crap name.
iMessage is Apple’s “private boys” only treehouse. It also causes texts to be sent in double to my Android phone because one of my close friends always sends messages using iMessage. Visual voicemail is a gimmick. I don’t know what cocaine you’ve been snorting but Office documents and PDF’s open just fine on Android.
Hangouts never caught on but not having a overarching, exclusive messaging service that only iPhone users can send and receive from is unnecessary and contrary to everything Android is about. Be together (offer choices), not the same.
Agree but it would be nice to see Hangouts automatically send texts as data then switch back to texts if needed. It would save people a lot of money and be a much better service it just worked out iMessage did but cross platform on Gmail/iOS/etc.
That will probably never happen but it’s a great idea.
I have been so ecstatic with my NEXUS 6, I have zero interest in the S6. The funny part is that I’ve had, since my NEXUS 1, 100% Samsung Galaxy S and Note phones and was a huge fan. I say FUNNY because the only phones that I’ve LOVED were the NEXUS 1 (stolen, so I had to replace it) & my current NEXUS 6. Plus the Motorola build quality has been really impressive. I am glad to hear though that Samsung has finally ditched the plastic crud. Regardless though, they’re all great phones if they fit your need and your career allows time to make that decision.
No contest between the phones. I think the 6S+ and 6S will be better comparisons, but by that time, the Note 5 will be out. The iPhone 6 is good, but specs aren’t its speciality since its all about the simplified user experience. I think most iPhones are overpriced, but I bought one on the cheap as an alternative device, but the 6 is the first generation that where I said I would see myself with one because of the gap closing between iOS and Android.
You might want to retest battery life after doing a clean KIES or ODIN full image flash that includes OTA update. That’s the discovery over at XDA that the OTA update broke battery life.
Kies is being fazed out. People are using Samsung Smart Switch.
Own the S6. Great phone. But why does everyone use the S6 Edge when comparing to other phones? To me the Edge is just a gimmick that will lose it’s wow factor in a couple of weeks. You have less screen real estate with it and the picture isn’t a full picture. The regular S6 is a great phone and trumps anything out so far.
Because S6 Edge is just fuck*ng sexy! Ho man, I’ve never own a so great phone….
Because the S6 edge has a bigger battery, and has the same screen different finish, S6 edge is just the right choice if you gonna spend money on a flagship phone.
“The iPhone 6 was released nearly a year ago”
The iPhone 6 released in September of last year, that’s 7 months, just over the halfway mark. It’s almost like the full day of 18 hours Apple used.
The Samsung phones whatever innovation they bring in are ultimately lead me the cheap Chinese phones and nothing else,earlier I did use the Galaxy but had to pay very heavy prize for using it,I think my iPhone is great and respected and I have No problem with it
Sample photos doesn’t work for me in either Safari or Chrome.
I can’t see how anyone can say the display on that Samsung is better than the IPhone. It looks like a computer screen from the 80’s. It’s not crisp or clear. And I am not sure where Samsung wins on the hardware since the IPhone does all of those things mentioned. Unless you are talking about still having to sign in with an Apple ID, which I can see why that can be annoying. Both phones need to work on their battery. If I could get someone at Apple and the droid phones to make a long lasting battery that also charges quickly…..I wouldn’t care which phone I owned. I would be so freakin happy. That is all we want tech people! I am tired of charging my phone all day.
For you to make this comment clearly shows that you haven’t spent any time with both devices side by side. There really is no comparison and if you think there is, your iPhone fanboyism is showing through.
We won’t even talk about outside viewing in full sunlight where the iPhone is even worse. I’m all for everyone having the right to their opinion, and if you’re happy with your iPhone, that’s all that really matters. But to make a blind statement like yours just for the sake of argument, well, it’s quite amusing really. Enjoy your iPhone 6, it IS a nice phone, it just can’t compete with the Samsung S6.
Pretty bad review!
I have both Galaxy S4+ and iPhone 6 and plan to
buy the next Note so i love both camps but this is a sad sad review that
is really biased, and dont take into account allot of things that i get
to soon.
To begin with Why would Apple need a better screen please
tell me! Except having a higher number on paper there is no real need!
you cant tell the difference at this pixel density, there is only
downside to the higher resolution like battery drain!
You talk
about iOS users just got notification while and Android users have had
that for years. Well iOS users have had fast and fluid interface for
years while all my Android phone pretty much sucked and still do.
Lollipop on S4+ is just crap period!
So now a smartphone without
proper computer software (Windows and OSX) is pretty lame. Tell me how
long you need to wait for Android or Samsung to deliver PROPER software
to be able to backup all my phone including all my settings, apps, data
belonging to my apps like game saves and such? Android 1000? When can i
decide which apps can access my GPS, Camera, contact, data and many
other things individually? Android 2000?
Seriously Android is
pretty bad when you consider you have so very limited control over it
beside some eye candy like themes and widgets. I rather have a phone
where i can control the important stuff rather then have eye candy. Also
i really appreciate the fact i can save EVERYTHING of my iPhone on my
computer (win as well as OSX) or cloud and get my next phone exactly as
my previous and dont loose any data.
With Android its a gamble everytime! Sure contacts and such is syncing great but today the need is much much more and the fact no Android phone today can deliver that is beyond me. These facts make me use my iPhone as my primary phone no matter how good the Android phones get. I have to say Samsung has done a fantastic job making S6 fast and fluid so good for them but beside that there is nothing new to this phone to make people like myself give up their iPhone or rather iOS. Android is just as bad as before, and there is no computer software worthy of the phone either.
Really? You’re saying you have more control over an iphone than an android? Please. Keep in mind, this isn’t Android vs iOS, and it’s certainly not S4 vs i6 (which is not a valid comparison anyway), it’s S6, vs i6.
Dont agree, all these reviews focus mainly on the hardware of things when setting the grade and recommending phones.
In my opinion when selecting a phone you need to consider more then just the phone itself.
And yes you do have more control over the essential parts in iOS compared to Android. I did give examples so which one dont you agree with ? I’m curious to know :)
You clearly breezed past my comment about comparing your S4 to your i6, but I’ll play.
Three of your “paragraphs” were about backups and syncing, I’ve been able to do this for like 2 years. I have an automatic backup go every week, how? Apps.
I have zero desire to be tied into Apple’s ecosystem, so I don’t use a Mac, and therefore have no desire to fully sync my Android with it. That said, I’m perfectly capable of syncing the important stuff like contact, emails, texts, etc. through google’s services. I send texts through my hangouts app on my computer all the time, and if I want to can take phone calls on my computer as well.
You do have one point though, for a long time, iOS was more fluid on touch than Android, and that’s something I’ve been harping on for years. Guess what, Android has caught up on that front, and iOS hasn’t caught up on any of the Android fronts. (custom roms, themes, widgets, notifications, etc etc)
So, iphanboy, it’s pretty clear to me that you’re using Android (and the English language, I hope it’s not your primary language) incorrectly.
cool novel bro
Smart reply “bro”
you note that they are evenly matched in the battery category but battery life seems to be significantly in favor of the iphone does it not? 15+ hours versus 12 hours is a quite the gap. I have never understood if usage and screen on time is equivalent, but 7 hours usage (was that 42% STILL remaining in the screen shot?) versus 4 SoT is a big gap.
the issue IS android and Chris nails it. as an android fan (still rocking the S3 with 2 extra batteries), it’s frustrating how fluid the iphone can be with such a small battery but last through the whole day. i know people will say how in house processors and homegrown iOS help, but samsung now has that with their processor (and internationally HAVE had that).
i think poor battery life and the eventual sluggish performance over the long run will keep android playing catch up in the two categories that can be the most frustrating in daily use. my wife’s iPhone 5S is STILL silky smooth (though does have its quirks as most phones approaching 2 years do) and far superior battery life than even my S3 WITH TWO BATTERIES…
my last hope for a phone with reliable day and a half battery life is the Z4 or OnePlus 2 (as i expect the G4’s new and improved screen will basically offset any improvement in performance from the processor).
I had the S3 until the screen broke in January. Battery life was great on the original battery that came with it, but the two batteries that were supposedly OEM that I got after the fact were…abysmal. 20-30% worse battery life, and one of them didn’t support NFC! They looked identical, so I ended up putting a piece of tape on the battery that came with the phone so I could recognize which battery would actually give me a full day’s life with about 2-3 hours of screen on time. Oh, and I never had a complaint with the smoothness of the S3.
I’m now rolling with the LG G3 until something better comes along. Battery life is about the same (if not for a tad worse). I’m blaming it on the LCD 2k screen, because it has a much bigger battery that should be able to hang on longer.
Now, there are three BIG differences between most modern Androids and iOS that drastically affect battery life. One – screen resolution. More pixels require more computational power, which in turn affects the battery. Two – processor speed. Because Android is built for multiple devices and is highly open-ended, it is far less efficient than Apple can make their OS. To keep things running more on par (and in most cases, exceeding what an iPhone can do in real-world test cases), Androids tend to have processors that are about 1Ghz faster, which takes its toll on battery life. Three – multi-tasking. Here’s a big difference between how the two OS’s work. Unless it’s a core Apple app, most apps get paused in the background when you leave them. Android allows for constantly running apps in the background, which makes reopening them faster and more efficient, which you can see in the link I’ll put at the bottom. The downside is that this, too, makes for a hit on battery life.
So, yes, there is a difference between iOS and Android, but for the most part, it’s a small trade-off for a much better experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV2X51kAVfc
I am due for a phone upgrade soon. I currently use the S4. I am someone who enjoys both iOS and Android. (impossible to some I know) At this point I think it really comes down to which os you like more.
There are things I like about the iPhone…you can count on updates for new features/bug fixes (would be nice if my S4 received an update to fix some bugs…sigh), visual voicemail is standard, less bloatware, smoother than my S4, great battery standby time, among other things.
I LOVE wireless charging in the S6. The display is amazing. A little bit bigger screen is nice. I think Android phones in general are easier to use one handed due to the dedicated back, home, and multi task buttons at the bottom.
I’ll probably wait on the next iPhone to decide which to buy. As of right now my S4 works fine.
Well this is the greatest rubbish, I have seen on the Internet. lets go back to the camera shall we. Its quite easy to differenciate the devices, the over saturated images belong to the galaxy s6 while the images that are actually closer to real life colouring is iphone’s (of cause we all want images that pink is red and sky blue is dark blue so we don’t remember how reality looks like when we see the picture again, am just saying not trying to start an argument). Ooh yes shall we now move on to the other disagreement I have with this so called review the software (ha ha ha Samsung’s os is better) well Samsung mite have removed the lag, but they can’t remove the Samsung. Samsung in the sense that no one uses all the features the only features that would end up being used after a while would be dual window and recent apps(recent app is in every android phone that and I watched a video were an galaxy s6 had an app crash and if you use a galaxy you already know its a feature that crashed), except your an exercise buff then your the exception for the keep fit pack which can’t keep up cause your phone would die so yes your the exception, has better apps, better app compatability and better user experience. I dear any of you over hyped android fans to use ios for a month or 2 and go back to android and tell me if you won’t miss ios user experience. So yes Samsung has more useless features but apple is built for man
lol, I can’t take iOS for a month. within the day I want to go back. I have owned iPhone 3,4,4s & 6…no thank you. However, it is getting better now that they have copied many of the android features. But they still married it to iTunes and locked down…fail.