Samsung responds to iPhone 6 with premium metal & glass Galaxy S6, counters Apple Pay with Samsung P
Kicking off the Mobile World Congress event on Sunday, Samsung took the wraps off its highly anticipated next-generation handsets, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, both of which use premium glass and metal to counter the blockbuster success of Apple's iPhone 6.
Samsung has famously used cheaper materials like plastic in previous flagship handsets, giving the devices, to some, a less "premium" feel than Apple's iPhone lineup. That will change in April, however, when Samsung releases the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, handsets the company says have been "entirely redefined" from their predecessors.
The Edge model is unique with a curved display wrapping around both sides of the device. Both handsets feature Corning's Gorilla Glass 4 to protect their 5.1-inch Super AMOLED displays, and come in a range of colors including White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (S6 only), and Green Emerald (Edge only).
Both phones feature a 16-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera, and they include wireless charging compatible with any pad supporting WPC and PMA standards.
Samsung has also responded to the success of Apple Pay with its own "Samsung Pay," which will debut on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in the U.S. in the second half of this year. Samsung Pay will use both Near Field Communication and Magnetic Secure Transmission, and will be protected by Samsung KNOX, fingerprint security, and advanced tokenization.
The magnetic element of Samsung Pay is possible thanks to the company's recent acquisition of LoopPay, whose technology largely mimics normal credit card swipe functionality. Samsung says that its new Samsung Pay service has the "potential" of being accepted at about 30 million merchant locations worldwide, and has touted its payment system as the only solution with "near universal acceptance."
Fingerprint scanning on the new devices has been improved with an "enhanced touch-type fingerprint scanner," the company said. And Samsung will counter Apple's popular Find My iPhone feature with a handset tracking service dubbed "Find My Mobile."
Both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge will be available starting on April 10 in capacities of 32, 64, and 128 gigabytes.
"With the all new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung is offering what's next in mobility, along with a new standard to drive the global mobile agenda," said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "By listening to our customers, and learning from both our success and missteps, we continuously push forward new technologies and ideas. With a reimagined design, robust partner network and novel services, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge offer users the ultimate experience in smartphone options."
Samsung has famously used cheaper materials like plastic in previous flagship handsets, giving the devices, to some, a less "premium" feel than Apple's iPhone lineup. That will change in April, however, when Samsung releases the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, handsets the company says have been "entirely redefined" from their predecessors.
The Edge model is unique with a curved display wrapping around both sides of the device. Both handsets feature Corning's Gorilla Glass 4 to protect their 5.1-inch Super AMOLED displays, and come in a range of colors including White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (S6 only), and Green Emerald (Edge only).
Both phones feature a 16-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera, and they include wireless charging compatible with any pad supporting WPC and PMA standards.
Samsung has also responded to the success of Apple Pay with its own "Samsung Pay," which will debut on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in the U.S. in the second half of this year. Samsung Pay will use both Near Field Communication and Magnetic Secure Transmission, and will be protected by Samsung KNOX, fingerprint security, and advanced tokenization.
The magnetic element of Samsung Pay is possible thanks to the company's recent acquisition of LoopPay, whose technology largely mimics normal credit card swipe functionality. Samsung says that its new Samsung Pay service has the "potential" of being accepted at about 30 million merchant locations worldwide, and has touted its payment system as the only solution with "near universal acceptance."
Fingerprint scanning on the new devices has been improved with an "enhanced touch-type fingerprint scanner," the company said. And Samsung will counter Apple's popular Find My iPhone feature with a handset tracking service dubbed "Find My Mobile."
Both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge will be available starting on April 10 in capacities of 32, 64, and 128 gigabytes.
"With the all new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung is offering what's next in mobility, along with a new standard to drive the global mobile agenda," said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "By listening to our customers, and learning from both our success and missteps, we continuously push forward new technologies and ideas. With a reimagined design, robust partner network and novel services, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge offer users the ultimate experience in smartphone options."
Comments
Samsung%u2014 bringing you last year's Apple Products today and at half the value er price.
Actually it's more expensive than the iPhone now.
SPay will be a failure, let's get that out right now. It's garbage.
These will sell, of course, but not amazingly. They're still loaded with CheesyWiz, they've irritated the Fandroids by dropping MicroSD and removable batteries, and people are tiring of Samsung and Android in general.
I didn't see any prices.
It will use NFC and they have partnered with Visa, MC, Amex, and major US banks. That's the right track, I just hope they are also using a representational card number on the NFC's secure element.
I think they'll correct some of their loses from the Holiday quarter this Summer, but not much.
I wouldn't be that harsh. There are some notable aspects to the S6 series of devices.
I didn't see any prices.
It will use NFC and they have partnered with Visa, MC, Amex, and major US banks. That's the right track, I just hope they are also using a representational card number on the NFC's secure element.
I think they'll correct some of their loses from the Holiday quarter this Summer, but not much.
Rumored prices were $749/$849/$949 for the 32, 64 and 128 standard, and then tack on an additional $100 for the Edge variants.
SPay is just LoopPay reincarnated. Their claim to fame is that they can fake out a magnetic swipe, which will be useless in a few months.
Samsung, bringing you [a crude copy of] last year's Apple Products [in another 6 months] and at [a higher] price [and with Google privacy built-in].
Fixed that 4u
This phone is going to have horrible battery life, though. Look at its specs; it's got a quad-HD display and only a 2550 mAh battery.
So $100 for doubling of storage, and you only get 32GB for $100 for going to 64GB, compared to the 48GB for $100 you get from Apple.
1) I think it's more than just LoopPay. Don't their banking partners indicate that? If anything I think we should all be happy that another OEM is, once again, following Apple's lead.
2) How will the magnetic strip be useless in a few months? I thought he chip and PIN support had to be in card readers, but that doesn't mean that magnetic swipe has to be removed from card readers.
Maybe. AMOLEDs aren't like LCDs in that higher res doesn't require more power. The newest Note screen actually drew less power than the previous 1080p screen. Combined with the 14nm finfet SOC, it could be fine.
AMOLEDs aren't like LCDs in that higher res doesn't require more power.
Don't believe it. All else being equal, the GPU requires more power to push more pixels.
Samsung also cloned the non-replaceable battery.
Besides the blatant industrial design rip off, the "Samsung Pay" moniker left me reeling. "Samsung Pay". Wow. They really think copying is competing, like that's how you compete-just copy.
Gaming on a higher resolution screen increases load on the GPU. The move from a 28nm SOC in the S5 to a 14nm SOC in the S6 could balance it out.
Though I have no intention of buying a Samsung, I note that they did one thing better than Apple: a 32GB base model as standard.
MEMO TO PHIL SCHILLER: take note.
You've got to be kidding me with those rounded edges. Why even bother if you're just going to copy so hard?
Nokia 1020 from 2013 had rounded edges. Does that mean Ive copied it?
Though I have no intention of buying a Samsung, I note that they did one thing better than Apple: a 32GB base model as standard.
MEMO TO IVE: take note.
Jony Ive is Design chief and likely has little to say about base model hardware configs, especially not strategy capacities.