Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Bloomberg Confirms Past Reports That Galaxy S6 Will Debut In Two Variants - One Curved, One Flat

David Ruddock
2015/02/11 8:23am PST28 minutes ago

Following the, uh, runaway success that was the Galaxy Note Edge, Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S6 (or whatever they call it) at MWC next month in two trims: curved and not curved. At least, that's what Bloomberg is saying.

They're probably right. We've read a handful of pretty reliable reports to date that at least one version of the Galaxy S6 would have a Note Edge-style curved display, so Bloomberg is just piling on to confirm that here - it's not new information in and of itself. Bloomberg has also corroborated rumors that the curved S6 will have not one, but two edge displays. Because more is better.

The report claims both the flat and 'edge' variants will have 5.1" screens, which is interesting, as Samsung actually had to shrink the display diagonal of the Note Edge in order to keep the device's width manageable (even then, it's still several millimeters wider than a standard Note 4). The edged version will, like the Note Edge, sport its curves along the Y axis, with a rounded display on the left and right hand edges of the device, supposedly. According to Sammobile, that curve will be much gentler, though, perhaps 30 or even up to 50 percent less curved than the Note Edge, to allow for side-mounted power and volume controls. I think this is likely also to increase overall readability of the screen and avoid the aggravating "blacked-out" edge problem of the Note Edge.

Bloomberg is also confirming that the phone will have a metallic frame, though that seems all but a given considering that the Galaxy Alpha, Note 4 / Edge, and A-series of Samsung phones - all released in the last six months or so - have metal frames as well.

While much of the media focus on Galaxy S6 leaks has been on the curved screen, it seems a silly thing to fixate on when Samsung's overall smartphone fortunes have begun to noticeably dwindle. A curved display isn't going to turn things around - Samsung will have to demonstrate real hardware and software innovation to make the S6 a contender in 2015, especially as its chief competitor Apple claws back ground with the decidedly flat iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Samsung will likely have no shortage of competition this year among Android OEMs, either. HTC's One M9 is shaping up to be a big, rather than iterative, refresh for the company, whose recent financials have finally shown a return to profitability. Lenovo-owned Motorola probably isn't due for a big handset announcement until much later this year, but LG's G Flex 2 will likely have the curved Galaxy S6 directly in its sights, and we can probably expect the G3's successor device soon enough, too.

Samsung is also apparently taking a risk in dumping Qualcomm on the new Galaxy flagship, prompting Qualcomm to respond with an uncharacteristic and decidedly preemptive defense of its products. Multiple rumors pointed to overheating issues with the company's Snapdragon 810 chipset leading to Samsung's decision to use its own next-gen Exynos running gear on all versions of the S6. While ordinary consumers are unlikely to notice the difference, Samsung's latest Exynos chips really do seem to go toe-to-toe with the best Qualcomm has to offer, if not outperforming them in some areas. Qualcomm is also in dire need of a core architecture refresh, having pushed its Krait ARMv7 CPU to the clock speed breaking point - it's possible Samsung's Exynos 7420 was an objectively better choice given what's currently available.

As we've reported previously, the Galaxy S6 will likely be unveiled on March 1st in Barcelona at MWC, where Samsung is holding one of its trademark Unpacked events. We'll be there.

David's phone is whatever is currently sitting on his desk. He is an avid writer, and enjoys playing devil's advocate in editorials, and reviewing the latest phones and gadgets. He also doesn't usually write such boring sentences.
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source: androidpolice

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