Introduction
Do we have a good one for you today – another Samsung versus Apple. Today we have the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus tackling the Apple iPhone 6s Plus. These are two heavy shooters with no S-Pen on the S6 Edge Plus’s side this time around. Can the Samsung flagship muster enough specifications to win against the improved iPhone 6s Plus – after all, Tim Cook claims that ‘everything’ is new. One thing for sure is they are both great looking devices that feel great in the hand and look premium from every angle. Can the all new metal and glass Galaxy S6 Edge Plus steal this crown from the all-metal iPhone 6 Plus, or is ‘plus’ only a size differential? Let’s first look and see if these two devices have anything in common before we look at each one more closely.
The two devices have very few similarities – they both are about the same physical size, with the iPhone coming in just a little bit larger and weighing in at 39 grams more. Their displays are close with the iPhone at 5.5-inches and the S6 Edge Plus at 5.7-inches, although both use different technologies and resolutions. Neither device offers internal memory expansion and both have a 64GB option. The both have a 5MP front-facing camera (FFC) for selfies and video chatting, although you must use FaceTime unless both users agree to a third party chatting App. They both have a bottom-mounted speaker and have the usual suspects – WiFi, GPS and NFC…although the NFC is only for Apple Pay. Both have non-removable batteries.
Please take a deliberate look at the detailed Specifications Comparison chart below and here you will see just how these two great devices stack up against one another – click on the “View Full Comparison” link at the end of the chart to expand the details. After that, we will look at each individual device in greater detail and point out some of its pros and cons. From all of this information we will try to determine the winner based on specs and execution of design and functions.
Specifications
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus
Samsung’s switch to a glass and metal in their Galaxy S6 Edge Plus design added that premium look and feel that was missing from the plastic models. The S6 Edge Plus is a beautiful device with a solid feel that looks good from every angle – and that dual curved display is very attractive. It is available in Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Silver Titan, White Pearl and Pink depending on where you are located. It certainly can stand up to the all-metal construction of the iPhone 6s Plus, except if dropped on a concrete floor.
The S6 Edge Plus sports a 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED dual-curved display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and 518 pixels-per-inch (PPI) compared to 5.5-inch FHD IPS LCD display and 401 PPI on the iPhone 6s Plus. The S6 Edge Plus uses Samsung’s own 64-bit Exynos 7420 octa-core processor with four cores clocked at 1.5GHz and four cores clocked at 2.1GHz. This compares to the Apple A9 dual-core clocked at 1.84GHz found in the iPhone 6s Plus. The Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is packing 4GB of RAM – the iPhone 6s Plus uses only 2GB of RAM. The S6 Edge Plus comes with models offering 32GB or 64GB of faster UFS 2.0 flash memory with no room for expansion. The iPhone 6s Plus has options of 16GB, 64GB and 128GB memory with no means to expand.
The award-winning camera on the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus uses a 16MP sensor with autofocus, LED Flash, Live HDR, an aperture of f/1.9, OIS and the FFC is 5MP wide-angle, with a f/1.9 aperture and live HDR for social media selfies and video chatting. The 12MP iPhone 6s Plus scored less than the S6 Edge Plus. It uses a 5MP FFC for selfies and FaceTime chatting. The S6 Edge Plus’s larger 3000mAh battery goes up against the 2750mAh in the iPhone 6s Plus – both are non-removable. The S6 Edge Plus should easily get you through an entire day with moderate usage. However, if you run into trouble, the S6 Edge Plus has a quick charge option and quick wireless charging as well.
The S6 Edge Plus has a few features not found on the iPhone 6s Plus – the curved display for starters and its side-notifications. It has a fingerprint sensor that is ready for Samsung Pay, Android Pay, PayPal payments and other NFC transfers. It has a heart rate monitor and oxygen saturation sensor and built-in wireless quick charge. It is running Android Lollipop 5.1.1 with Marshmallow rolling out soon. It will cost you about $850 for a 64GB model.
Apple iPhone 6s Plus
The iPhone 6s Plus is nothing more than a stretched version of the iPhone 6s with a larger display and the addition of OIS to the main camera. It seems as though Apple came out with the iPhone 6s because a year had gone by and it was the thing to do. They took the iPhone 6, used the same all-metal body and threw in a few internal improvements. It is nothing as wildly new as Tim Cook claimed at its introduction and sales of the new iPhone 6s/Plus have reflected that fact.
The iPhone 6s Plus sports a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 with 401 PPI – compared to the 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED dual curved display and 518 PPI found on the S6 Edge Plus. It uses a 64-bit A9 dual-core ‘Twister’ processor clocked at 1.84GHz and a PowerVR GT7600 GPU for graphics. It is smooth and fast running iOS. This goes up against the 64-bit Exynos 7420 octa-core processor in the S6 Edge Plus. The 6s Plus comes with 2GB of RAM, which is enough to handle iOS quite nicely, but is not up to the multitasking powers of the 4GB of RAM found in the S6 Edge Plus. The iPhone 6s Plus offers a choice of 16GB, 64GB or 128GB of storage and no expansion whereas the S6 Edge Plus offers 32GB or 64GB of faster UFS 2.0 internal memory with no expandability.
The iPhone has always had a great camera – it was one of the best ‘point and shoot’ cameras on a smartphone and on the iPhone 6s Plus, Apple finally increased the size of the sensor from 8MP to 12MP along with some new software options. It comes with the usual autofocus, a dual-tone LED flash and for the first time, they added OIS to the Plus model. What Apple failed to recognize was that the flagship Android smartphones have long since passed the iPhone up in test scores and the 16MP on the S6 Edge Plus is no exception. Apple also increased the FFC to a larger 5MP for social media selfies or video chatting – ONLY through Apple’s FaceTime unless both users download a third-party app. The S6 Edge Plus also uses a 5MP camera as its FFC. The iPhone has always struggled with battery life and the 2750mAh non-removable battery in the 6s Plus won’t do much to help its cause. While not much larger, the S6 Edge Plus uses a 3000mAh removable battery, but incorporates quick charge where you can charge it 50-percent in only 40 minutes and quick wireless charging is built-in.
Does the iPhone 6s Plus have anything over the S6 Edge Plus? It has Apple’s proprietary Apple Pay and its proprietary FaceTime video chat feature – if you can call those good features. The iPhone is easy to use – it is smooth and efficient – but compared to an Android device, it can be rather boring. You are stuck with one model, whereas we have choices – Samsung, LG, HTC and others. With Android, you can customize its display looks and add features. Apple is proud of its new 3D Touch display, where the display can ‘sense’ up to three pressure levels – press once to open up an app and then press again within the app to go somewhere else. The pricing for the iPhone 6sPlus is $850 for the 64GB model.
…And The Winner Is…
Summary
This turned out to be another easy choice, even without the S-Pen – the winner in this comparison is the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. The curved display looks awesome, it has a higher resolution and is slightly larger. We have the iPhone 6s Plus with a dual core processor with 2GB going up against the S6 Edge Plus with an octa-core processor with 14nm technology and 4GB of RAM. The S6 Edge Plus has a better-rated camera than the iPhone 6s Plus and the fingerprint sensor on the S6 Edge Plus has more uses than unlocking the phone and making ‘Apple Pay’ purchases – you have Samsung Pay, Android Pay and other mobile payments via NFC. The S6 Edge Plus has a heart rate monitor and oxygen saturation sensor, fast charge for its larger battery as well as built-in quick wireless charging.
The iPhone 6s Plus may have its Force Touch display, and iOS is fast and smooth, given its limitations. If you want locked into the Apple ecosystem with iTunes, FaceTime and Apple Pay, then pick yourself up a new 6s Plus and be locked into that world. I prefer to have the freedom to have my display look the way I want it to and have widgets reside directly on my display. The price is so close for the 64GB models, it comes down to your choice…but when it comes to specifications and features, the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus comes out on top.
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