Samsung Galaxy S6
Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy S6 marks a radical design departure for the series, ditching plastic in favor of a premium glass-and-metal unibody constructed from a 6013 aluminum alloy frame and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 panels on both the front and back. The core flagship centers on a flat 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display with a 2560x1440 resolution (~577 ppi) in a 16:9 aspect ratio, though it launched alongside the groundbreaking S6 edge (featuring dual-curved display margins) and the later 5.7-inch S6 edge+. To achieve this slim, premium profile, the line sacrificed two long-standing staple features: it completely lost the previous generation's IP67 water resistance (outside of the rugged, plastic-clad S6 Active variant) and abandoned the user-removable battery backplate. The physical home button was also overhauled, upgrading from the frustrating swipe sensor to a seamless, touch-based fingerprint scanner flanked by capacitive keys. Launch colors included White Pearl, Black Sapphire, and Gold Platinum, alongside model-exclusive shades like Blue Topaz (S6 standard) and Green Emerald (S6 edge). Under the hood, Samsung broke tradition by bypassing Qualcomm completely due to thermal throttling concerns surrounding the Snapdragon 810, deploying its in-house 14nm FinFET Samsung Exynos 7 Octa 7420 processor globally. This octa-core chip pairs four 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57 performance cores with four 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 efficiency cores, running alongside a Mali-T760MP8 GPU. The internal memory architecture transitioned to 3 GB of ultra-fast LPDDR4 RAM (bumped to 4 GB on the S6 edge+) paired with 32 GB, 64 GB, or 128 GB of high-speed UFS 2.0 internal storage. However, the removal of the microSD expansion slot drew severe backlash from enthusiasts. Power is supplied by a sealed, non-removable Lithium-Ion battery—2550 mAh for the standard S6 and 2600 mAh for the S6 edge—which downscaled capacity compared to the S5. To compensate, Samsung integrated built-in dual-standard wireless charging supporting both Qi and PMA formats out of the box, alongside 15W Adaptive Fast Charging via a micro-USB 2.0 port, which notably dropped the S5's bulky Micro-USB 3.0 interface and wired MHL video output. Imaging received a massive upgrade via a 16 MP rear camera (utilizing a Sony Exmor RS IMX240 or Samsung ISOCELL sensor) with a bright f/1.9 aperture, tracking autofocus, real-time HDR, and the crucial addition of Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to combat handshake during 4K UHD video capture. The front camera jumped to a 5 MP f/1.9 wide-angle lens, and both cameras could be instantly triggered in 0.7 seconds using a new "Quick Launch" double-tap shortcut on the home button. On the security front, the touch-based fingerprint scanner coupled with a specialized embedded hardware token powered the debut of Samsung Pay, which used both standard NFC and proprietary MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) technology to mimic a physical card swipe at traditional credit card terminals. Biometrics are rounded out by the rear-mounted optical heart rate and SpO2 sensor located next to the LED flash. Connectivity remains robust with dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1, an infrared (IR) blaster on the top edge (though omitted on the S6 edge+), and GPS with GLONASS tracking.