Samsung has announced the new Galaxy S phones at MWC, and the new S6 and S6 Edge should be in line with what you were expecting if you’ve followed recent rumors.
The new Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge (Image credit: Android Central)
As expected we no longer see a Qualcomm SoC powering the new phones, and as the rumors had indicated Samsung opted instead for their own Exynos 7 Octa mobile AP. The Exynos SoC’s have previously been in international versions of Samsung’s mobile devices, but they have apparently ramped up production to meet the demands of the US market as well. There is an interesting twist here, however.
The Exynos 7420 powering both the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge is an 8-core SoC with ARM’s big.LITTLE design, combining four ARM Cortex-A57 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. Having announced 14nm FinFET mobile AP production earlier in February the possibility of the S6 launching with this new part was interesting, as the current process tech is 20nm HKMG for the Exynos 7. However a switch to this new process so soon before the official announcement seemed unlikely as large-scale 14nm FinFET production was just unveiled on February 16. Regardless, AnandTech is reporting that the new part will indeed be produced using this new 14nm process technology, and this gives Samsung an industry-first for a mobile SoC with the launch of the S6/S6 Edge.
GSM Arena has specs of the Galaxy S6 posted, and here’s a brief overview:
- Display: 5.1” Super AMOLED, QHD resolution (1440 x 2560, ~577 ppi), Gorilla Glass 4
- OS: Android OS, v5.0 (Lollipop) – TouchWiz UI
- Chipset: Exynos 7420
- CPU: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57
- GPU: Mali-T760
- Storage/RAM: 32/64/128 GB, 3 GB RAM
- Camera: (Primary) 16 MP, 3456 x 4608, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash
- Battery: 2550 mAh (non-removable)
The new phones both feature attractive styling with metal and glass construction and Gorilla Glass 4 sandwiching the frame, giving each phone a glass back.
The back of the new Galaxy S6 (Image credit: Android Central)
The guys at Android Central (source) had some pre-release time with the phones and have a full preview and hands-on video up on their site. The new phones will be released worldwide on April 10, and no specifics on pricing have been announced.
What is the point in a screen
What is the point in a screen resolution that high in a 5″ display? I’d rather have better performance and better batter life! Please stop making smartphones in the 5-6″ size have higher than a 1080p display!!! No point whatsoever!!
They moved to a non-removable
They moved to a non-removable battery with the s6? Does it still at least have removable storage? I hope they stick with removable batteries with the Note line.
No removable storage. Base
No removable storage. Base model starts at 32GB as a kind of tradeoff, goes up to 128GB.
The non-removable battery is
The non-removable battery is a deal breaker. Love adding a huge battery to my phone. No way will I go back to small battery again.
As soon as some new Intel HD
As soon as some new Intel HD graphics drivers arrive for my Samsung series 3 laptop arrive, 3 years and waiting, I’ll think about buying another Samsung product. Samsung you customized the Intel HD graphics drivers, and it’s the OEM who customized the Intel HD graphics drivers responsibility to update the drivers, Intel has released about 3, or 4 updates on their Generic HD graphics drivers, I know, my ASUS laptop gets them! Talk about SuperFish what about DriverGate, not enough news about DriverGate, and the OEMs who sale devices, and have no software/driver service after the SALE!!!
P.S. Samsung your Samsung control center software is the dog’s mangy A$$, your system software can not even keep, the Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi antennas turned of on the laptop, until I choose to turn them on! At least my HP Probook has a physical button to turn the antennas off.
Laptops, the computer world’s crapshoot!
all those high end specs and
all those high end specs and will still lag because android is unoptimized crap
Oh here we go with the hollow
Oh here we go with the hollow numbers, for example Extreme Tech, more CPU cores than Apple, no information on why. That A53/A57 big little based 7420 has 8 cores(3 IPC per core) so do not expect too much more over Apple’s product in most uses, the Apple custom Cyclone 2 cores(6 IPC per core) are wider order superscalar than the reference A53/A57 cores in the Samsung, the Apple custom cores have their own on die functional blocks to support other things, Samsung likewise.
So it’s Samsung 8 cores and 24 IPC total, and Apple’s 2 cores 12 IPC total. So more cores, and maybe some extra work can be done on the Samsung, but the power budget will have to be bigger if all those cores are running, most mobile applications will probably be tuned for 2, or 4 cores. For sure 8 cores have some task advantages, but Apple could always add another core on the next process node release A9s, and/or more execution ports per core, or even SMT. Apple has some fat custom cores to play with, while others have mostly narrower ARM Holdings reference A53/57 designs. Nvidia had the lead in single core IPC count, with its Denver(7+ IPC per core), as was stated at the Hot Chips symposium by the Nvidia Denver architects. Denver is off of the RADAR currently, but never was in a phone SKU.
So it’s mostly going to be lots of narrower order superscalar ARM Holdings reference design cores verses the wider superscalar custom ARMv8a ISA based cores from Apple, Nvidia(If Denver returns), and AMD(in 2016, K12), and maybe some other ARM Holdings’ top tier architectural licensee will introduce a custom ARM core to compete with Apple, et all in that time frame. For sure Apple has licensed the PowerVR Series 6XT GX6450 GPU design from Imagination, while Samsung the Mali-T760(Arm Holdings), Nvidia has its own graphics, but appears to be chasing the auto market, and tablet/gaming tablet market. I’m waiting for AMD’s K12, custom ARMv8a ISA based APU offerings to arrive, but the phone market is has so many players, that AMD will probably only offer ARM based Tablet SKUs. The phone market is really is everybody and their dog, and I’m still on a flip phone.
Removed the double post as
Removed the double post as requested.
I agree with you that core count is a hollow measure, and link-bait headlines comparing to Apple are just that. Apple’s SoC has been the best performing for a while, and they have the OS-level optimization advantage.
What I find interesting about the new Exynos SoC isn’t the ARM big.LITTLE design at all, rather the sudden move to a 14nm process that until recently was not known to be in large-scale production.
Apple’s next SoC could very well end up in production in Samsung’s foundry using this new process tech, as their current A8 is produced at both Samsung and TSMC. It will interesting to see the real-world benefit of the 14nm process will be with regard to power consumption and performance.
I was really looking hard at
I was really looking hard at the Note4, iPhone6 Plus or Nexus6 to replace my S4. The S6 Edge has me interested if the camera is really good. I have never removed my batter, but a 32-64GB version can make me forget the SD card option. I was ready to leave Samsung, but I’m taking a moment to think about it now.
I got about one year out of
I got about one year out of each of my two previous Galaxy S batteries, as their performance began to noticeably decline right around the anniversary of getting the phone. Now on my third year of ownership and my third battery.
So… even IF they doubled the battery life with the new phone, I would still be buying something that will gradually turn into a brick a couple years after I buy it.
The Edge feature seems primarily designed to discourage use of a protective case… so that you will break your phone and they can sell you a new one.
Lack of an SD card enables them to charge you more for larger capacity variants of the phone.
Hey, but it IS shiny and and has cool-sounding stats. Seems like every major change they made has only cosmetic benefits while causing significant functional drawbacks.
No MicroSD, no removable
No MicroSD, no removable battery. I think my S5 will be my last Sammy phone.
Also QHD on a 5.1″ screen is pretty pointless and will be a big battery drainer. My wife’s Sony Z1 Compact looks more attractive to me. I guess my next upgrade will probably be a Sony Z? Compact.
I want to, buy the Galaxy S6
I want to, buy the Galaxy S6 only that It has the best camera on the market, but in the Galaxy S6 there are also negative things such No MicroSD. No Removable Battery and Back
Read More Why Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge Suck http://techxat.com/why-galaxy-s6-sucks-4-reasons/