Why the Galaxy S6 Will Just Give Apple More Customers

So the iPhone 6’s biggest competitor has been released, the reviews are in and by all accounts it is a top quality smartphone.

Build quality, speed, screen and camera have all been improved and are now class leading in the Android field.

But the Galaxy S6 also shares those attributes with its hottest competitor- the iPhone 6.

Build Quality

The Galaxy S6 is being lauded for its glass and metal body, a welcome departure from the cheap feeling plastic that has been present since the original Galaxy model. Yet this only stirs memories of the iPhone 4, still regarded as one of the best looking phones ever and truly a classic in terms of tech design. Yet 5 years later Samsung have released a phone of similar build design and it will only help remind people of Apples design language, a very important part of consumer psychology.

Indeed, put the bottom of theS6 and iPhone 6 side by side and the similarities are striking; speaker grill, headphone jack and port all look the same. As the iPhone has been out 5 months now, this only plays into Apples hands that Samsung ‘copies’ their designs.

Samsung’s problem is that the iPhone 6 continues to have such iconic design, when the Korean manufacturer strays from its admittedly cheap looking design, they only serve to remind customers how Apple has been premium for years.

Screen & Speed

Apple has traditionally always had amazing screens in its phones and electronics. The retina display introduced the market to high pixel density and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus continue this trend. That’s not to say Samsung have been a slouch in this department, indeed they make some fine panels. Yet for colour accuracy and natural looking screens, the iPhone is still king.

Where Samsung has had the edge in screen size in recent years (although this did not slow down sales), with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus parity has been restored. Sales figures of the new iPhones have been so stellar, it is quite obvious that Apple has already stolen a large chunk of Samsung’s user base.

The iPhone has a reputation for a smooth user experience and lag free Os and the iOS 8 improves things further. Amazingly, Apple manages to do this with 1gb RAM and seemingly slower processor (by 2015 standards). Yet in all the benchmarks, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smokes all the high end Android phones by some distance. Incredible software optimisation coupled with proprietary chips give Apple an advantage every time. So while the S6 has finally made its software ‘lag free’, Apple has been doing this with its phones for years.

Camera

Everyone knows the iPhone is the go-to choice for a camera on a phone. Ease of use, great software and high quality optics are par for the course with an iPhone camera. There are dedicated communities online for just the iPhone camera and an industry almost built around accessories for it, showing its incredible popularity.

Now, the camera on the Galaxy S6 is getting great reviews. Many are calling it the best Android camera, ever. All well and good, yet when it comes up against the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with its optic image stabilisation, it still falls short.

As an all-rounder, the iPhone 6 is still the winner. Daytime shots, low light and video, the iPhone 6 is still numero uno despite having a sensor with half the pixel count. Apple are not willing to give their crown up here just yet, but kudos to Samsung for the effort.

In Conclusion

The thing that differentiated Samsung from Apple, was probably the thing that sold them a lot of phones. Expandable storage, removable battery and more flexible build quality (plastic casing and waterproofing), were things that Sammy users have used as a stick to beat iPhone customers with. Now though, they have a more premium feeling phone, yet one that looks strikingly like their biggest rival.

This can only serve to send more customers over to the Apple camp. While there may be defectors to try out this new more premium feeling Samsung, Apple customers generally come back for the superior eco system and user experience.

The number speak for themselves; and they will again this year no doubt.