If you’re in the market to upgrade your Android phone in the next few months, you’re in luck. Weeks before it’s scheduled to be revealed, Samsung’s Galaxy S6 appears to have leaked in clear new images, and there’s an added bonus: we also get a look at Samsung’s curved-edge S6 variant, the Galaxy Edge.
The Galaxy S6 is one of the most anticipated smartphones of the year, as it will represent the South Korean tech giant’s latest entry in its bestselling line of Galaxy S devices. This year, Samsung is expected to address longstanding criticisms from tech observers and finally give its Galaxy S6 a high build quality with aluminum materials.
To date, leaks of the device have only shown us prototypes and blurry pictures of purported models. Now, though, PhoneArena appears to have gotten its hands on high quality images of the Galaxy S6, and it looks like the rumors of better build quality will indeed pan out this year.
Critical tech observers may note that the Galaxy S6 bears some resemblance to Apple’s iPhones in its design. If indeed the Galaxy S6 does debut looking as it does in this image, it will no doubt spark yet another round of accusations that Samsung is copying Apple’s designs.
Of course, nothing is official until Samsung unveils the Galaxy S6, which the phonemaker is expected to do in March at Mobile World Congress. When Samsung does show off the Galaxy S6, though, tech observers believe that it will be the first 64-bit Samsung flagship device, with a Snapdragon 810 processor built in, as well as a Quad HD display and 32GB of storage for the baseline model.
What else might Samsung have in store with the Galaxy S6? The tech giant is known for cramming just about every feature it can into its flagship models, and the Galaxy S6 might be no different. The most recent rumors from BGR have Samsung mass-producing ePoP memory modules. The use of this “embedded package on package” – which stacks the RAM and NAND storage on top of a device’s processor – could allow for even larger battery capacity in the Galaxy S6 and future Samsung phones.
The regular Galaxy S6 model wasn’t the only thing to leak this week. CNet Korea got its hands on promotional images for the rumored Galaxy Edge. This device would be a sibling to the Galaxy S6, much in the way that the Galaxy Note Edge is similar to the Galaxy Note 4. As such, the Galaxy Edge would probably pack the same internal specifications as the Galaxy S6. The difference: it would also have a curved edge along one of its screens, an addition that Samsung says opens up new possibilities for interacting with the phone.
One other difference would be in the price. That curved display technology doesn’t come cheap, so the Galaxy Edge would likely cost at least $100 more than the Galaxy S6.
Both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Edge will likely ship with the latest version of Google’s Android operating system, Lollipop.