Apple iPhone 6 vs Galaxy S6: storage
The iPhone 6 is available with either 16GB, 32GB or 128GB of storage, whereas the S6 comes with either 32GB, 64GB or 128GB. The price of the top-end S6 hasn’t yet been announced but, since the 64GB version is £40 more than the 64GB iPhone 6, we would expect it to cost in excess of £700.
Neither the iPhone 6 nor the Galaxy S6 has a microSD slot, so the memory you buy is the memory you get. Bear this in mind when you’re deciding which model to buy, taking into account the number of apps, amount of music and so on that you will want to store on the phone.
Overall, the lower entry point and better money-per-gigabyte value of the iPhone 6 puts Apple ahead.
Apple iPhone 6 vs Galaxy S6: performance
Apple iPhone 6 vs Samsung Galaxy S6: processor and RAM
Both the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S6 run on proprietary system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors, the Apple A8 and Samsung octa-core Exynos 7420 respectively. As with all the hardware we review, we put the phones through a series of standardised tests to establish their real-world performance, rather than just comparing them on paper.
The first of these is Geekbench 3, which benchmarks processor speed. While the iPhone 6 was slightly faster in the single-core results (1,631 vs 1,485), the S6 was streets ahead in the multi-core results, with Exynos’ eight cores reaching 5,282 compared to the A8’s 2,913. In fact, the S6’s result was the best we’ve ever seen in a multi-core test.
SunSpider, a JavaScript test that measures how fast a browser runs, showed both the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6 to be lightning-fast, gaining scores of 355ms and 347ms respectively. As this is a difference of only 8ms, this means the browser speeds of the S6 and iPhone 6 are, effectively, the same.
Next up is GFXBench T-Rex HD, which benchmarks 3D graphics. The iPhone 6 nudged ahead in this test, producing 51fps as opposed to the Galaxy S6’s 38fps. This means you’ll have a smoother experience watching video or playing games on the iPhone 6.
Apple iPhone 6 vs Galaxy S6: battery
At 2,600mAh, the Samsung Galaxy S6’s battery capacity is significantly greater than the iPhone 6’s, which comes in at just 1,810mAh.
Looping a 720p video in flight mode at a brightness of 120cd/m2, the difference in the phones’ capacity was evident, with the Galaxy S6 depleting at 6% per hour, whereas the iPhone 6 depleted at 7.5% per hour.
The GFXBench battery test, which loops a 3D OpenGL animation for around half an hour and then estimates total runtime, returned a more favourable result for the iPhone, which scored 2hrs 29mins, while the S6 scored 2hrs 14mins.
Sadly for fans of removable batteries, neither the Galaxy S6 nor the iPhone 6 has this feature.
iPhone 6 vs Galaxy S6: connectivity
The Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6 both have the standard connectivity features you’d expect on a top-end smartphone, including 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 4G LTE and Bluetooth LE.
The iPhone 6 also features AirDrop, although it’s of limited use unless the device you wish to transfer files to is also running iOS 7 or higher.
Finally, both the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6 feature NFC, which is used to facilitate Samsung Pay and Apple Pay respectively.
In our data-transfer test, in which we transfer the same file to the device over Wi-Fi, we found the S6 to be faster, reaching 12MB/sec, while the iPhone 6 scored 8.5MB/sec.
All in all, both the iPhone 6 and Galaxy S6 have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to overall performance, and they more or less cancel each other out, so we’re calling this one a draw.
Performance verdict: DRAW
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