Samsung Galaxy S6 Review

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus are here, with bigger screens, better specs and all new features, such as the Bixby AI assistant.

But that doesn't automatically make the Samsung Galaxy S6 a bad choice. If anything, it has gotten better over time thanks to the update to Android Marshmallow. Even Android Nougat is now being rolled out to it and the phone is the cheapest it's ever been, but don't hold your breath for Android Oreo.

Original review follows below.

It's no secret that Samsung needed to do something big with this phone, to unleash something to stop the rot that the Galaxy S4 began two years earlier.

We just didn't expect the Samsung Galaxy S6 to be this good.

Yes, there are still some elements that prevent it from being the perfect phone (this is Samsung after all, a brand that likes to cram as much into the phone as it can get away with) but to leap to this point from the plastic-clad nonsense of the Galaxy S5 is a really, really impressive feat.

Samsung didn't take this task lightly, beginning almost completely from scratch and replacing key members of its design team to make sure it created a standout phone.

Perhaps the S6 is a little too similar to the rest of the competition (it looks stunningly like an iPhone at the bottom) but at least there's the Galaxy S6 Edgefor those that want a really unique-looking device.

The big issues, at least when it released, were its price and battery life: the former initially being wincingly high at the time.

Samsung Galaxy S6 price

• Released in April 2015
• Launched at $850 (about £640, AU$1113)
• Currently costs $400, £370, U$525 SIM-free

It's dropped a fair bit now though, what with the introduction of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8, and the 32GB variant can now be had for around £370 ($400, AU$899), the 64GB for £539 ($700, around AU$999) while the huge 128GB variant for £599 ($800, around AU$1,149) - but the latter two are not easy to find.

The iPhone 6S has a different pricing structure, in that the 32GB option is £499 ($549, AU$929) and the 128GB model is £599 ($649, AU$1,079), making it more expensive at the bottom end, but the same or less for a 128GB model.

Why the comparison? The main reason is that Samsung was finally starting to charge a higher premium than the iPhone, where traditionally the undercut has been one of its key selling points in the Apple vs Samsung debate consumers go through.

Thankfully, as you can see above, the price of the S6 has now dropped considerably, especially if you shop around, giving it back that edge. 

Though it will still set you back at least as much as the iPhone 6, it's cheaper than the Galaxy S7 and far less than the Samsung Galaxy S8.

And there's a smaller battery on board than last year, which instantly makes me worry when the screen resolution has been bumped up to give us the sharpest display on the market.

But Samsung's been at this smartphone game for a while now, so can it justify that high price tag by cramming in loads of amazing technology… and make the battery last more than a day?