Battle of the Bigs: Apple iPhone 6s and 6s Plus vs Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Note5

Daniel Howley
·Technology Editor

Apple’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have finally landed. Though they might look like last year’s models on the outside, they’re very different on the inside.

The newest members of the iPhone family come with new 3D Touch screen technology, improved cameras, and more powerful processors. We haven’t had a chance to do a full hands-on review of the new handsets, but our initial impressions are favorable.

Related: Apple Introduces iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with 3D Touch, Live Photos

However, Apple’s iPhone has some big-time competition in Samsung’s fantastic Galaxy S6 and Note5. How do the handsets match up, spec for spec? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Size and weight

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are basically carbon copies of their predecessors in terms of looks and design, but there are some subtle differences between the phones. Chief among them is a slight increase in thickness.

Though only a hair larger than last year’s models, the 4.7-inch 6s and 5.5-inch 6s Plus are built using the same metal as the Apple Watch. Apple claims this will make them sturdier than their predecessors (bye-bye Bendgate) as well as slightly heavier.

Despite having larger displays than their Apple counterparts, Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Note5 are a teensy bit lighter than the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. That’s why Samsung takes this round.

Advantage: Galaxy S6 and Note5

Display

The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus come with 4.7-inch and 5-inch Retina HD displays, respectively. The Galaxy S6, on the other hand, gets a 5.1-inch screen, while the Note5 comes with a 5.7-inch panel. So if bigger is indeed better, Samsung’s phones have an advantage over Apple’s handsets.

Each phone also comes with a razor-sharp display with tons of pixels. The Galaxy S6 and Note5 have higher resolution panels, but most people won’t be able to see the difference between them and Apple’s slightly lower resolution screens.

What really matters is the kind of display technology the phones use. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus use LCD screens, while Samsung uses Super AMOLED panels.

In general, LCD screens are easier to read in direct sunlight, but Super AMOLED offers more colorful, vibrant images. Between the iPhone 6 and Galaxy S6, the S6 will likely provide a better viewing experience.

Advantage: Galaxy S6 and Note5

Camera

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus both come with 12-megapixel iSight cameras, a 50-percent increase in resolution over the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus’ 8-megapixel cams. Still, only the 6s Plus comes with optical image stabilization, which ensures your shots come out sharp even if your hand is shaking.

In its presentation, Apple said that its new cameras will be able to better capture shots taken in mixed lighting settings without causing shots to look distorted.

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Note5 both come with 16-megapixel rear cameras and optical image stabilization. Based on our previous tests, the Galaxy S6 captured crisper, more colorful images than both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, so Apple was smart to update its handsets’ cameras.

Advantage: iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

We can’t say for sure until we get our hands on the new iPhones, but based on what Apple showed off on stage, the 6s and 6s Plus may help Apple take back the crown for best smartphone camera.

Performance

Apple’s new iPhones each get a more powerful A9 processor that the company says is nearly twice as fast as the iPhone 6′s A8 chip. That means the 6s and 6s Plus will offer better multitasking abilities and smoother overall performance.

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Note5 both get 8-core processors. The S6, however, comes with 3GB of RAM, while the Note5 gets 4GB. In truth, all of these phones should be able to handle any apps you throw at them with ease.

Advantage: None

Neither the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus or Galaxy S6 and Note5 seems to take the prize here, as most smartphones can handle apps and multitasking without much issue. The real test will be how the iPhone 6s compares to the iPhone 6.

Special Features

In addition to their new cameras, improved performance, and sturdier frames, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus come with new 3D Touch displays, which let you press hard on the screen to pull up a third option beyond simply selecting and opening apps.

Read More: Hands-on with 3D Touch: Why You Should Be Pumped About the iPhone’s New Interface

For instance, if you have an iPhone 6 and you get a text from a friend with a link to a website, tapping the link would normally take you out of your texting app and open Safari. With 3D Touch, though, you can lightly press and hold on the link to get a preview of the website. If you want to open the link in Safari, you just have to press harder.

Similarly, if you press lightly on an email in your inbox, you’ll get a full-page preview. Pressing harder lets you fully interact with the message.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note5, meanwhile, comes with a stylus that lets you write directly on the phone’s screen, so you can take notes (hence its name), capture screen shots, and more.

There’s also an Edge version of the Galaxy S6 that provides you with shortcuts for your contacts and apps like Twitter Trends, Weather, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Sports.

Advantage: Tie

Apple’s 3D Touch is an innovative new technology that has the potential to truly change the way we use apps on our smartphone. But the Note5′s stylus is already doing that. So for now, this round is a tie.

Stay tuned

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus might look exactly like last year’s models, but the technology packed inside is genuinely impressive. Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Note5, though, won’t go down without a fight. For now, it looks like Samsung’s handsets have a slight edge over the new iPhones.

Still, we’ll have to wait until our full review until we can make any definitive judgements. Stay tuned.

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Email Dan Howley at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+.