Three-sided metal-cased S6 is Samsung’s latest attempt to rock the Apple cart

11 Feb 2015

The Galaxy Edge already has a curved design

Samsung’s upcoming S6 smartphone is set to feature quite the wraparound screen, with a metal case also rumoured for its March release.

Shedding customers to Apple, Samsung’s best path to greater profitability remains the premium level in smartphone sales.

Yesterday we reported that Apple had gained 93pc of all smartphone profit from the last quarter of 2014.

Samsung was the only other profitable manufacturer, but its inability to diversify itself away from the countless other Android smartphones continues to temper its success.

So the S6 represents the company’s best bet at eating into Apple’s major market share, given the profitability to be had in high-end smartphones.

Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung will actually release two versions of the S6 in March at the World Mobile Congress, hedging its bets as it looks to innovate just the right amount without losing any fans.

The eye-catching model, if the rumours turn out to be true, will include a three-sided screen, with Samsung clearly happy with the curved utilisation of the fairly cool Galaxy Note Edge.

Samsung Galaxy Edge

The popularity of Samsung’s Galaxy Edge, already utilising the curved screen, has clearly pleased the company

It has already been reported that Samsung is the ‘large customer’, which Qualcomm claims has withdrawn from utilising its new chip after reports emerged that the Korean company’s testing found it to be overheating.

So by changing the physical look of the S6, and bringing in its own processor – with rumours of a QHD step up in graphics to boot – this looks to be Samsung’s clearest opportunity to represent an Android phone evidently superior to the countless competitors.

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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