Apple and Samsung have now lifted the lid on their flagship devices for 2014,
drawing up new battle lines in the smartphone sector as the shiny new iPhone 6 prepares to take on the all-powerful Galaxy S5.
Now
we know what the iPhone 6 (and its iPhone 6 Plus counterpart) look
like, we can finally put the two head-to-head in what promises to be one
of the most closely-contested battles of smartphone supremacy to date.
Display
Apple has finally
decided to up its screen size, giving the iPhone 6 a 4.7-inch display.
The Galaxy S5 still sports a larger screen however, measuring in at
5.1-inches, and also leads in terms of resolution with 1920 x 1080 at
432ppi against Apple's 1334 x 750 at 326ppi.
The Super AMOLED
display on the Samsung device can be both brighter and darker than its
Android rivals when required, and is capable of producing truly vivid
colours.
Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone
One of the biggest talking points about the iPhone 6 is the absence
of the rumoured sapphire crystal glass, but what you do get for your
money is an "ion hardened" screen that delivers brighter colours and
deeper blacks than the iPhone 5S.
However, the early evidence suggests that it can't quite match the Galaxy S5 in terms of image sharpness and brightness.
Design and build quality
The iPhone 6 boasts the kind of meticulous, premium design that has become synonymous with Apple over the years.
With
its rounded edges, minimal bezel and slender design, this glass and
metal offering is an impressive piece of engineering with a luxurious
feel to it.
Measuring in at just 6.9mm thin, the 8.1mm Galaxy S5
looks obese by comparison, so how can the Samsung handset hope to
compete on this front?
Well, it may not be quite as beautiful, but the Galaxy S5 is a practical
device - water-resistant and durable, with a polycarbonate chassis and
dimpled back for gripping.
Although the iPhone 6 promises to be
more robust than its predecessor, those with a cracked or water-damaged
iPhone 5S are less likely to suffer the same misfortune by defecting to
Samsung.
Camera
The Galaxy S5 packs
a 16-megapixel camera on the rear, while Apple has stubbornly stuck
with an 8-megapixel sensor, but effective digital photography is about
much more than megapixels these days.
Apple has included a tonne
of new camera features in its latest iPhone, including a f/2.2 aperture
lens, faster autofocus and software image stabilisation. Users will be
able to shoot 1080p footage at 30 and 60fps, as well as slow motion
video at 240fps.
All of the above amounts to one of the most efficient tap-and-go
snappers in the smartphone sector, but it has its work cut out against
the feature-rich Galaxy S5 camera.
Samsung has aimed to replicate
the output of an SLR by including an ISOCELL sensor with Phase Defect
autofocus and selective defocus, also known as background de-focus.
Under the hood
Apple's
iPhone 6 comes with the firm's new 64-bit A8 chip on board. It's still a
dual-core affair, but the clock speed has been amped up from 1.3GHz to
around 1.4GHz.
Although manufacturers' claims should always be
taken with a pinch of salt, Apple boasts that the A8 is 25% faster than
the A7 chip housed inside the iPhone 5S, as well as being 50% more power
efficient.
The on-board RAM is also said to be quicker, but the
iPhone 6 packs just 1GB of it, a fraction of the amount you'll find in
other modern flagship devices.
With a quad-core Snapdragon 801 chip clocked at 2.5GHz and 2GB of RAM
under the hood, the Galaxy S5 is the clear winner - but this only tells
half the story.
Apple has greater control over its 64-bit
hardware and software than Android manufacturers are allowed, meaning
they can optimise their devices more efficiently.
In fact, the
iPhone 5S has been known to outperform the Galaxy S5 in some
benchmarking tests, so just imagine how the iPhone 6 will perform.
Moreover,
Apple's new handset will be primed for gaming thanks to the inclusion
of a new graphics API dubbed Metal, said to boost its graphical
performance by 84% faster compared to the 5S.
Samsung Galaxy S5 S-Cover
Battery life is an area where Apple has been criticised in the past,
with the Galaxy S5's 2800mAh power cell running circles around its
counterpart in the iPhone 5S.
The Mac maker has upped its game
this time around with the inclusion of a 1810mAh cell, which allegedly
provides 24 hours talk time or 16 days of standby.
iOS 8 may be
power efficient, but we're still expecting the iPhone 6 to come out in
second place to the S5's goliath battery in this category.
Operating system and software
The iPhone 6 comes with Apple's iOS 8
operating system pre-installed, which doesn't look much different to iOS 7 on the surface, but offers a raft of new features.
Among them are widgets in the notifications pull-down menu, the debuting
Health application and improved integration with the OS X Yosemite Mac
operating system.
Photo editing and sharing on iOS 8
The above tweaks puts iOS 8 on a level playing field with the Galaxy
S5's blend of Android KitKat and the latest version of TouchWiz, but
it's worth noting that the Galaxy S5 is likely to be upgraded to the upcoming Android L
before the year is out.
Moreover,
the Apple Pay digital wallet is being touted as one of iOS 8's core
features, which doesn't sound all that impressive when you consider that
some of the most rudimentary Android phones have offered this
functionality for some time.
Verdict
While
it's impossible to choose an overall winner in this clash of smartphone
titans without spending more time with the iPhone 6, the evidence
suggests that there will be little difference between them in terms of
real-world performance.
The iPhone 6 is the more aesthetic of the
two handsets, but the Galaxy S5 is durable and practical, and might
just edge out its rival in the display stakes.
Spec
| Manufacturer | Apple | Samsung |
| Model | iPhone 6 | Galaxy S5 |
HARDWARE
|
| Processor | Dual-core 2GHz Apple A8 | Quad-core 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 |
| RAM | 1GB | 2GB |
| Screen size | 4.7in | 5.1in |
| Screen resolution | 1,334x750 | 1,920x1,080 |
| Screen type | IPS | AMOLED |
| Rear camera | 8 megapixels | 16 megapixels |
| Flash | Dual-LED | LED |
| Memory card slot (supplied) | N/A | MicroSD |
| NFC | Yes | Yes |
| Wireless data | 4G | 4G |
| Size | 138x66x6.9mm | 142x72.5x8.1 mm |
| Weight | 129g | 145g |
FEATURES
|
| Operating system | iOS 8 | Android 4.4 (KitKat) |
| Battery size | 1,810mAh | 2,800mAh | |
