A new promotional image leaked online has suggested that there could be as many as five distinct versions of Samsung’s next-generation flagship handset, the Galaxy S6.
There has been a lot of news about the Galaxy S6 recently, mostly centred around how the company is believed to be using its own Exynos processors in the phone owing to overheating issues with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chip to be used by the competition.
An image of the new product family has now been leaked to CNET Korea though. It appears to be a promotional photo created by the company to show off the devices and clearly shows five distinct and very different-looking devices wearing the Galaxy S6 moniker.
Leaked image of the Galaxy S6 family sent to CNET Korea in February 2015
CNET
The phone furthest to the left appears to be the standard Galaxy S6 and, asides from the visibly-protruding camera, seems to be what everybody expected: an updated, more premium S5 with higher-quality materials. It is still unclear whether the chassis is actually made of metal or not though. A full metal body has been a top request from Samsung customers bored of the tacky thin plastic used on the company’s devices for the past several years.
The two devices in the middle appear to be the S6 but with different covers fitted. The one on the left is clearly by top South Korean smartphone cover manufacturer Verus. The other is unknown.
The phone standing on the right appears to be equipped with an “Edge” display though, pulled from the Galaxy Note Edge launched last year. This means the display continues round to the side of the device, providing an extra thin strip of pixels which can be used for widgets, shortcut links, extra menu functionality or even an information display for things like news or Twitter feeds.
It isn’t really much of a surprise anymore that the Galaxy S6 Edge exists but this would appear to confirm it as the phone’s bezel clearly tapers round in the same way that the Note Edge does.
The Edge display is also prominent in Samsung’s recent press invitations to Samsung Unpacked on March 1st when the S6 family is expected to be unveiled and launched. It will be especially significant for the company as it shifts into decline in terms of sales and market share after Apple’s announcement of nearly 75 million iPhone sales last quarter.
