Samsung Galaxy S6 vs S5 – should you upgrade?

Storage

The older Galaxy S5 has a memory card slot, letting you add up to 128GB of extra storage for around £60 or 64GB for as little as £20. It’s a great way to expand you storage for photos, music or movies, without having to pay out for an expensive handset with additional memory. The Galaxy S6 comes in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions, the S6 Edge comes in 64GB and 128GB versions. Samsung has said its new flash memory is much quicker, but we haven’t noticed big files opening quicker.

Conclusion: Built-in memory is the way that most manufacturers are going, and there’s not much you can do about it. That said, it removes some flexibility, and the S5 is easy to upgrade if you need more storage; with the S6, you need to buy the right version up-front: we recommend 64GB.

Camera

Both phones use a 16-megapixel camera, but the S6 has a brighter f/1.9 lens, which lets 34% more light hit the sensor than  the S5’s f/2.2. Samsung has also added optical image stabilisation, which significantly reduces camera shake when shooting in low light. The S6 is undoubtedly a step up in tough lighting conditions over the S5, but it’s not huge enough to bother more casual snappers, as you can see from our test shots (S6 at the top, S5 at the bottom).

Conclusion: The S6 just wins this one, but it’s a close-run thing and you certainly wouldn’t be upset with the quality of the shots from the Galaxy S5.

Price

So just how much cheaper is the Galaxy S5 than the S6? We used mobile comparison sites Omio and Uswitch to source these deals. We found a Galaxy S5 (16GB) on a two-year, unlimited minutes and texts, 2GB data contract for £26 a month on Vodafone. We found a similar deal from Tesco Mobile on the S6 for £36 a month but that’s for a 32GB handset (now the base model), while an S6 Edge 64GB (the most common model in the UK on contract) costs £43.50 a month. If you multiply that by 24 months you get £624 for the S5, £864 for the S6 and £1,044 for the S6 Edge. 

Conclusion: We can’t tell you how to spend your money, but we’d happily pay the extra for the S6 over the S5 if we thought we’d be happier with it – you will be using everyday for two years remember. However, the premium for the S6 Edge is another chunk on top of that, and although it’s undoubtedly the more desirable version, we’re not sure it’s worth it for those considering an S5 as an option.

Operating system

All of the phones now run Android 5.0 Lollipop, with the Galaxy S5 having recently got an update. In terms of features and interface, then, all of the handsets are very similar, but there’s one important thing about the S6 and S6 Edge: less bloatware. Samsung has removed 40% of pre-installed apps, making the new phones cleaner and leaner.

Conclusion: Again, there’s little in it, but the bloatware-free S6 just gets our vote, as does its 64-bit support.

Samsung pay

The S6 and S6 Edge also support the new Samsung Pay mobile payments system, which will let you pay for goods in-store using your mobile phone, securing the transaction with the fingerprint reader. It’s not that important in the UK yet, with the system only rolling out in the US and Korea for now, and here later on, with no confirmed date set.

Conclusion

There’s no denying the Samsung Galaxy S5 is a great phone, and it’s something of a bargain right now. It’s still incredibly fast, has a great screen, a brilliant camera and a battery that you can replace. It’s build quality lets it down, though. With the S6 and S6 Edge, you get a faster processor, leaner install of Android and much better build quality. The trade-off is that you pay more and you don’t get a replaceable battery or a memory card slot. As such, for most new buyers, the S6 is a better choice, while S5 owners will probably want to hold out for another year before making the upgrade.