The iPhone is no longer the best smartphone in the world. The new phones from Samsung and HTC can easily give the iPhone a run for its money. Recently both Samsung and HTC launched their flagship devices in India, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9+.
Both the phones are better looking and better performing than the iPhone . But then again they are Android phones, so Apple fans may get emotional about our assertion.
So let’s just get to the point. Two amazing smartphones — the Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9+. Which one is better?
Design
HTC is the only company apart from Apple that knows how to make a beautiful looking smartphone. Samsung had their share of cheap plastic, and now have moved on to more exotic materials for the Galaxy S6.
HTC One M9+ sports a metal body that looks very elegant. Samsung uses a glass front and back with a metal frame on the Samsung Galaxy S6. The One M9+ heats up owing to its metal body and can be used as a hand warmer in winters. Samsung Galaxy S6 is shiny and attracts a lot of smudges. So the phone ends up looking dirty all the time.
Also, being 7mm thick, the Galaxy S6 is compact, and it weighs just 130 grams. The One M9+, at 9.6mm is a little thicker and its 168 grams weight makes it a lot bulkier in comparison.
Make your choice depending on which annoys you less, heat or smudges.
Both the smartphones have distinct design lines and both of them look stunning.
Score
Samsung Galaxy S6: 1 Quint
HTC One M9+: 1 Quint
Display
The 5.1-inch Super AMOLED panel on the Samsung Galaxy S6 has a 1440 X 2560 pixel resolution. It’s one of the most pixel rich panels on a smartphone. The display has good viewing angles, is bright, and also has great balance when it comes to colours.
Now that does not mean that the HTC One M9+ does not have a good display. In fact, it has the same screen resolution as the Galaxy S6 but it’s packed on a display that is 0.1inch bigger. It is just as bright as the Samsung Galaxy S6, but the viewing angles and the color fidelity on the Samsung are better.
Score
Samsung Galaxy S6: 2 Quints
HTC One M9+: 1 Quint
Performance
Samsung Galaxy S6 comes loaded with Samsung’s new Exynos, 64-bit octa-core processor backed by a 3GB RAM. It can handle pretty much anything you bring its way. HTC One M9+ on the other hand comes with a Mediatek Helio X10 octa-core processor also backed by a 3GB RAM, and is equally fast when it comes to performance.
Both the phones are super fast and can handle heavy graphic games without a glitch, and multitasking is seamless without any lags. But HTC One M9+ tends to heat up which is a bit of a turn off. Also the AnTuTu benchmark scores of the Galaxy S6 are better than the One M9+.
Score
Samsung Galaxy S6: 3 Quints
HTC One M9+: 1 Quint
Camera
Samsung has placed a 16 megapixel camera on the Galaxy S6 and HTC went ahead and souped the One M9+ with a 20.7 megapixel duo camera. On paper the HTC has an edge, but the camera on the Galaxy S6 is actually better.
The 16-megapixel sensor on the S6 has a f/1.9 aperture and comes with optical image stabilisation. Images on the Galaxy S6 come out crisp and sharp in day light, and in low light situations it has less distortion than the images on the HTC one M9+.
The duo-camera was also seen on the HTC One M8, but that didn’t turn out to be a winner.
Though the duo-camera works great for touching up an image, it’s real time usage sometimes becomes an obstruction.
The camera on the M9+ can get confused at times while focusing on moving subjects. The video quality of the Galaxy S6 is better than what you get on HTC one M9+.
Score
Samsung Galaxy S6: 4 Quints
HTC One M9+: 1 Quint
Sound
HTC One M9+ comes with two frontal boom sound speakers. They are loud, balanced and rich. You can fire up some music on this phone and party at home.
Samsung Galaxy S6 also has a decent speaker, but it’s recommended that you buy headphones along with the Galaxy S6. They are no match for the sound quality that you get on the HTC One M9+.
Score
Samsung Galaxy S6: 4 Quints
HTC One M9+: 2 Quints
Battery
On paper the HTC One M9+ sports a bigger (2840mAh) battery than the Samsung Galaxy S6 (2600 mAh). But the battery performance of the Galaxy S6 is way better than the HTC One M9+.
It’s quite possible that this is because of the power hungry Mediatek processor on the M9+. Samsung Galaxy S6 also has wireless charging capabilities which are absent on the One M9+.
Score
Samsung Galaxy S6: 5 Quints
HTC One M9+: 2 Quints
Price
HTC One M9+ comes at a price tag of Rs 52,500. That is almost Rs 10K more than the Samsung Galaxy S6 (Rs 43,900), whose price got slashed recently.
Both the phones are the best money can buy right now, but if you want to save a few bucks and spend them on accessories, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is the one to go for.
Final Score
Samsung Galaxy S6: 6 Quints
HTC One M9+: 2 Quints
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S6
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