iPhone 6s vs Samsung Galaxy S7: Three things Samsung does better

Is the Samsung Galaxy S7 the new best smartphone in the world? Samsung has just announced the details at MWC, and the S7 is getting some serious hype. Here are three things that the Galaxy S7 does better than Apple’s iPhone 6s.

iPhone 6s vs Samsung Galaxy S7: Waterproofing

Samsung has announced that the S7 is waterproof, with a rating of IP68. This has proved a hit with the company’s fans, who were disappointed by the lack of waterproofing in the S6. (This was a particular disappointment given that the S5 was rated at IP67.)

IP ratings aren’t specific to waterproofing; the IP stands for ingress protection, and the ratings refer to a device’s ability to stop all unwanted external items from getting inside. Sand, dirt and dust are included too.

As this handy guide explains, the two digits in an IP rating refer to protection against solid and liquid intrusions respectively; the first goes from 0 to 6 and the latter from 0 to 8. In other words, IP68 is the highest rating given, and certifies that the Galaxy S7 iOS both “Totally dust tight” and “Protected against prolonged effects of immersion under pressure”.

This is almost certainly a better standard – and possibly a much better standard – of ingress protection than is provided by the iPhone 6s. But it’s hard to be sure. For one reason or another Apple doesn’t apply for IP certification for any of its products, so there are no ratings to reveal.

A cynic might assume this is because Apple products underperform woefully in this area but reviewers have found that the iPhone 6s, like the Apple Watch, is more waterproof than Apple let on. The 6s features a rubber gasket to protect its perimeter and, while the ports aren’t waterproofed, does have waterproof insulation around its logic board: a more conservative attempt at waterproofing than on the S7 and similar phones, but enough for quite a few 6s models to survive a dunk in YouTube tests.

Nevertheless, that’s one for the S7.

If you want a waterproof iPhone, however, you can always add a waterproof iPhone case.

iPhone 6s vs Samsung Galaxy S7: Micro-SD card slot

Samsung has announced that the S7 features a Micro-SD card slot which can take up to 200GB cards. If the onboard storage you pay for initially proves to be insufficient, you’ll be able to supplement it in future.

Apple doesn’t offer storage card slots on any of its iPhones and never has; some accessory makers have come up with workaround solutions, such as the Leef iBridge which connects via the Lightning port. But it remains an annoyance when buying an iPhone that, short of unwieldy accessories like that, whatever storage allocation you pay for is going to be the limit for the entire life of the product.

Apple has its reasons for never including SD card slots: there’s a lot to be said for design simplicity; the rise of the cloud means storage isn’t an issue for many in the way it used to be; and you can always plump for the 128GB iPhone 6s, which ought to be enough storage for anyone. But this is still a clear win for Samsung.

iPhone 6s vs Samsung Galaxy S7: Battery

We won’t be able to compare the two devices’ battery performance in our rigorous lab tests until we’ve got review samples. But early signs suggest that the S7 may have more to offer here.

The S7 features a 3000mAh battery unit. (The edge model has one that’s bigger still: 3600mAh.)

The iPhone 6s has a battery with a capacity of just 1715mAh. (The 6s Plus has a much higher capacity of 2750mAh, but that still falls short of the Samsung models.)

Both iOS and Android offer power-saving features, but Apple’s products tend to have slighter tighter optimisation between hardware and software because Apple makes both, so the iPhone might do better in real-world tests. But we’d be very surprised if such a large gap in battery spec doesn’t result in a substantially better battery life.

Neither device comes with a removable battery unit, by the way: that’s no surprise for an iPhone, but a mild disappointment for Samsung fans.

OUR VERDICT

We can’t wait to put the Galaxy S7 through our rigorous lab tests, and that will give us a better idea of whether the S7 really is going to be the best smartphone in the world. So check back for an updated article and full comparison review once the samples are sent out.

But on the counts listed above – waterproofing, battery capacity, removable storage – Samsung has already scored three victories over one of the highest-profile devices it will be competing with. At least until the iPhone 7 appears in the autumn of 2016…

Which leads us to one last key point to remember here: we’re comparing one device that’s been on the market for five months with another that isn’t even out yet, so it’s inevitable that Samsung will come out on top in some areas. Apple has a few months to respond, and we’re excited to see what it comes up with.

Source: MacWorld