Samsung Unveils the Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and Samsung Pay [PICS]

Samsung has announced its new flagship phones today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are now consist of a metal frame, housed by Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides, in a slimmer and lighter design and wireless charging.

Here are the hardware specs (via TechCrunch):

• 5.1-inch 2560×1440 Super AMOLED display with 577 ppi
• Exynos Octacore processor, 3GB LPDDR4 RAM
• 32/64/128GB UFS 2.0 internal storage
• Android 5.0
• F/1.9 16MP rear camera with optical image stabilization and live HDR
• F/1.9 5MP front camera with live HDR
• Category 6 LTE with 300 Mbps down/50 Mbps up max theoretical speeds
• Wi-Fi 802.11 AC with HT80 MIMO, Bluetooth LE, NFC, IR blaster
• 2,550mAh (GS6) and 2,600mAh (GS6 edge) batteries
• Available in April in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB

Gone is the removable back, battery, SD card slot and waterproofing.

Samsung owners the last 5 years: “iPhone sucks! No removable battery or SD card and plastic is so much more durable!” The S6 —> “Um, oops”.

— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) March 1, 2015

As expected, both phones come with a new revamped touch-based fingerprint sensor, similar to Apple’s Touch ID.

Check out some first hands-on images below via The Verge, which says “similarities to the iPhone 6 are undeniable”:

Hilarious (to me): Samsung makes big deal of Galaxy S6 "Edge" curved screen. AND THEN NEVER SAYS WHY THAT'S BETTER. pic.twitter.com/myaIt4R9oY

— Amir Efrati (@amir) March 1, 2015

Here are some hands-on videos from The Verge:

Galaxy S6 Edge:

Samsung also announced their Apple Pay competitor, ‘Samsung Pay’ (interesting choice of name), which will utilize technology from its recent acquisition of LoopPay. Samsung Pay will use NFC (and utilize tokenization like Apple Pay for security) and can also ‘talk’ to magnetic stripe card readers, set for a summer launch in the U.S. and South Korea, with further expansion pegged for Europe and China. It will only be available to the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

Here’s how Samsung Pay will work: users swipe up from the device’s bezel, which launches the Samsung Pay app. Users then choose their mobile payment method, then use the new fingerprint sensor to authenticate (like Apple Pay) the transaction, then users need to tap their phone to the merchant’s point-of-sale terminal.

Samsung has long been criticized for making its former Galaxy phones out of cheap plastic. That is no longer the case with the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which actually brings a premium look to the devices, something iPhone owners have long experienced.

No prices were announced today by Samsung. I have a hunch they will be priced the same or higher to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on subsidized contracts.

What do you think of these new phones from Samsung?