Huawei P8 vs Samsung Galaxy S6: Which should you choose?
Huawei has officially announced the P8, the flagship for 2015. It is the Chinese company’s attempt to compete with Apple’s iPhone 6 and Samsung’s Galaxy S6, two of the biggest devices this year.
Even though Huawei won out against Samsung last year in China and some other markets, the Galaxy S6 is a formidable smartphone and shows the South Korean giant is back in business -- but which flagship is better?
Design
Both smartphone manufacturers have been on the bottom end of design in the past, but Samsung made great strides with the Galaxy S6 to appeal to a wide variety of customers. The dual-glass back and front, alongside the metallic frame, is a unique design and one that millions seem to love.
The Huawei P8 features a metal unibody similar to the iPhone 6 or HTC One M9, although instead of a curved build the P8 is a rectangular brick. It makes holding the device a bit awkward, something that is not an issue on the Galaxy S6.
It is easy to see the progress Samsung has made in 2015 when it comes to design. It really has knocked it out of the ballpark, where Huawei has stayed timid and not ventured into any unique area -- we would give the design victory to Samsung.
Display
The Huawei P8 features a 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920 IPS display, a rather decent if somewhat underwhelming panel. The Galaxy S6 features a 5-inch 1440 x 2560 AMOLED display, a much higher resolution display with more color saturation, offering deeper blacks.
Samsung builds its own displays and is one of the best in the business. The Galaxy S6 panel has a higher resolution, better color saturation for movies and better color accuracy from the short time playing with the two devices -- it is a definite winner.
Camera
Android has been called out for its poor cameras for years, but both Samsung and Huawei are trying to make a case for their own camera. The P8 features a 13MP rear shooter with optical image stabilization and dual LED flash, compared to the Galaxy S6 with a 16MP sensor, OIS but a single LED flash.
Both cameras have their separate issues, the Galaxy S6 is not great in low light conditions, and the Huawei P8 fails to attain accurate color representation. Both falter when it comes to consistency, something that seems to be ingrained in Android smartphones.
We would give the slight edge to Samsung, but it is not much of an edge.
Under the hood
Both smartphone vendors decided against Qualcomm this year, both utilizing their own semiconductor divisions. The Galaxy S6 and Huawei P8 both feature octa-core processors, although the P8 is a little slower on clock speed.
Other specifications are similar, both run 3GB of RAM and offer between 16 and 64GB of internal storage. Huawei does offer a microSD slot while the Galaxy S6 has a fingerprint sensor, it is up to the consumer to decide which is the more valuable feature.
Performance should be similar regardless, unless Huawei plans to bootload a few gigs of bloatware on the P8 when it launches. Samsung has worked hard on resorting TouchWiz to be operable and offer a good amount of space at launch.
Verdict
The Galaxy S6 takes home the victory today. Even though the Huawei P8 is a thinner and lighter device, the Galaxy S6 packs more pixels, offers a better design and just peaks in the
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