Related Articles
Sarah Tew/CNET
Samsung may offer a Galaxy S6 with a display that you can view from three sides — the front, left and right.
The mobile phone maker plans to unveil two versions of its next Galaxy S phone — one with the standard front-facing display and one with a display that extends to three sides, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing “people with direct knowledge of the matter.” Expected to take the stage at Mobile World Congress in early March, both phones would have all-metal bodies, come with 5.1-inch screens and use Samsung’s most advanced processors, the sources said.
Samsung has been hit by greater competition in the smartphone arena — on both the high end and the low end. Thanks in large part to demand for the new big-screened iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple’s global share of the smartphone market rose to 20 percent in the fourth quarter from 18 percent a year prior, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. Over the same time, Samsung’s slice dropped to 20 percent from 30 percent. On the lower end, Samsung has lost sales in emerging markets to Chinese vendors such as Xiaomi and Huawei. As such, Samsung’s Galaxy S6 phone needs to provide a compelling reason to draw in buyers.
The report from Bloomberg of two Galaxy S6 phone models echoes a similar story from Business Insider published last month. The main difference is that BI’s story claimed that only one model would come with a metal body while the other would stick with the traditional plastic.
Samsung already offers a phone with an edge display — namely the Galaxy Note Edge , outfitted with a 5.6-inch screen that curves onto the right side to display various icons and notifications. Assuming Bloomberg’s sources are on the money, the Galaxy S6 would extend that concept by bending the display to both the right and left sides.
Earlier this month, Samsung sent out invitations to a March 1 event at Mobile World Congress. The all-black invitation said “What’s Next” and displayed an image that seemed to hint at a curved device.
One feature that Samsung is touting for its 2015 Galaxy S phone is the camera. In a post on its Samsung Tomorrow site, the company took us through the history of its smartphone camera with details on how the picture-taking quality has improved with each new generation. The front-facing camera is now considered a necessity, prompting Samsung to promise even greater quality for the camera for its next Galaxy S phone.
“We meticulously evaluate every single facet of our smartphone cameras by taking over 10,000 photos in every imaginable lighting environment for analysis,” Samsung said. “The same passion and dedication has been put into building the cameras for the release of our 2015 flagship model. It will be intelligent and do all the thinking for users, allowing them to take amazing pictures under any conditions, without having to worry about anything more than just pressing the shutter button.”
Samsung did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.
