The Samsung Galaxy S6 may be less than a year old, but that could feel like ages to some owners. And, now with the Samsung Galaxy S7 on the horizon, the notion of upgrading arises. Is it worth jumping from last years’s model to this one? For some of you this is a resounding yes. For others, however, it might not necessarily be worth the upgrade just yet.
Here’s a quick breakdown and comparison of specs between the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S7. Below the chart you’ll find a few reasons as to why you might want to upgrade as well as some that might give pause.
The Good
More RAM
Do more multi-tasking without closing apps or running into issues like lag or stuttering. With 4GB in this year’s model, the Galaxy S7 is at the top of the Android food chain. Although 3GB more than certainly gets the job done for most users, it’s nice to be future-proofed, right?
Bigger battery
Stay away from the charger for longer periods of time. Isn’t that what we always want from our devices? Not only does the S7 increase the battery capacity, but it also brings about fast wireless charging too. So, when you do have to juice up, you’re not stuck on the wall for very long.
MicroSD card slot
One of the biggest pain points in smartphones is getting used to having external storage and then all of a sudden losing the option. That’s exactly what happened last year when Samsung pulled out the expandable storage in the Galaxy S6. Thankfully, it’s back this year as the Galaxy S7 allows for up to 200GB of space.
Increased aperture in rear camera
At f/1.7, the Galaxy S7 offers a stop count better than some DSLR’s, and with the f/1.9 of the Galaxy S6 being improved on yet again, you’ll be sure to notice the depth of field and lighting improvements the S7 brings.
Faster processor
A small bump in speed thanks to the new Exynos 8 Octa, but normal users probably won’t notice a difference in day-to-day operation here. This is mostly noticeable when running benchmarks – something not all of us really care about. There’ll be benefits to be had when it comes to gaming thanks to the better GPU, but certainly not a reason to upgrade.
Water resistant
One of the biggest reasons here to warrant an upgrade. Put simply, you can now shower with your Galaxy S7 – win.
The Bad
The price
At around $700 or £569 off-contract, the Galaxy S7 is a pretty expensive device, and chances are if you already own the Galaxy S6, you’ll still have a fair chunk left on your contract, making this upgrade rather a large purchase.
No increase in screen size
Disappointingly, Samsung decided to keep with the 5.1-inch display in the Galaxy S6. It would have been nice to see the size bumped up, even to 5.2-inches, but alas there is no upgrade to be had here with the Galaxy S7.
Lower megapixel rear camera
The wider aperture has allowed for a reduction in Megapixels, and this will probably only matter to the general users amongst us when it comes to cropping pictures. The camera performance of the Galaxy S7 will undoubtedly beat that of the S6, so a lower megapixel sensor really won’t play into things for 99% of people.
Slightly thicker and heavier than the S6
This will matter more to some than it does to others – to accommodate the upgrades mentioned above, namely the bigger battery, the Galaxy S7 has put on a bit of weight. It’ll come down to personal preference, but certainly the bigger battery is worth the trade-off in weight.
The Galaxy S7 shows that Samsung definitely listened to consumers who were disappointed with the small battery and lack of expandable storage in the Galaxy S6. Not only this, but the faster processor and added RAM makes the S7 and evolutionary upgrade to the S6, rather than revolutionary – and that’s ok.
However, these upgrades do come at a price and the Galaxy S7 isn’t a cheap device, but if money is no object then the S7 is a no brainer upgrade to your older S6. If money is of concern, then I’m not sure the Galaxy S7 is enough of an upgrade over the S6 to warrant doing so – you’d be best placed waiting for the Galaxy S8.
“Disappointingly, Samsung decided to keep with the 5.1-inch display in the Galaxy S6. It would have been nice to see the size bumped up, even to 5.2-inches”
really? We live in the world where so many manufacturer are wrongly thinking that top end phones must have increasingly larger screens. There are so many people who would like top end phones in smaller form factors. There are very few choices available (Sony Xperia Compact range being one of the few). If you want a top end phone with a large screen you have plenty of choice, top end phone with smaller screen is very little choice so there is a huge number of consumers that are being left high and dry. If you are wanting to buy a top end laptop, then there is a large amount of choice in weight and size yet I don’t see why this should be different for phones.
One thing that several articles failed to mention was the the Galaxy 7 dropped the IR Blaster which became my deciding factor not to upgrade from the S6. I realize that most people don’t use this but it’s really an underrated feature to use your phone as a very customizable remote control. A true shame that Samsung dropped it in the latest release.