Samsung Galaxy S6 is a line of Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics.
Succeeding the Samsung Galaxy S5, the S6 was not released as a singular model, but instead in two variations unveiled and marketed together - the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge - with the latter differentiated primarily by having a display that is wrapped along the sides of the device.
The S6 and S6 Edge were unveiled on March 1, 2015, during the Samsung Unpacked press event at MWC Barcelona, and released April 10, 2015.
During the subsequent Samsung Unpacked event on August 13, 2015 (alongside the Galaxy Note 5), Samsung unveiled a third model, the Galaxy S6 Edge+, which features a larger phablet-sized display (5.7 inches instead of 5.1) and more memory (4 GB RAM instead of 3), but lacks an infrared transmitter used for remote controlling.
Although the overall design of the Galaxy S6 still features characteristics from prior models, its construction was revamped to use a metal unibody frame and glass backing instead of plastic. Samsung also promoted an improved camera, streamlined user interface, support for major wireless charging standards, and support for a mobile payments platform that allows the device to emulate the magnetic strip from a credit card.
The Galaxy S6 received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the devices' upgraded build quality over prior models, along with improvements to their displays, performance, camera, and other changes.
However, Samsung's decision to remove the ability for users to expand their storage using MicroSD cards or remove the battery, and the lack of water resistance were panned as being potentially alienating to power users, and the S6 Edge was also panned for not making enough use of its curved display to justify its increased cost over the standard model on-launch.
It was succeeded by the Samsung Galaxy S7 in March 2016.