Apple’s iPhones and Samsung Galaxy smartphones are the most popular handsets around, so it’s no wonder that the rumour mill runs into overdrive when new versions are imminent (well, imminent when it comes to the Galaxy S5 and not so imminent when it comes to the iPhone 6). As speculation is coming in thick and fast, we thought we’d try and keep you on top of it all.
Let’s start with the Samsung Galaxy S5 as it’s looking a dead cert to be launched at Mobile World Congress at the end of this month. There is still a bit of debate regarding what size screen the S5 is likely to sport but it’s looking like it will be somewhere between 5.2 and 5.25-inches. It is anticipated to be one of the first mainstream mobile phones to boast a ‘2k screen’ – this means the pixels exceed 2000 and will be very high-res. In fact the AMOLED touchscreen will have a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels which will gives it 560 pixels per inch.
In terms of power, the Samsung Galaxy S5 is thought to come with either a quad-core 2.5GHz Snapdragon CPU or possibly a 2GHz 64-bit octa-core Exyos processor. It’s likely that different processors will be used according to model variations and the region the phones will be sold in. As is befitting of a new and super-fast new handset, the S5 is expected to feature a 3200mAh battery which is rumoured to be fully-chargeable in around 2 hours. Onboard storage is likely to be around 16GB expandable with a micro SD card.
Reports surrounding the S5 also point to an all-metal frame, a 16-megapixel rear camera and as much as a 3.2-megapixel front-facing camera. Indications are that it could feature some type of fingerprint scanner.
The iPhone 6 is still thought to be several months away from launching. Some of the latest speculation surrounds the type of glass used for the screens as Apple may move away from using Gorilla Glass and instead use Sapphire Glass. Sapphire Glass is up to 3 times tougher and more scratch resistant than Gorillla Glass and is used by Apple as a cover for the Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5s and to protect the cameras. It’s in effect extremely hard to break which would make the iPhone 6 very desirable to current and new iPhone users.
There is also a lot of speculation concerning the potential size of the iPhone 6’s screen. It’s certainly expected to be bigger than previous iPhone models and could possibly be either 4.8-inches or 5-inches in size with a full HD 1080p display. It’s also likely to be slimmer than the iPhone 5s with some reports indicating that it go follow the same lines as the latest iPad Air.
The iPhone 6 will undoubtedly feature 64-bit technology with either an improved A7 chip or a new A8 chip. Apple are also likely to be looking at a faster processor and to bump up the RAM a bit. On-board storage is likely to follow on from the iPhone 5’s with a range of different storage options available according to the price. In terms of the iPhone 6’s camera, Apple seem to be moving away from cameras which feature more and more pixels and so it’s realistic that the iPhone 6 could come with an 8-megapixel rear camera.
Of course, we’ll bring you more on developments for the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5 as we get them.
