At 1:30 a.m. Beijing time on March 2, 2015, Samsung held a press conference the day before the opening of the MWC in Barcelona to launch the new generation flagship mobile phone Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge with a hyperbolic screen. Samsung kept the pace of releasing the flagship Galaxy S series in the first half of the year and the flagship Galaxy Note in the second half of the year. A year ago, the previous generation Galaxy S5 was also released in Barcelona.
In the past year, Samsung has performed poorly in the smartphone market. Although it is still the leader in terms of global sales, in the field of high-end mobile phones, Apple and the iPhone 6 are overwhelming, while in the field of medium and low-end mobile phones, emerging brands such as Xiaomi have risen strongly, and Samsung's share in both ends has been quickly eroded. This is the background of Galaxy S6.
Samsung has changed from function first to design first
Samsung needs to change. It cannot be upgraded year after year like S3, S4 and S5. A month ago, Samsung released the trailer of The Next Galaxy, suggesting that the new products will be made of metal and seek breakthroughs in product design. At the beginning of the conference in the early morning, Samsung played this video again (45 seconds):
At the press conference, the first presenter, Young Hee Lee (Li Yingxi), president of Samsung Mobile Phone Global Marketing Department, said that "Today is big". The whole company of Samsung has made unprecedented efforts for the new generation of Galaxy mobile phones, starting from the most basic part with a new design. After a brief preparation, she invited JK Shin (Shen Zongjun), CEO of Samsung Electronics.
JK Shin admitted that he is not good at making public speeches because his mother tongue is "engineering". This joke caused bursts of applause from the audience. JK Shin said that the new Galaxy product to be released today will be "the most beautiful smartphone in Samsung's history" and "the most technologically advanced smartphone in the world". Then, the stage lights went dark, and the propaganda film was played on the big screen, and the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge showed their true colors for the first time. At the end of the video, JK Shin came on stage with the Galaxy S6 edge in his right hand, emphasizing twice that "this mobile phone has the ability that other mobile phones can't match".
Next, he emphasized the capabilities of Galaxy S6:
Then it emphasizes the payment and wireless charging functions:
The most business friendly and user friendly Samsung Pay—— When introducing the functions of Samsung Pay, JK Shin stressed that Samsung has reached cooperation with industry leaders VISA and MasterCard, and more banks will join in the future.
Wireless charging—— The Galaxy S6 has a built-in wireless charging module. The wireless charging interface is reserved for the previous generation model, but it can only be supported by replacing a special rear case.
After a summary of the features, JK Shin left the stage and the host, YoungHee Lee, came on stage again. She gave three keywords, namely "design, performance and enterprise application". Then a video was played to show the detailed design of the product. YoungHee Lee raised his S6 edge and said, "This is the first hyperbolic screen mobile phone in the world". Samsung has mastered this production technology and process after several years of innovation and efforts, and Samsung people all believe that "this will be the future". This technology can make it more comfortable to hold your phone, and your friends will think your phone is cool.
Ms. YoungHee Lee shared that one of her favorite reasons for working at Samsung is that she can see the future products ahead of others. She was shocked when she saw the jewel colored S6 for the first time. S6 Using new color technology is like giving life to colors. Different colors can be seen from different viewing angles, such as the gold model in a specific It turns silver when viewed from an angle. S6 adopts the latest fourth generation gorilla glass technology on the front and back of the fuselage, with better wear resistance and improved fall resistance.
YoungHee Lee never forgot to tease her old rival Apple. She said, "My mother tongue is not 'engineering', but I know this phone will never stop bending", alluding to the Apple iPhone 6 bending event. Finally, she invited Ms. Hyun Yeul Lee from Samsung's user experience design department to the stage.
Software
Hyun Yeul Lee introduced Samsung's changes in software design, and the immersive interface design began to embrace the simple style of Android 5.0 native system. Samsung has also designed some unique software features for the hyperboloid screen of edge. For example, five colors can be assigned to five frequently used contacts. When calling, you can directly judge whose phone is by the luminous color on the edge of the screen. For another example, press your finger on the heartbeat sensor at the flash lamp to reject the call directly.
performance
Justin Denison from the Product Strategy and Marketing Department came on stage to introduce the performance of the Galaxy S6. Compared with the previous generation of 20nm technology, the processor with 14nm process has 20% higher performance and 35% energy efficiency. DDR4 memory is 80% faster than the DDR3 technology currently used by the mainstream flagship. The 5.1 inch screen with the same size as the previous generation has a resolution of 2560 × 1440, and the ppi has reached an unprecedented 557. At the same time, Samsung released a new Gear VR helmet that can be paired with S6 and S6 edge.
Fast charging and wireless charging technology
Justin Denison stressed twice that S6 will introduce the world's fastest charging speed - charging for 10 minutes can take 4 hours. The charging time from 0 to 100% is only half of that of iPhone 6. S6 battery is non detachable (its capacity is also lower than S5). Justin Denison said that they initially rejected this design, but the new fast charging technology solved the charging problem. At the same time, S6 has a built-in wireless charging module, which is compatible with WPC (Qi specification) and PMA (combined with A4WP) technologies.
camera
The camera supports optical anti shake, 16 million pixels, maximum aperture F1.9, and real-time HDR and dim light shooting features. The front camera has 5 million pixels, the maximum aperture is F1.9, the area of a single pixel has increased by 43%, the light input has increased by 60%, and the photographing performance in low light environment has been improved - the world's first front camera supporting real-time HDR.
Justin Denison compared the iPhone 6 Plus, which also supports optical anti shake, and the photos and video originals taken at night showed Samsung's victory. He said that it benefited from the large aperture of F1.9.
Double click the Home key, the camera will start in 0.7 seconds, and it has the auto focus function, which can snap quickly.
Samsung Pay
Justin Denison said that for the payment system, universality is the most important. NFC is not the most popular technology in the world (iPhone 6 uses NFC technology). In the United States, for example, 90% of businesses are not equipped with devices that support NFC. Samsung Pay will be compatible with any device that accepts credit cards, savings cards and NFC payments. Through Samsung's original MST technology (which can simulate magnetic stripe cards), even if merchants only accept magnetic stripe cards, they can also use mobile phones to pay - just touch the POS machine with the mobile phone to swipe the card.
In the summer of 2015, Samsung Pay will be the first to be launched in the United States and South Korea, and all businesses can use it without changing their devices.
Enterprise functions
After introducing the consumer grade performance, Gregory Wade went on stage to introduce Samsung KNOX, a technology that divides mobile phones into encrypted and unencrypted areas. It is compatible with the system of mainstream MDM (Enterprise Device Management) companies, and can facilitate the enterprise management of employees' mobile phones, such as remote installation and unloading of unified software.
summary
After introducing the details of product functions, Ms. YoungHee Lee, President of Samsung Mobile Phone Global Marketing, returned to the stage and played a promotional film "Next is now":
She announced that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge will be launched in 20 countries from April 10, and will be expanded to the world in the future. Both models have canceled the version with 16GB of storage space and provide 32/64/128 GB versions. In the same period, accessories such as third-party mobile phone protective cases were also listed.
The release page of Samsung official website focuses on the designers of S6 through the story behind.
Samsung finally gave up plastic, embraced metal and glass materials, and created "the most beautiful smartphone in Samsung's history". This may mean that in Samsung, the position of designers is reversing that of engineers. Design priority inevitably means the choice of some functions. For example, the wide USB 3.0 data interface on the S5 is reduced to Slim 2.0, and the waterproof function is no longer available（ ）。
There are two biggest variables. One is whether Samsung Pay is easy to use and stable enough, which determines whether it can be widely accepted in the world; First, whether S6 edge can be welcomed by consumers, whether it is Samsung showing off its technology or represents the development direction of future products.
