The Samsung Galaxy S6 Looks Like an Apple Inc. iPhone 6 Clone

Pictures of the chassis of the next generation Samsung Galaxy S6 have hit the Web, and they look mighty familiar. You can find all of the leaked images here, but I think that the following image proves the point:

Source: Weibo via nowhereelse.fr via BGR.

First of all, it seems that Samsung has opted for a metal chassis for the Galaxy S6, much to the surprise of almost nobody who has been following the various leaks. What does come as somewhat of a surprise is that this Galaxy S6 chassis essentially looks like an iPhone 6.

The Galaxy S6 is sounding more and more like a souped-up iPhone 6 cloneThe Galaxy S6 is rumored to have an area touch fingerprint sensor just like on the iPhone 5s/iPhone 6, and it seems that Samsung is going with an Apple iPhone 6-esque chassis for the device, as well. In other words, the Galaxy S6 is shaping up to be Samsung's take on the iPhone 6.

Now, where Samsung looks as though it's going to try to differentiate is on specifications. Rumors point to a 2560-by-1440 quad-HD panel for the S6 (versus a 1920-by-1080 full-HD screen on the iPhone 6 Plus), an octa-core Exynos chip built on Samsung's 14-nanometer process (versus a dual core processor built on a 20-nanometer process in the iPhone 6), a 20 megapixel rear-facing camera sensor (iPhone 6 has an eight megapixel sensor), and three gigabytes of memory (versus the iPhone's one gigabyte).

Additionally, if the rumors are true, Samsung will also launch its own Apple Pay clone known as Samsung Pay.

Will this help Samsung and/or hurt Apple?The relevant question here is whether this will help Samsung and/or hurt Apple. At this point, it's very hard to tell. The iPhone 5s, which was, on paper, "inferior" to the Galaxy S5, still managed to do very well against the latter in terms of sales. The iPhone 6 will almost certainly be "inferior" to the Galaxy S6 across the board in terms of specifications; but given the strong performance of the iPhone 5s and the exceptional performance of the iPhone 6 thus far, I'm not convinced that it matters.

It seems to be commonly accepted at this point that people buy Apple products for reasons beyond sheer technical and/or industrial design prowess. For example, many users prefer, are very familiar with, and/or simply have a large app library on iOS, and switching to an Android-powered Galaxy S6 is simply going to be a no-go.

Further, as Samsung tries to make its phones look more like Apple's, the more -- at least in my opinion -- the iPhone seems like the "real deal," while the Samsung phones seem almost like an imitation. If I were in charge of running Samsung's mobile division, I would be focusing on building something that's genuinely great in its own right rather than something that's trying to build a "better" version of something that already exists.

The Galaxy S6 is reportedly scheduled to be unveiled on March 1 at a Samsung "Unpacked" event. It will be worth keeping a close eye on Samsung's mobile group's financials during the next few quarters to see if the new, iPhone 6-esque Galaxy S6 winds up being a commercial success. I know I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

The article The Samsung Galaxy S6 Looks Like an Apple Inc. iPhone 6 Clone originally appeared on Fool.com.

Ashraf Eassa has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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