Report: Samsung to promote the S6 Edge Plus ahead of the Note 5

Samsung’s unique Edge display has proven rather popular this year and industry sources from Korea are suggesting that the upcoming Galaxy S6 Edge Plus will be receiving the bulk of Samsung’s manufacturing and market resources when it launches alongside the Galaxy Note 5 later this year.

The sources state that Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge Plus will see a familiar global rollout, but that production of the Note 5 will be more limited. Note 5 stock will instead be reserved for markets where previous generation Note sales have been traditionally strong, such as South Korea and the US.

Since the original unveiling of the Galaxy Note Edge, there has always been the possibility that Samsung might choose to move its high-end devices over to the Edge display, once production capabilities were fully realized, while gradually phasing out flat panel designs. If the rumors are correct, this appears to be what Samsung has planned.

Furthermore, additional production capacity now means that Samsung can meet the full demand for Edge display devices. With the launch of the Galaxy S6, the company could not produce enough Edge variants to keep up with consumer appetites and apparently overestimated demand for the regular Galaxy S6. This miscalculation has hit the company’s profits this year.

Samsung wasn’t able to keep up with early demand for its S6 Edge, but should have enough production to focus on the S6 Edge Plus.

Samsung is likely attempting to avoid the same mistake from earlier this year and wants to prevent the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Note 5 from affecting each other’s sales. Removing the Note 5 from its less popular markets should do the trick.

This could also have the added benefit of saving on marketing costs, as Samsung won’t have to try to differentiate the two devices in some regions. In markets without a Note 5, Samsung can simply market the S6 Edge Plus as a larger version of its earlier flagship phone.

However, this strategy hinges on customers preferring the Edge display over the regular Note 5, which may not be the case. The higher cost associated with Samsung’s Edge display may not go down well with all consumers, who may have preferred an option to pick up a slightly lower cost regular Note 5.

Other than the curved display, hardware specifications between the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Note 5 are very similar. Both are rumoured to have a QHD display, 16 megapixel camera, 3000mAh battery and 4GB of RAM. A Snapdragon 808 SoC is expected for the Note 5, while an Exynos chip may appear in the S6 Edge Plus.

Do you prefer the curved Galaxy S6 Edge Plus over the Note 5? Do you think that Samsung would be making a mistake by moving away from the Note brand name in some markets?

Samsung announces monitors with built in smartphone wireless charging

Samsung is big on wireless charging these days, having adopted both PMA and Qi standards with its Galaxy S6 smartphone. The company has now announced two new monitors, which feature a built-in wireless charging dock to power up your handset.

There are two models in the range, the 24-inch S24E370DL and 27-inch S27E370DS. Both feature Qi wireless charging ports at the base, so you can charge any smartphone which features this particular charging technology.

The two monitors have a resolution of 1920×1080, a wide viewing angle of 178 degrees, and a contrast ratio of 1000:1. The smaller 24-inch model has a peak brightness of 250 cd/m², while the larger monitor can reach as high as 300 cd/m². The ports on the back include one HDMI 1.4 connection, a Display Pot, and one D-Sub.

For the gamers out there, the S24E370DL and S27E370DS both come with AMD’s FreeSync technology. This aims to eliminate screen tearing when frame rates dip, by matching the monitor’s refresh rate to the output of your GPU. The displays also comes with a fast 4ms response time.

Samsung has not listeed any countries or dates for the release of its new monitors yet, but we might hear more at the upcoming IFA electronics show this September.

The Galaxy S6 Edge+ might have 4GB of RAM… does it need it?

The Samsung of 2015 is a new Samsung. A different Samsung. A more focused, fine-tuned Samsung… at least this is what the company wants consumers to believe. After 2014 saw a decrease in mobile phone sales and ptofitability, 2015 was meant to be a chance to reduce excess product releases, trim the fat, and promote premium.

While Samsung’s possible reduction from 56 phones to just 26 this year might be deemed “smart”, to some it will still come across as failure to curtail the impressive menagerie of smartphones and tablets it releases. TouchWiz however, has been significantly reduced both in size, scope, and substance. The key elements that users look to the company for are still in tow, but less useful components like the Tool Box or Hovering ability are gone.

The Plus is packing RAM?

Curious then, that a new rumor out of Vietnam is suggesting Samsung may be opting to release the upcoming (and as-of-yet unconfirmed) Galaxy S6 Edge+ with 4GB of RAM when it launches in a few weeks.

While the upcoming Galaxy Note 5 is widely expected to ship with 4GB of RAM, this is seemingly more about day-to-day usage rather than a formality. The Galaxy Note series has always been about productivity, and that entails not only the S-Pen, but also an entire suite of software modifications that imbue the device with such fitness.

The Galaxy S6 Edge+ is… just an enlarged Galaxy S6 Edge. Seemingly (and literally) nothing more, nothing less. New reports are suggesting the device will even pack the same Exynos 7420 SoC as opposed to a Snapdragon 808. So if the standard S6 Edge was left to fend for itself with 3GB of RAM, why then should the S6 Edge+ require 4GB?

Consideration 1: It has nothing to do with Apple

Despite all the claims that the product exists simply as a way to “combat” the iPhone 6s Plus, we would argue the RAM spec is totally unrelated. Apple has never deemed it worthwhile to bequeath its profit-providing smartphone series with copious amounts of RAM, and thus it would be seemingly of no value for Samsung to bother.

Consideration 2: It has much to do with Chinese OEMs

These days, it’s not so challenging to find a smartphone packing 4GB of RAM. Just one look at the Asus ZenFone 2, a device that is proving to be quite popular due to its price and spec-set, to find a 4GB variant has been released for those opting to spend some extra cash. The ZTE Nubia Z9 is another 4GB monster and one that our team thought quite highly of. Upcoming Chinese phones expected to have the extra RAM include the OnePlus 2, Lenovo K80, the OPPO Find 9, and the Huawei Ascend D8.

These devices all have – or presumably will – the added benefit of costing less than Samsung’s flagship product line. This is even more true of the device being considered within this piece given that based on the pricing of the standard S6 Edge, the cost of the Plus is likely to be even higher.

Samsung is thus forced to compete spec-for-spec in key market share “battleground” countries with products that potentially offer more, and do it for less.

Consideration 3: Including 4GB of RAM is the only clear solution

The overall success of the S6 and S6 Edge have been plagued by a few small problems, one of which is an overly aggressive RAM management profile. TouchWiz will frequently kill off background apps instead of suspending them, ultimately leading to increased latency when “resuming” an app. The problem has seemingly been persisting even with the update to Lollipop 5.1 and thus perhaps the inclusion of 4GB is a consideration for this debacle.

Read And Mull (over)

Ultimately we may never know exactly why Samsung has decided to include 4GB of RAM on the S6 Edge+, assuming it even does in the first place. While the leak itself come from the very country responsible for much of the Korean company’s manufacturing (Vietnam) it is ultimately not official until Samsung says so.

What’s your take on the issue? Should the Galaxy S6 Edge+ come with 4GB of RAM? Should the standard model have as well? What could be Samsung’s motivation? Leave us a comment and let everyone know your thoughts below.