Galaxy S6, S6 edge review: Exynos is SoC to beat in Android space for the next 6 months, battery life effectively the same as S5, camera comparable to iPhone
Joshua Ho / AnandTech :
Context & Ripple Effects
This review closes the loop on a month of pre-release coverage: AnandTech's own March preview set up the hardware questions, and Ars Technica's earlier S6 review already flagged that the Exynos outperforms the Snapdragon 810. AnandTech now confirms it at length, crowning the Exynos as the Android SoC to beat for roughly six months.
The verdict matters because Samsung kept this silicon exclusive to its own flagships — every rival Android vendor shipping on the 810 was benchmarking against a chip they could not buy.
First-order effects
- Samsung gains a concrete differentiator over competing Android flagships running Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810, on top of a camera the review rates comparable to the iPhone.
- Qualcomm loses the performance crown at the high end just as its 810 becomes the default choice for non-Samsung Android vendors.
Second-order effects
- Rival flagships on the 810 are forced to compete on price, display, or design rather than raw SoC performance until the next chip generation lands.
- The six-month window gives Samsung room to extend the same Exynos platform into larger devices — which it did when the Note5 and S6 edge+ shipped with what AnandTech called a fast, efficient SoC in its phablet review.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Android flagship competition shifts toward vertically integrated custom silicon, splitting the market between OEMs that design their own chips and those dependent on merchant silicon vendors like Qualcomm.
The trend: Android differentiation is migrating from display and industrial design to in-house system-on-chip design, with Samsung's Exynos setting the performance bar its rivals' Snapdragon-based flagships must chase.