Samsung Galaxy S6 2015 Flagship Will Have 4G of RAM, Glass Back Plate, and Non-Removable Battery?

The next iteration to the Korean Giant's popular flagship smartphone is expected to be formally unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress, which will be held in Barcelona, Spain from March 2 to 5, 2015.

Already being called Samsung Galaxy S6, the upcoming top-of-the-line model is believed to feature an all-new design identity - said to be nothing like any of the handsets the company has released to date - and to have the best technical specifications of any device in Samsung's early 2015 product catalogue.

Samsung Galaxy S6
Samsung Galaxy S6 Concept by JSJermaine Designs

Here's an updated list of everything that 'what think we know' so far about the SGS6:

Design: Expect Samsung Galaxy S6 to have a real metal frame just like Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Samsung Galaxy Alpha, and the new Galaxy A-Series. According to Business Insider, the Korean company intends to build the Galaxy S6 “from scratch” in order to spark some new momentum for the company’s flagship line of smartphones -- so whereas last year's flagship handset Samsung Galaxy S5 came with a plastic shell, its successor could very well come replete with lots of metal accents to make it look and feel more elegant and durable.

Update: A Samsung official has apparently spoken with a Korean online publication called DDaily and he disclosed that Samsung Galaxy S6 will not feature a full metal unibody shell and will instead have a metal frame similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which will be flanked by glass panels on both the front and the rear resulting in an elegant form factor that doesn't support a removable battery pack.

Display, Camera, and Innards (as of December 2014): SamMobile, a tech website dedicated to disclosing insider information and updates about Samsung products, shares that the Galaxy S6 could come with a Quad HD 2560 × 1440 pixels display (Size, TBD), a 5 MegaPixel front cam, and a 16 MegaPixel camera with IMX240 sensor and Optical Image Stabilization just like SGNote4 (though, they said that Samsung is still trying to decide between that and a 20 MP main shooter). As for the internal hardware, the site shared that the phone could run Android 5.0 Lollipop (underneath TouchWiz UI) with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 810 64-bit Octa Core processor, handle multitasking with 3GB of RAM, and have 32, 64, and 128 GB storage options.

Specs Update: Korean tech site KBench recently shared that there are rumors in Samsung's homeland that the Galaxy S6 will indeed feature a Snapdragon 810 or an Exynos 7420 chipset, a 5.5-inch QHD (1440×2560 pixels) SuperAMOLED display, 20 MegaPixel main camera, and a 5MP front cam for selfies.

Edge Variant: Various sources have claimed that just like SGNote4, SGS6 will come with a Limited Edition Edge version that has a strip of additional display space that gently curves down the device's right panel -- or both sides, according to some reports.

Improved Battery Life? Here's an additional interesting detail: To quote SamMobile, "[Samsung Galaxy S6 will feature] Broadcom’s new BCM4773 chip, which combines navigation (GPS) and other sensors and puts them on a single chip, an industry first. Basically, the BCM4773 allows the device to take and compute data from the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS modules on a single chip, resulting in reduced battery drain compared to what is available on smartphones and tablets today."

Price and Release Date: Again, Samsung will most likely announce its 2015 flagship at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which will take place in just a few weeks. Previous flagships preceding the SGS6 (if that's what it's going to be called) were also announced at that major international tech event. I'm personally expecting the smartphone to land here by April or May 2015 with price tag in the range of Php 35,000 to Php 37,000, which is more or less similar to that of Samsung Galaxy S5 last year.

Update as of January 31, 2015: Did Spigen just upload photos of Samsung Galaxy S6 on Amazon?

Korean mobile accessories maker Spigen has just posted several advertisements with product renders on Amazon for its cases for what they claim is the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S6.

Samsung Galaxy S6

Samsung Galaxy S6

Samsung Galaxy S6

These images depict SGS6 as having its LED flash and heart sensor on the right side of its camera module - as opposed to below it on Samsung Galaxy S5 - and flaunting a home button similar to that of Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Samsung Galaxy S6

Samsung Galaxy S6

Needless to say, Samsung hasn't said a word about their 2015 top-of-the-line release so we'd all do well to take these information with a grain of salt

TP Thoughts:

To quote myself in a previous post, "Samsung Galaxy S5 is part of my 2014 smartphone collection but - as some of you know - I barely took in out in favor of my Sony Xperia Z2 and LG G3. Why? Well, SXZ2 has a better camera and a more beautiful design while LG G3 has a bigger display and - for me - has more interesting software features. Hopefully, I'd be more inclined to take out SGS6 if and when I get it. Off hand, just from the things I've read about it, the device looks promising."

I want to add that - in the Philippines, at least - Samsung Galaxy S6 will practically be the first flagship smartphone from the Korean Giant that will have to contend with multiple stellar and much-talked-about high-end releases by new Chinese players like Meizu MX4 Pro and Xiaomi Mi Note Pro apart from those by familiar competitors upon launch. In contrast, during its local release, SGS5 from 2014 merely had to go against the Apple iPhone 5S (launched late in 2013) and Sony Xperia Z2 (that became available a few weeks after S5 hit store shelves) in the ultra high-end echelon. Obviously, the SGS6 will be entering a mobile landscape that's vastly different compared to what its highly successful predecessors reigned supreme in.

TP Friends, do you think Samsung Galaxy S6 will be a big success in 2015 (enough to turn things around for the brand) or will it be the company's first monumental flagship flop (that can lead to even more retrenchments and to Samsung finally being dislodged as the world's number one handset maker)? Let me know your thoughts below.