It’s spring, and that means another fresh crop of Android flagships. This year has brought us the launch of the Galaxy S6, the latest and greatest from Samsung, as well as the One M9, HTC’s improved flagship.
However, which phone should an Android fan buy? How are you supposed to pick between HTC’s stupendous hardware and Samsung’s features? Has the Korean manufacturer finally made a phone that can go toe-to-toe with the critically acclaimed One series? I’ve broken down the comparison below.
Hardware
The HTC One M9 and the Galaxy S6 are shockingly close in terms of hardware. After lackluster sales on the Galaxy S5, Samsung came back this year with something special.
The Galaxy S6 drops the waterproofing, removable battery and microSD storage for an all-glass back within a metal frame. The result is hardware that looks shockingly good. Who would have thought we’d see a Samsung phone with hardware this nice?
In the other corner, you have longtime design giant HTC. The Taiwanese manufacturer has consistently produced some of the nicest phones that don’t have Apple logos, so there’s a lot to live up to.
The One M9 is much the same as the M8, which was more or less the same as the M7. It’s an aluminum unibody device with software buttons, BoomSound speakers and an HTC logo.
All that on the front of the phone leaves a ridiculous amount of bezel, and the One M9 matches the M8 in the “too tall” feeling. At least they put the power button on the side of the phone this time.
While both phones are well-designed, HTC’s layout is too bezel-heavy and tall. It’s time to update, guys.
Winner: Galaxy S6
Camera
We’ve seen the results of the One M9’s camera against other shooters and they are not pretty. Despite boosting the megapixel count, performance (especially in low light) falters.
Check out this comparison between the One M9 (first shot) and the iPhone 6 (second), courtesy of The Verge:
Ouch!
It’s even worse for HTC, because the camera Samsung loaded onto the Galaxy S6 is flat-out amazing. It picks up a crazy amount of detail and works well in all conditions, even low light.
Samsung consistently kills it on cameras, and the S6 blows past the M9 on this count.
Winner: Galaxy S6
Software
Here’s where things get awkward for Samsung. The Galaxy S6 runs TouchWiz, a flavor of Android that’s never tasted quite right.
TouchWiz is so unloved that Samsung earned acclaim for promising to put less of it on the S6. That alone speaks volumes.
The One M9 fares a little better with HTC Sense. HTC still wastes its time making too many unnecessary apps, but it at least had the good sense not to mess with stock Android as much as Samsung did.
Winner: HTC
Updates
This is an awkward category to rate because the competition is so pathetic on both sides. That’s the state of updates from companies not named Motorola, though.
Samsung is and remains terrible at updating its phones. Its Galaxy Note flagship languishes without Lollipop, and there’s no sign of it coming in the future. There’s no reason to expect the S6 to get updates any faster.
HTC has gotten a lot better about updates in the last few years, setting strict deadlines for itself on updating its One flagship line.
However, considering the lackluster reviews and sales of the M9, I wouldn’t be surprised if HTC dropped out of smartphones entirely. Good luck getting 18 months of support out of a company that might not last that long in the market.
Winner: No one
Also See: How to Find When Your Android Phone Will Be Updated to the Latest Version
Performance
Samsung, in typical Samsung fashion, loaded the Galaxy S6 with specs so absurdly unnecessary that they blow past Android’s performance issues. The Galaxy S6 is very, very fast. 3 GB of RAM and an Exynos 7420 will do that.
HTC’s One M9 has not fared quite as well. HTC designed its phone with the Snapdragon 810, a gem of a chip with serious heat issues.
To keep the phone from turning into a portable heating unit, HTC severely limited performance. The result keeps temperatures in check, but also means the M9 is slower in some places than the M8.
We expect some kind of progress every year from our smartphones, and the idea of a phone losing performance is absurd.
Winner: Samsung
Overall Experience
The last category is the bird’s eye view of how the phone feels as a whole. This is the bit that captures everything that a purely spec-to-spec comparison can’t. That’s important because specs don’t tell the whole story.
The Galaxy S6 is Samsung’s best phone in years, a powerhouse of a device that demands your attention with its superb hardware and camera.
However, it still runs TouchWiz, and TouchWiz just is not enjoyable to use. Samsung bloats its phones with unnecessary apps and changes and makes them look just worse than stock Android.
In contrast, HTC’s restrained version of Sense on the One M9 looks classy and tasteful. Sense is far less obtrusive and annoying.
However, the throttling and poor camera make the M9 hard to recommend. Unless you really hate TouchWiz, the M9 is the worse phone.
It’s just a bad year to be HTC. They released a weak phone within months of Samsung’s best phone in years. Bad timing and bad engineering.
Anyone on the fence between the Galaxy S6 and the One M9, don’t be. The S6 is without question the stronger phone.
Overall Winner: Samsung
