eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
As Samsung’s hotly awaited Galaxy S6 smartphone is released for sale on April 10, Boost Mobile customers will be able to buy one with no annual contract for $649.99. The new smartphone, and its flashier sibling, the Galaxy S6 Edge, will be released by Samsung that day and will also be available through the big four wireless carriers in the United States—AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.
Boost Mobile customers can pre-register to ensure they can get a new Galaxy S6 32GB smartphone in its available Black Sapphire color on the launch day, according to the company.
The improvements in the new S6 smartphones over the previous Galaxy S5 model are many, from a chassis made of aircraft-grade aluminum to a higher resolution 5.1-inch, quad HD Super AMOLED display (2,560-by-1,440 resolution for the S6 versus 1,920-by-1,080 for the S5) that has about 80 percent more pixels (577 pixels per inch) than the S5. Corning Gorilla Glass 4 is used on both the front display and rear panel of the phones. The new Galaxy S6 models also include Samsung’s latest 14nm technology, 64-bit Exynos 7 processors, which have eight cores and use less power while providing higher performance than previous chips made with 20nm manufacturing processes. Android 5.0 Lollipop is running on both devices.
Like the previous Galaxy S5, the new S6 models offer a 16-megapixel rear camera, but the latest versions add Smart Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), a 1.9 f lens and automatic real-time High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing for improved picture quality in low light and other conditions. The 5MP front camera of the new Galaxy phones is also improved, with a 1.9 f lens, HDR, new white balance detection for improved images and other improvements that let users get better “selfies” when using the camera. Plus, fast-tracking auto-focus is now featured on the new S6 models.
The Galaxy S6 includes a 2,550mAh nonremovable battery, and audio quality is improved over the earlier S5 model, with a speaker that provides sound that is up to 1.5 times louder than the previous-generation audio system in the older devices.
“Boost Mobile offers one of the best values in the no-contract wireless category with the $35 Data Boost Up plan,” Angela Rittgers, the vice president of marketing for the Sprint Prepaid Group, which owns Boost Mobile, said in a statement. “We know our customers want the latest, and we’re excited to offer the Samsung Galaxy S6.”
The no-contract Data Boost Up plans offer unlimited talk, text and data starting with 1GB of high-speed 3G or 4G data for $35 a month, while a $35-a-month plan with automatic payment each month provides 2.5GB of high-speed data each month, according to Boost Mobile. A $45 monthly plan includes 5GB of high-speed data, while a $55 monthly plan includes 10GB of high-speed data.
Boost Mobile, which was created in 2002, is one of Sprint’s prepaid mobile brands and runs on the Sprint network.
Earlier in March, Samsung reportedly upped the production of the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones due to a high level of consumer interest and promising numbers of preorders around the world, according to an earlier eWEEK story. Instead of producing 7 million Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge devices in April, Samsung has placed orders for an extra 1 million units, boosting its order to 8 million smartphones for the month. Samsung had previously said it had ordered 5 million of the smartphones for March, bringing the total production for the two months to 13 million phones.
A successful launch for the next Galaxy is very important for Samsung, which continues to battle its way out of a slump caused by cheap smartphones from China and the release of the new and improved iPhone 6 models from Apple. Samsung has been losing market share and revenue to its rivals and is already in the midst of plans to pare back its model line and cut production costs to better compete, according to earlier eWEEK reports.