Own both.
Display: iPhone colors appear more accurate but muted. Galaxy colors are very vibrant, makes games and viewing experience a bit more enhanced. One drawback for the Galaxy is skin tones have more of a reddish/tan hue so when editing photos you have to switch the screen mode to "basic" each time to see a more accurate representation of what other viewers would see on their devices. Galaxy technically has tons more pixels but I really don't notice a difference from the average viewing distance on a small display. (i am aware of displaymate saying the S6 is the most accurate ever during their testing, and I firmly disagree)
Aesthetics: a tie in my opinion. both look and feel premium!
Sound: the Galaxy can go louder, quality is even to my ears.
Speed: Galaxy, hands down. On wifi, the Galaxy speed tests at literally 3 times higher than my iPhone will go. This is on both 2.4 and 5 wifi networks and it heavily shows in downloading and updating things. I'm mindblown of why my iPhone can't reach the same wifi speeds. Camera opens faster on Galaxy as well. Even the regular texting apps which don't need internet to pull up open faster on the Galaxy.
Smoothness: iPhone, hands down. Scrolling on browser apps with the Galaxy is a choppy experience on literally every app I tried (chrome, firefox, dolphin, stock samsung browser, and more). It makes something like browsing the forum much more pleasant on the iPhone. It's highly noticeable in scrolling on facebook and bleacher report as well.
Camera: Impressive on both phones (including the front facing). Galaxy performs better in low light without flash and darkness with flash. iPhone takes slightly more accurate photos in medium indoor lighting. Outside daylight, I'd say its even. You won't be disappointed here with either device.
Call quality: both are good, but with the Galaxy callers sound noticeably clearer.
Battery: iPhone holds up slightly better here. neither are warriors in this department but in active use the Galaxy simply drains faster (as in you can watch the percentage points drop as you are using an app even for a brief amount of time). Sure you could lower screen brightness but that detracts from the entire phone experience. I keep brightness at about 50-55% on both. Auto brightness adjustment level on the Samsung is garbage btw in comparison to iPhone. The Galaxy does charge much faster.
Fingerprint home button: both work well in my usage (about a 90% success rate). The Galaxy offers a better click/pressing feel to me.
I have the S6 listed for sale now. The subpar battery life with actual usage, annoying part of inaccurate skin tones in pictures when using anything but the "basic" display setting, and huge perk of iMessage on iPhone is enough to keep me away for now. I will however greatly miss the blazing speed on wifi for the S6 which for whatever reason is able to utilize the full power of our internet speeds which the iPhone will not/cannot.
edit: just sold and shipped the S6 today using Swappa. Looking forward to seeing what the S7 has in store, and I quite like the Note 5 too.
Display: iPhone colors appear more accurate but muted. Galaxy colors are very vibrant, makes games and viewing experience a bit more enhanced. One drawback for the Galaxy is skin tones have more of a reddish/tan hue so when editing photos you have to switch the screen mode to "basic" each time to see a more accurate representation of what other viewers would see on their devices. Galaxy technically has tons more pixels but I really don't notice a difference from the average viewing distance on a small display. (i am aware of displaymate saying the S6 is the most accurate ever during their testing, and I firmly disagree)
Aesthetics: a tie in my opinion. both look and feel premium!
Sound: the Galaxy can go louder, quality is even to my ears.
Speed: Galaxy, hands down. On wifi, the Galaxy speed tests at literally 3 times higher than my iPhone will go. This is on both 2.4 and 5 wifi networks and it heavily shows in downloading and updating things. I'm mindblown of why my iPhone can't reach the same wifi speeds. Camera opens faster on Galaxy as well. Even the regular texting apps which don't need internet to pull up open faster on the Galaxy.
Smoothness: iPhone, hands down. Scrolling on browser apps with the Galaxy is a choppy experience on literally every app I tried (chrome, firefox, dolphin, stock samsung browser, and more). It makes something like browsing the forum much more pleasant on the iPhone. It's highly noticeable in scrolling on facebook and bleacher report as well.
Camera: Impressive on both phones (including the front facing). Galaxy performs better in low light without flash and darkness with flash. iPhone takes slightly more accurate photos in medium indoor lighting. Outside daylight, I'd say its even. You won't be disappointed here with either device.
Call quality: both are good, but with the Galaxy callers sound noticeably clearer.
Battery: iPhone holds up slightly better here. neither are warriors in this department but in active use the Galaxy simply drains faster (as in you can watch the percentage points drop as you are using an app even for a brief amount of time). Sure you could lower screen brightness but that detracts from the entire phone experience. I keep brightness at about 50-55% on both. Auto brightness adjustment level on the Samsung is garbage btw in comparison to iPhone. The Galaxy does charge much faster.
Fingerprint home button: both work well in my usage (about a 90% success rate). The Galaxy offers a better click/pressing feel to me.
I have the S6 listed for sale now. The subpar battery life with actual usage, annoying part of inaccurate skin tones in pictures when using anything but the "basic" display setting, and huge perk of iMessage on iPhone is enough to keep me away for now. I will however greatly miss the blazing speed on wifi for the S6 which for whatever reason is able to utilize the full power of our internet speeds which the iPhone will not/cannot.
edit: just sold and shipped the S6 today using Swappa. Looking forward to seeing what the S7 has in store, and I quite like the Note 5 too.
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