Versus: LG G4 vs Samsung Galaxy S6

The Samsung Galaxy S6 isn't a perfect phone, but with its combination of a stunning design, a great screen and a brilliant camera it is the best phone in the world right now; though, you never know, that may change when we review the LG G4.

With a stylish new design of its own, plus a top-end screen and a great camera, the LG G4 seems prepared to go blow for blow with Samsung's best. So how do these two superphones really compare? Let's find out.

Design

The leather-backed LG G4 can't help but stand out from the crowd, as it's a more unusual material choice than the metal and plastic found on most smartphones. Adding to its slightly unusual appearance is a gently curved back and screen, which is undeniably premium, but also large and heavy at 149.1 x 75.3 x 8.9mm and 154g.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 has a more conventional, but no less stylish, design, with a metal frame and glass back. The glass looks good, with an almost gemstone-like quality to it, though it can be a fingerprint magnet.

At 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8mm and 136g it's smaller, lighter and a whole lot slimmer than LG's latest. The smaller size is arguably a good thing and the slim build certainly looks good but it comes at the cost of a smaller battery.

Screen

There's a big 5.5-inch 1440 x 2560 QHD IPS Quantum display on the LG G4. That's bigger than the 5.1-inch Super AMOLED Samsung Galaxy S6, but it's the same resolution.

Typically Samsung's screens are brighter and richer than LG's, but the G4 is supposedly 25% brighter and richer than the G3, so LG could be closing the gap. It's also 98% DCI (digital cinema initiatives) compliant, making it almost the same class as a cinema screen.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 in comparison is apparently 110% compliant according to LG, with more oversaturated and less natural colours, though the S6 doesn have the ability to tone down that effect.

Power and storage

In theory the Samsung Galaxy S6 should have the LG G4 beat here, as it has a 64-bit octa-core Exynos 7420 processor, with four cores clocked at 2.1GHz and four at 1.5GHz, while the LG G4 has a 64-bit 1.8GHz hexa-core Snapdragon 808 chip.

Given that the Galaxy S6 beats even Snapdragon 810-packing devices in benchmarks it seems likely that it's a more powerful phone than the LG G4, but it's not always that simple, as elements like the UI can play a big role in how laggy the response is under the finger.

In any case they're both very powerful handsets and both have 3GB of RAM, allowing them to multi-task effectively too.

As for storage the Samsung Galaxy S6 comes with a choice of 32, 64 or 128GB built in, while the LG G4 only comes in one size: 32GB. But the LG G4 also has a microSD card slot and supports cards of up to 200GB, while the Samsung Galaxy S6 has no room for expansion. That's a big win for LG's phone.

Camera

Both Samsung and LG have put a lot of work into their flagship's cameras. The LG G4 has a 16MP rear camera with OIS 2.0, which is supposedly better than older optical image stabilisation modules. It also features laser autofocus for speedy focusing and it has an f/1.8 lens aperture, allowing it to capture a lot of light.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 also has a 16MP camera with optical image stabilisation, though from what LG is saying its version of OIS may be better. Samsung's camera won't likely fare as well in low light either, as it has an f/1.9 lens aperture.

Having said that the Samsung Galaxy S6 is no slouch in poor lighting, so we'll have to see how the G4 compares in practice.

Both phones are jam-packed full of shooting modes and options, such as an impressive Bokeh effect on the Galaxy S6 and a gesture shot on the LG G4, which takes four selfies in quick succession. Both also have pro modes (or Expert mode as it's called on the LG G4) with a selection of manual controls.

On paper the LG G4's snapper sounds better in a number of ways, for example its Panorama mode takes 104MP shots, while the S6's takes 60MP photos, but the Galaxy S6's camera is hugely impressive, so we'll reserve judgement until we've properly tested the G4's.

The selfie wars are ongoing, with the LG G4 looking promising there too, with an 8MP camera to Samsung's 5MP one.

Battery

As great as the Samsung Galaxy S6 is its battery disappoints. At 2550mAh it's not massive, in fact, it's smaller than the battery in the Galaxy S5. It's also slightly underwhelming in practice as while you'll get a full working day of moderate use out of it you'll probably be charging it most nights.

The LG G4 on the other hand has a much more reasonable 3000mAh juice pack and while it's got to power a larger screen LG reckons it should be able to last for up to 19.5 hours of talk time, which is pretty good if true, so there's a good chance it's got the Galaxy S6 beat. Plus while the S6's battery is sealed in the G4's is removable. Win.

Features

The rear key is one of the biggest features of the LG G4, as it was on the LG G3 and the LG G2. It's designed to be easier to reach than the more conventionally placed buttons on the Samsung Galaxy S6 and most other phones.

But the Samsung Galaxy S6 arguably has more stand-out features. There's the amazingly accurate fingerprint scanner for one, which is set to get even more useful once Samsung Pay fully launches.

The Galaxy S6 also has a heart rate monitor, though we can't shake the feeling that it's a bit of a gimmick.

The LG G4 doesn't have as much in the way of hardware features, but both companies have given their phones UI's a long hard look, with Samsung stripping TouchWiz down to make it cleaner and more intuitive, while LG has packed in more features, like Smart Board, which aims to save you from jumping between apps by presenting key information from several of them on a single widget.

Early verdict

If we're talking sales the Samsung Galaxy S6 is always going to be the winner. It's a bigger brand with a bigger marketing budget.

But the LG G4 stands up well to it on paper, with a similar screen resolution (if not sharper), a theoretically better camera, a bigger battery and a microSD card slot, which the Galaxy S6 lacks.

Like the S6 the LG G4 also sports a premium design, which largely fixes one of the biggest problems of its predecessor - although leather is going to be a divisive material of choice.

But the Samsung Galaxy S6 may still have it beat on power and it arguably has a more compelling feature set - this is a battle that's set to rumble on.

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