The Samsung Galaxy C5 is the latest mid-ranger sharing familiarities to the 1-year-old iPhone 6s in terms of design. The former is also a fraction of the cost of the latter. But given how technology has evolved in the past year, how far did the Android mid-ranger evolve? We compared the two to see if there’s really a significant difference.
No doubt that the Samsung Galaxy C5 is a mixed of the metal iPhone 6s, HTC, and the OnePLus 3. The form factor such as the curves and ports are more apparent as to the iPhone 6s plus the rose gold color means Samsung is targeting a similar market.
The Galaxy C5 is longer but thinner than the iPhone 6s. It also sports the same aluminum build and curved glass but has more base storage, LED notification, and options for dual SIM or microSD card expansion.
The fingerprint sensor on each is embedded on the home button. On the Galaxy C5, it is flanked by two back-lit capacitive keys. The speed is relatively close, fast and accurate on both sides.
If there’s really an Android phone that been close as much to iPhone experience in terms of build and design, it’s definitely the Galaxy C5.
The 5.2-inch full HD Super AMOLED of the Galaxy C5 is slightly brighter and noticeably more saturated, thanks to the nature of AMOLED being over vivid yet with inky black level. The iPhone’s 4.7-inch is dwarfed by the C5, but the quality on it is still pretty good with bright and contrasty output for an LCD.
The 16MP f1.9 of the Samsung Galaxy C5 produces saturated photos but the noise level is more apparent. The details are also close to the iPhone 6s’s 12MP f2.2. However, looking closely, the iPhone 6s has the more naturalistic color rendering and detail preservation.
On selfie, the Galaxy C5 beats the iPhone 6s in exposure and wide angle with its 8MP f1.9 front-facing camera. The iPhone 6s takes natural portrait photos but the narrower angle limits the subject area for every shot.
Both shoot 1080p video and lack Optical Stabilization. The quality and focusing are close with iPhone 6s edging to a more neutral side and C5 on vivid color reproduction.
Let’s know which camera do you prefer.
In performance and benchmark, the difference is big enough for iPhone 6s to smoke out the Galaxy C5 in benchmark tests while actual speed test is expectedly on iPhone side. The Galaxy C5 does the job especially the basic stuff, but its hardware limits to handle graphic intensive games in high settings like the NBA 2K16.
Powering the Galaxy C5 is a measly 2600mAh battery while the iPhone 6s has a much smaller 1715mAh. Each battery cell equates an average life with up to 3 hours screen on time.
Charging the Galaxy C5, however, is much faster using its fast adaptive charging and only takes under 1 hour and 30 minutes to fill its battery. The iPhone 6s does not support fast charging and is disappointingly very slow to charge despite the small battery capacity.
There’s no high-res audio feature on each despite the expensive price of the iPhone 6s. The mono speaker on iPhone 6s performs louder and crisper compared to the Galaxy C5’s middling speaker.
With almost a year gap in technology, today’s mid-ranger like the Samsung Galaxy C5 does the job pretty well as to the flagship iPhone 6s of last year. For almost the half of the price of the iPhone 6s, the C5 with 64GB storage at P18k to 19k or roughly $400 is really worth checking out over the P36k or $780 price of iPhone 6s with 64GB storage.
Let’s know which is smarter between settling for an expensive flagship phone of last year or buying a mid-ranger that still does the job for most of the time?
| Specs, PH Price | Samsung Galaxy C5 | Apple iPhone 6s |
| Display | 5.2-inch 1080p Super AMOLED, 424 ppi, scratch-resistant | 5.2-inch 1080p Super AMOLED, 424 ppi, Gorilla Glass 4 |
| Size | 6.7m thick, 143g weight | 7.1m thick, 143g weight |
| Design | 2.5D Curved Glass + Metal | 2.5D Curved Glass + Metal |
| Colors | Grey, White, Gold, Rose Gold or Pink | Gold, Space Grey, Silver Rose Gold or Pink |
| Chipset & CPU | Snapdragon 617 octa-core | Apple A9 dual-core |
| Graphics | Adreno 405 graphics | PowerVR GT7600 graphics |
| Memory | 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, microSD up to 128GB | 2GB RAM, 16/64/128GB storage |
| Camera | 16MP main, f1.9 lens, Optical Stabilization, 1080p video, LED flash | 12MP main, f2.2 lens, Optical Stabilization, 1080p video, LED flash |
| Selfie | 8MP f1.9 selfie front-facing | 5MP f2.2 selfie front-facing |
| Connectivity | 4G dual LTE nano SIM (hybrid), WiFi ac, Bt 4.1, GPS, fingerprint scanner, FM Radio, NFC | 4G LTE nano SIM, WiFi ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, fingerprint sensor |
| Software | Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, upgradeable to Android 7.0 Nougat | iOS 9 |
| Battery | 2600mAh, Fast Charging | 1715mAh |
| Ports, quick charge | microUSB | Lightning |
| Release date | July 2016 available in the Philippines for dual SIM Galaxy C5 version | March 2016 Available in the Philippines for series 6 2016 model |
| Price | Php 18k PH Price / $390 | Php 37k Philippine Price / $800 for 64GB storage |
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Violet says:
Where did you buy the galaxy c5 you are using for the review? ☺
Jade Jardinico says:
We either buy from these stores: hotgadget or widget city. Check their facebook pages or store in Manila.
Violet says:
are their products legit? 🙂
Jade Jardinico says:
yes. you can check personally in their store if you like.
Violet says:
Thanks
Phoenix Knight says:
I believe that there is something horribly wrong with the information you gave with the IPhone 6s pricing in your summary of specs below.
Jade Jardinico says:
Forgot ti edit it. Tnx