Forget for the moment that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has four current premium devices – the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, and Galaxy Note5 – to compete with Apple’s new iPhone 6s  and iPhone 6s Plus and let’s look ahead at the competition it plans to bring to the table in early 2016.

Apple’s new iPhone 6s will be barely five months old by the time the Galaxy S7 hits the market and the two flagships go head to head.

Following rumored specs from earlier this year, below we see how the latest leaked specs of the Galaxy S7 stack up against the iPhone 6s:

Design

Galaxy S7: According to a report by SamMobile, Samsung has two models of the Galaxy S7 in the works — a model with a traditional flat display and one with a dual-edge curved display as found on the Galaxy S6 edge and S6 edge+.

Although the official names have not been confirmed, it stands to reason that Samsung’s next flagship devices will be the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

Not much else is known about the Galaxy S7’s design, but Samsung is said to be using a new magnesium alloy unibody that will be both stronger and lighter than the current aluminum construction.

iPhone 6s:  The iPhone 6s looks identical to its predecessor, the iPhone 6, but is made from stronger 7000 series aluminum and is available in a new rose gold color. It appears Apple’s decision to use 7000 series aluminum has paid off; following the iPhone 6s release in Australia, a video from FoneFox show two people simultaneously attempting to bend an iPhone 6s with very little success and a lot of effort.

Display

Galaxy S7: Leaked details indicate a 5.2-inch screen for the Galaxy S7 and a 5.7-inch screen for the Galaxy S7 edge; the latter with 1440 x 2560 pixels. It’s unclear whether Samsung aims to include a 4K display in both models.

iPhone 6s: 4.7-inch Retina display, 1334×750 (326ppi) with 3D Touch. Covered in new glass manufactured with dual ion-exchange process. Apple claims it’s the strongest smartphone glass in the industry.

Early drop tests have shown the iPhone 6s’s display holding up well when dropped from both pocket and head height with the screen only shattering when dropped from around 10 ft. and landing directly on the screen.

Internal components

Galaxy S7: Samsung may release two variants of the Galaxy S7, one with Samsung’s own Exynos 8890 processor for release in Asia and one with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chip for release in North America and Europe.

As for performance, Samsung’s new Exynos 8890 chip has been clocked at 2.4GHz by Geekbench and is said to be twice as fast as the Exynos 7420 chip found inside the current Galaxy S6 range. The same Geekbench test shows that the Exynos 8890 scored twice as high as Apple’s new A9 chip on the multi-core test.

As for memory, the non-LTE version will likely ship with 3GB of RAM while the LTE-enabled version will pack 4GB of RAM and, in a move that will make many a fan happy, Samsung has apparently found a way to include a microSD storage.

iPhone 6s: The iPhone 6s  comes equipped with Apple’s new 64-bit A9 chip said to be 70 percent faster than the A8 chip in the iPhone 6. It also includes Apple’s M9 motion coprocessor for health and fitness tracking. Onboard storage options include: 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB models.

Camera

Galaxy S7: Samsung is reportedly testing various camera prototypes, including a dual camera setup and a 20-megapixel ISOCELL sensor.

iPhone 6s: Perhaps the single biggest improvement over previous models, the iPhone 6s boasts a 12-megapixel rear iSight camera capable of shooting both HD and 4K video. The FaceTime camera has also received a significant bump and now has 5-megapixels and a Retina flash that uses the iPhones screen as a flash for selfies by lighting up the screen 3x brighter than normal.

A new feature called ‘Live Photos’ automatically takes still shots 1.5 seconds before and after the main image and lets users view an animated picture as a mini movie.

Operating system

Galaxy S7: Although early benchmark tests have the device running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, it will undoubtedly ship with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, due for imminent release.

iPhone 6s: iOS 9

Availability

Galaxy S7: Provided Samsung sticks to its regular release schedule, the Galaxy S7 will most likely be unveiled at Mobile World Congress taking place from February 22, 2016.

According to SamMobile, the devices will be available in Canada, China, Europe, Korea, and the U.S., and other existing Samsung markets. A number of carriers are apparently already onboard in Canada, Korea, and the U.S.:

• Canada: Bell Mobility
• Korea: KT, LG Uplus, SKTelecom
• S.: Cricket, AT&T, MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon

iPhone 6s: Pre-orders opened on September 12 and the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are on-sale worldwide today from Apple and participating carriers.

Image credit: mahmoud99725/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0