Oliver Haslam on May 13, 2015, 7:10 am

Consumer Reports Recommends Galaxy S5 Over Galaxy S6, Here’s Why [Video]

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 looks like an iPhone 6 and you should probably just get last year’s Galaxy S5. That’s the opinion of Consumer Reports, with the new Galaxy S6 having had a rough time during its review process.

By pointing out that the new Samsung flagship smartphone looks suspiciously like an iPhone, Consumer Reports isn’t telling anyone anything they don’t already know at this point. That’s not really the interesting thing from the report. What really should be getting the attention is Consumer Reports’ assertion that those looking at picking up a Galaxy S6 probably shouldn’t.

Samsung photocopy

It’s not all bad news though, because the phone that they should buy is, apparently, the Galaxy S5.

The reasoning behind the report actually makes plenty of sense. Consumer Reports points to the lack of expandable memory on the Galaxy S6 and its non-removable battery when saying that the older Galaxy S5 is a better proposition than the new model. The new Galaxy S6 isn’t water resistant either, something which makes the Galaxy S5 an even better buy than Samsung’s latest flagship. All this leads Consumer Reports to say that they can’t recommend the Galaxy S6.

The issues laid out here though aren’t anything we didn’t already know, and if you can indeed look beyond them the Galaxy S6 is a very capable smartphone indeed. Throw in the improved construction – even though it does mean there’s no expandable memory or removable battery – and this is arguably the first phone to truly compete with Apple’s iPhone in the construction stakes.

Consumer Reports may recommend the Galaxy S5 over the Galaxy S6, but we certainly wouldn’t.

This isn’t the first time that Samsung has had a bashing from Consumer Reports of late. The Apple Watch was recently named the best smartwatch around by the same outfit, with Samsung’s own smartwatch falling down the pecking order.