The LG G4 for example completely got held back by Qualcomm's screwup. Its camera is on the S6's level, its ergonomics and build quality/materials is probably better for some people depending on taste. The G4 gets WAY better battery life than the S6, and its screen is not bad at all. It lacks the fingerprint reader and wireless charging, but it trades that for a removable battery and Micro SD slot that some people value more.
That is a good point I overlooked. I agree that for some removable battery is a must. I guess I gave a short shrift to the G4 (and possibly others). The G4 is an odd thing, though, because I am not sure if it competes against the S6 or the Note. I also agree that Qualcomm's mishap did cause sufferings for many OEMs this year, most notably HTC and LG. But I do not think who in the supply chain screwed up ultimately matters to the consumers. Those to whom removable battery and expandable storage matter will choose the G4, and those who prefer faster SOC and prettier screen will choose the S6.
But this year there is no way I would say the Note 5 is the best phablet. Just the device itself has issues, the pen situation is a rookie mistake but on a fifth version of the phone. But even outside of the Note 5's missteps others have caught up- the 6P is a very viable phablet option on Android and Apple's 6+S beats the Note 5 in almost every way. But the Note 5 sells for close to the 6+S and more than the 6P, and that is exactly what I was thinking of when I said "they don't give a ton of value." And $800 Note 5 is not worth more than the $650 6P unless you need the pen. Hell even for the same price I would rather have the 6P.
I made a mistake of extrapolating too much from the S6 to render judgment on the Note 5. And I did not know it was $800. My mistake. I agree that is too much. (I thought they were $700-ish. I wonder how much the pen/digitizer cost?) On the other hand, I would argue that the 6P is an exception rather than a norm. I said this in another thread but the Nexuses have different values (technical and sentimental) attached to them amongst us. I for one was happy with the Nexus 5 and was not at all interested in the Galaxy S5, even though I thought the latter was a better smartphone in many ways.
As for the iPhone 6s+ or what is "best," I would say that smartphones nowadays are sum of too many things and serve many different purposes for different tastes and it is probably best not to generalize. (please excuse the pun ) I have an iPhone 6s+ sitting right in my drawer that I do not think is best nor is very interesting
to me after the first couple of days. Well, it has a faster SOC than other smartphones', not unlike the S6 which had a faster SOC than its competitors' when released..
The moat around their market position is down to a SoC and I expect Qualcomm's 820 to be an equalizer next year. The 6P shows us that the Chinese companies can give us build quality equal to Samsung without the Apple pricetags, and I expect more of that in 2016.
The Chinese OEMs have had excellent smartphones for a while. The iPhones are produced in China/Taiwan after all. In my view their hurdles into the U.S. are more political (e.g. NSA) and legal (i.e. patents) in nature.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/w...d-chinese-servers-seen-as-spy-peril.html?_r=1
Samsung will probably go all-in on cosmetic differences next year (aka make every Galaxy an Edge model) which cuts into their value proposition even more.
IMO that would be a suicide unless they can somehow get rid of glare from the curves completely. I do believe Samsung will try a flexible smartphone with a transparent look in the future if they acquire the necessary techs. (and if they are still in the business) I do not think that will happen next year.