The Galaxy S6 launched alongside the Galaxy S6 edge in 2015, and the smartphone that started a new chapter in Samsung's history is soon to come to an end with regard to Android updates (the two-year mark is right around the corner). For Bell Canada and Virgin Mobile, however, that end has come quicker than expected.
Bell Canada and Virgin Mobile Canada, in a conversation with Canadian tech site MobileSyrup, have informed the site that the Galaxy S6 has reached its End-Of-Life (EOL) stage and is being discontinued in favor of one of Samsung's newest smartphones, the Galaxy A5 (2017), a smartphone that will cost just $499.99 CAD off-contract at its launch there.
The Galaxy S6 was priced at $729.99 off-contract and $249.99 with a two-year agreement at Virgin Mobile at its arrival, and the price gap between the now-discontinued Galaxy S6 there and the mid-range Galaxy A5 (2017) seems to be noticeable enough that the S6 won't be missed there. The same can be said at Bell. The white Galaxy S6 has already been discontinued, but Bell and Virgin are now eliminating all S6 colors from their shelves. The A5 (2017) is already on sale in Russia.
Other information about the discontinuation says that the Galaxy S5 Neo is apparently still available for purchase but could reach its end any day now.
For those who want to travel down memory lane and back again, the Galaxy S6 features a 5.1-inch, Quad HD display with a screen resolution of 2,560 x 1,440p and Corning's Gorilla Glass 4, Samsung's excellent octa-core Exynos 7420 SoC, 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 32GB/64GB/128GB of onboard storage, 5MP front/16MP rear camera combo with f/1.9 apertures, and a 2,550mAh battery (the Galaxy S6 edge has a 2,600mAh battery).
In contrast, the Galaxy A5 (2017) features a 5.2-inch Full HD display with a 1,920 x 1080p screen resolution, 1.9Ghz, octa-core Exynos 7880 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage, 16MP front and back cameras, Always On Display (AOD), and a 3,000mAh battery. Not to mention, we find the A5 (2017)'s IP68 water and dust resistance to be an advantage over the Galaxy S6.
