T-Mobile teases next gen Samsung Galaxy S6 phone

The Samsung Galaxy S6, to be released on March 1st, will likely have a curved screen and a metal body. The Samsung Galaxy S6 may also have an iPhone-style fingerprint sensor.

The Galaxy S6, the latest iteration of Samsung’s flagship line of smart phones, will likely have at least one curved edge – meaning that the screen wraps around the phone’s corner, giving extra space for displaying content and notifications.

A T-Mobile sign-up page includes a promo picture of the Galaxy S6, showing the curved edge and the tagline “Six Appeal: The Next Big Thing is Almost Here.”

The page promises that more details will be made available on March 1, which is the day before the start of the 2015 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Traditionally most companies make major product announcements the day before the show, and this year analysts expect to see new smart phones from Samsung (the Galaxy S6), HTC (the One M9), and possibly from Microsoft (a new Lumia device?).

Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge, a phone/tablet hybrid with a 5.6-inch screen, already has a curved screen on one edge, but a persistent rumor first reported by Bloomberg says that the Galaxy S6’s screen will curve on two sides, in effect creating two sidebars where icons and notifications can reside. Another rumor says that Samsung will release two versions of the Galaxy S6, one with a traditional flat screen and another with a curved screen.

Previous Galaxy smart phones have had all-plastic bodies, which Samsung has defended on the grounds that they allowed consumers to access their phones’ batteries and memory expansion slots. Plastic construction can feel cheap, however, especially next to the svelte aluminum cladding of other flagship phones such as the Apple iPhone 6 or the HTC One M8. Samsung has all but promised that the Galaxy S6 will be made of metal: the company’s teaser video titled “Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2015 - The Next Galaxy” is rife with images of metal and contains the words, “metal will flow.”

Another rumor – one to be taken with a grain of salt – says that Samsung will include an iPhone-style fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S6. The Galaxy S5 included a swipe-based sensor that didn’t work very well for many users, as finding the precise angle at which the sensor would register one’s fingerprint proved more trouble than it was worth. But the Galaxy S6 may have a static sensor that can read your print no matter how you place your finger on the device. Fingerprint authentication can be used to unlock the phone, make PayPal payments, and sign in to websites in lieu of a traditional password.