Samsung Galaxy S6 Series used and refurbished

The Galaxy S6, released in March 2015, is the phone with which Samsung said goodbye to plastic. It got a glass back and an aluminium frame, and in return lost what the Galaxy S5 still had: a memory card slot, a removable battery and water resistance. Some fans still see it as the turning point of the series. Others mainly remember it for what was missing.

In this category you'll find used and refurbished Samsung Galaxy S6 phones. The selection is very small: the Galaxy S6 32 GB in black appears on the site, and at the time of writing it's unavailable. The generation also included the S6 edge and S6 edge+. Every unit that lands here is checked by SWOPiFY partners and repaired if needed.

Which Galaxy S6 models can you find in this category?

The base Galaxy S6 has a flat 5.1-inch Super AMOLED screen at 1440 × 2560, an Exynos 7420 chip, 3 GB of RAM and 32, 64 or 128 GB of storage. There's a 16 MP camera with optical image stabilisation on the back and a 5 MP camera on the front. The battery is 2550 mAh, and the fingerprint reader sits in the Home button.

The S6 edge has the same screen size, just curved on both sides, and a 2600 mAh battery. The larger S6 edge+ came out in August 2015: a 5.7-inch screen, 4 GB of RAM, a 3000 mAh battery and 32 or 64 GB of storage. There was also a rugged S6 active, but it was sold only by the US carrier AT&T, so it hardly ever turns up in Europe.

Who is it for today? A collector who wants an important model from Samsung's history in the drawer. Someone who needs a second phone for calls and texts. And anyone who had an S6 for years and simply likes it.

Why do people still buy a refurbished Galaxy S6 today?

A refurbished Galaxy S6 costs a fraction of what it sold for in 2015. For that money you get a sharp screen and a well-made body, but not a phone for the years ahead. It's a purchase for a specific role, not a replacement for a new smartphone.

A ten-year-old phone that goes back into use instead of into the e-waste bin is a small but real gain. We won't call it a green choice in the full sense – that would be an exaggeration. It's simply a longer life for hardware someone has already made.

What should you watch out for with a phone from 2015?

The Galaxy S6 launched with Android 5.0 and ended on Android 7.0 Nougat. It never got Oreo, and the last security patches for the international version came out in early 2019. In practice, Chrome 119 is the last browser version for Nougat, and more and more apps, banking apps included, require a newer system. Don't plan on using it for payments or banking.

The second issue is the network. In many European countries operators have already switched off 3G, and some are planning to phase out 2G. Without VoLTE, calls then have nowhere left to go but 2G. We can't confirm that the S6 supports VoLTE calls on your network, and VoLTE support depends on the operator – so before you buy, check with yours how a phone like this will work there.

When choosing a unit, compare:

• storage – 32, 64 or 128 GB, with no option to expand with a card;
• RAM – 3 GB, 4 GB in the S6 edge+;
• colour;
• price;
• condition.

No microSD means the capacity you buy stays with you for good. The battery is glued in under the glass back, so leave replacing it to a repair shop. That's why it pays to read the battery condition description for each unit more carefully than you would with a newer phone.

What does the technical check involve?

Before a Galaxy S6 goes on sale, it goes through a 44-point checklist. Among other things, SWOPiFY partners check:

• the screen – touch response and visual condition;
• the battery – health and physical condition;
• the main and front cameras;
• the fingerprint reader in the Home button;
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC;
• SIM card detection and signal;
• the speaker, earpiece and microphone;
• ports and connectors, including the charging port.

If something fails the test, the partner decides on a repair before the phone goes back into circulation. With hardware this old, that matters even more, because wear doesn't only show on the casing.

Can you trust a refurbished Galaxy S6?

Refurbished Samsung Galaxy S6 phones are used devices – and have been for many years. That's how we describe them, and we never suggest they're new. A unit's condition is defined by one of four grades – Premium, Very good, Good or Fair – and each has its own requirements for appearance, battery and the parts used.

You buy the phone with a warranty. With a device from a decade ago, that's real protection a private seller won't give you.

Got a phone in a drawer that you no longer use?

Hand it in through the trade-in programme and lower the cost of your next purchase. You don't have to find a buyer yourself, and the phone gets a chance at a second life with someone else.

Browse the available Galaxy S6 models, and if you're after a phone for everyday use, have a look at the newer generations of the S series too.