[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Exynos)] jpbl1976:
That's what I've been thinking too:

1. Having only one SoC actually makes it easier to drive buyers to its channel partners because it's easier to create carrier variants for a SoC you own. If you're an unlocked unit buyer, you're basically rolling the dice when you buy an unlocked model that a good Dev like not-i will support it. In contrast, the HTC One will probably have several ROM variants within 2 months of retail availability (in fact, the M8 had the Android Revolution HD ROM shortly after it was announced; I don't expect that to be any different this time around);

2. Having no SD Slot actually benefits Sammy two ways: not too many people are going to be getting the base model and are going to go for the higher capacity models. I've seen it happen with the iPhone 6: it's a lot harder to find the 64 and 128gb variants in the color you want even today -- but the 16gb variants are always in stock. The funny thing is that because of good branding, Apple actually suckers a few people into still buying the 16gb entry models just so they can say they have an iPhone. I don't think that's going to be true for Samsung, metal and glass case or not.

3. We're probably looking at USD100-150 increments between S6/S6 Edge model variants -- that's nuts because you can get a good Samsung 64GB SD card for 40 bucks at retail -- and Samsung probably makes decent margins on that. So Samsung winds up giving a leg up to its storage division margins AND offsetting the cost of its higher BoM by selling more units with higher average SKU prices.

My experience with the Note 4 Lollipop roll-out has left a really bad taste in my mouth and given that we're likely to have fractured Dev support again with the 6/6Edge and the Note 5, I am thinking that I'll be getting an M9 as my next phone (unlike some disgruntled HTC fans who wanted a full redesign and these nasty bloggers from various tech sites, I don't mind what HTC did) and an iPhone 6S Plus as my next phablet.

The funny part is I actually abandoned Sammy for a good few years because I got tired of plastic (so I went Apple/HTC) and only came back because the Note 4 had excellent build quality (minus the scratchiness of the chamfered metal frame -- you can get rid of it with a buffer and metal polish, by the way). There isn't anything wrong with the device or even all that much wrong with the software; it proves Sammy can still do hardware right and listens (somewhat) to its end-users -- but I've just gotten tired of visiting Sammobile each day hoping to finally see our 910U 5.0.1 (or whatever) deployment. The only reason I'd shy away from the M9 at this point is because I've heard bad things about the Snapdragon 810 regarding performance throttling and overheating -- not to mention HTC fell into the "low availability trap again" (HTC is like that pretty girl who's almost perfect except she's actually kind of psychotic) since the SD 810 reportedly has poor yields -- those issues are the very ones that caused Sammy to go for its own SoC in the first place (although that might just be clever marketing on its end -- denigrate another platform to bolster your own).