Here's your first look at Samsung's new phones: The Galaxy S 6 and Galaxy S 6 Edge

Over the last four years, its flagship Galaxy S phones have sported the best displays and most powerful chips in the industry, but all of that was wrapped in cheap-feeling plastic casings. Meanwhile, Apple, HTC, and Xiaomi have been pumping out gorgeous phones made out of premium materials.

That will change in April when Samsung launches the Galaxy S 6, its new flagship phone announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Galaxy S 6 is made entirely of metal and glass and will come in two variations: The "regular" Galaxy S 6 and the Galaxy S 6 edge, which has a curved screen.

Samsung started designing the Galaxy S 6 from the ground up about a year ago under a program it called Project Zero. Whereas the last few Galaxy models were designed with the previous model in mind, the Galaxy S 6 is entirely new. Samsung even abandoned some of its earlier principles in order to highlight the design of the Galaxy S 6. It's not waterproof. You can't swap out the battery. And there's no slot to insert extra memory.

Both models do all the same stuff, except the Galaxy S 6 edge has a few extras. It lets you swipe over from the curved portion of the screen to view a list of your favorite contacts and get alerts when you have a missed call or text from one of them. Other than that, Samsung says the curved screen doesn't serve any function other than to look good. (It'll also be more expensive, but Samsung hasn't said how much either phone will cost yet.)

Lisa Eadicicco/ Business InsiderThe Galaxy S 6 will come in a variety of colors.Besides the physical design, Samsung has cleaned up its software too. The phone isn't bogged down with a bunch of unnecessary features and extras. The new version of Samsung's TouchWiz skin for Android is cleaner and easier to navigate. All the basic apps like email, calendar, and music have a new look. Plus, the phone will ship with some of Microsoft's Android apps like OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype.

On the hardware site, Samsung improved the phone's 16 MP camera with optical image stabilization and some software features like one that lets you track a moving subject and remain focused on it. The phone also includes a special plug that lets you charge it faster than normal, up to 50% in 25 minutes. Samsung also included wireless charging for the first time. It works with standard wireless chargers, or you can buy Samsung's own charger, which looks kind of cool:

The new fingerprint sensor also enables Samsung's new mobile payments platform Samsung Pay, which will launch this summer. Visa and MasterCard have already signed up as partners, and Samsung says its in discussions with credit cards and banks like Bank of America and American Express to bring them on board in time for launch.

The magnetic card reader technology is powered by LoopPay, a startup Samsung bought a few weeks ago. However, Samsung Pay is only for making purchases in physical stores, you can't use it to make purchases online or through shopping apps like you can with Apple Pay.

Now comes the hard part. Samsung has been struggling to compete at the high-end of the smartphone market as new companies emerged that make phones that are just as good, but cost half as much. So far, Samsung phones haven't been able to differentiate themselves enough to justify their extra cost. The hope this time seems to be a premium design will do the trick.

The Galaxy S 6 and Galaxy S 6 edge go on sale this April on all the major carriers. Pricing will vary by carrier.