Samsung Galaxy A55 5G vs Galaxy A21s
Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy A55 5G (with Exynos 1480) that was released on March 11, 2024, against the Samsung Galaxy A21s, which is powered by Exynos 850 and came out 3 years and 11 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
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Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G
- Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
- 4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1021K versus 258K)
- Has 3x more RAM: 6GB versus 2GB
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Delivers 105% higher peak brightness (1005 against 490 nits)
- 44% higher pixel density (390 vs 270 PPI)
- Shows 7% longer battery life (26:41 vs 25:00 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Optical image stabilization
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 12
- Slow-motion recording at 240FPS
- More energy-efficient CPU – Exynos 1480
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A21s
- Weighs 21 grams less
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Super AMOLED | PLS TFT |
| Size | 6.6 inches | 6.5 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 720 x 1600 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 390 ppi | 270 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (60-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1000 nits | 540 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | No |
| Touch sampling rate | 240 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus Plus | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85.8% | 82.9% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- |
| RGB color space | 100% | 88.4% |
| PWM | 120 Hz | 500 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 30.4 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | 1500:1 |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 161.1 mm (6.34 inches) | 163.6 mm (6.44 inches) |
| Width | 77.4 mm (3.05 inches) | 75.3 mm (2.96 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 213 g (7.51 oz) | 192 g (6.77 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP67 | No |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Blue, Purple, Yellow | Black, Blue, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, rear |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 1480 | Samsung Exynos 850 |
| Max clock | 2750 MHz | 2000 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (4 + 4) | 8 (8) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 4 cores at 2.75 GHz: Cortex-A78 |
- 8 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 8 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | No |
| Graphics | Xclipse 530 | Mali-G52 MP6 |
| GPU shading units | 128 | 16 |
| GPU clock | 1300 MHz | 1001 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~665.6 GFLOPS | ~48 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 4101 | - |
| Single-core score | 1137 | 300 |
| Multi-core score | 3437 | 836 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 348485 | 100392 |
| GPU | 226076 | 18008 |
| Memory | 182794 | 86289 |
| UX | 264381 | 53375 |
| Total score | 1021736 | 258064 |
| Samples | [29 tests] | [4 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 98% | - |
| Graphics test | 3 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 459 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 98% | 96% |
| Graphics test | 5 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 982 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 11788 | 4948 |
| Video editing | 7255 | 5163 |
| Photo editing | 23283 | 8993 |
| Data manipulation | 10941 | 3929 |
| Writing score | 17673 | 5825 |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy A55 5G
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-17 (Артем) | AnTuTu 11 | 1080442 |
| 📘 2026-08-23 (No) | AnTuTu 11 | 965699 |
| 📘 2026-08-14 (Brice) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1115 / 3126 |
| 📘 2026-08-06 (Mazen) | AnTuTu 11 | 1057022 |
| 📘 2026-06-28 (SK.EMTIAZ) | AnTuTu 11 | 1021736 |
Samsung Galaxy A21s
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-18 -> HABIBO | AnTuTu 12 | 304257 |
| 📘 2026-05-16 (Abdul ahad) | AnTuTu 11 | 258064 |
| 📘 2026-03-29 -> quandzvl12 | AnTuTu 11 | 316736 |
| 📘 2025-10-08 (MinxK) | AnTuTu 11 | 231817 |
| 📘 2025-10-04 (zayedbinnahyan) | AnTuTu 11 | 218341 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | 1866 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 32 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | eMMC 5.1 |
| Memory card | MicroSD | MicroSD |
| Memory card max size | Up to 1024 GB | Up to 512 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) |
| ROM | One UI 8.5 | One UI 4.1 |
| OS size | 20.1 GB | 12 GB |
| OS updates | 4 years | 2 years |
| Security updates | 5 years | 4 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 15 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | No |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | No | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (55% in 30 min) | Yes (50% in 60 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:03 hr | 2:10 hr |
| Web browsing | 10:24 hr | 09:45 hr |
| Watching video | 17:52 hr | 14:13 hr |
| Gaming | 05:16 hr | 05:34 hr |
| Standby | 125 hr | 128 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#116th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8000 x 6000 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (720p) | No |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 123° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP 3) Macro: 5 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 8 MP 3) Macro: 2 MP 4) Depth: 2 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | - | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX906 | Samsung S5KGM2 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/2.0" (≈ 0.5 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 8 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Sensor | Sony IMX258 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 5 MP | 2 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.4 |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC5035 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/5" (≈ 0.2 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 45 | - |
| Preview | 54 | - |
| Zoom | 75 | - |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A55 5G from DxOMark | - |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 13 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6464 x 4864 | 4128 x 3096 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX616 | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) | 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC* | Depends on the region | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | No |
| Hybrid slot | Yes | No |
| LTE Cat* | 18 | 13 |
| 5G support | Yes | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Mono |
| Headphone audio jack | No | Yes |
| FM radio | No | Yes |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Budget |
| Announced | March 2024 | May 2020 |
| Release date | March 2024 | June 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $439 | $200 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy A57 5G | - Samsung Galaxy A24 4G |
| SAR (head) | 0.68 W/kg | 0.23 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.04 W/kg | 1.38 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Not included | - |
Further details
Notes on Galaxy A55 5G:
- The barometer is only available in the model for the USA.
- SM-A556B/DS and A556E/DS models come with two physical SIM cards.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 23