Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Apple iPhone SE (2022)
Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 ) that was released on January 4, 2022, against the Apple iPhone SE (2022), which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 2 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
- Comes with 2482 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 2018 mAh
- Thinner bezels – 24.2% more screen real estate
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Has a 1.7 inches larger screen size
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Delivers 23% higher peak brightness (796 against 648 nits)
- Has an ultra-wide angle camera lens
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- 23% higher pixel density (401 vs 326 PPI)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone SE (2022)
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- Better grip in hands – the body is 7.2 mm narrower
- 57% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1741 and 1109 points
- Weighs 33 grams less
- Ready for eSIM technology
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Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation
Value for money
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Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | IPS LCD |
| Size | 6.4 inches | 4.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 750 x 1334 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 16:9 |
| PPI | 401 ppi | 326 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 420 nits | 625 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1200 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.6% | 65.4% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 97% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 247 Hz | - |
| Response time | 6 ms | 38 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | 1655:1 |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) | 138.4 mm (5.45 inches) |
| Width | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) | 67.3 mm (2.65 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 177 g (6.24 oz) | 144 g (5.08 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP67 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Gray, Green, Purple | White, Black, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in home button |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Apple A15 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2840 MHz | 3223 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) - 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) |
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.24 GHz: Avalanche |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 660 | Apple GPU |
| GPU clock | 840 MHz | 1200 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1720 GFLOPS | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 194989 | 189244 |
| GPU | 281856 | 269834 |
| Memory | 133252 | 129820 |
| UX | 147872 | 127582 |
| Total score | 765423 | 720018 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 39.1 °C | 46.2 °C |
| Stability | 69% | 72% |
| Graphics test | 34 FPS | 48 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5757 | 8059 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 10755 | - |
| Video editing | 7096 | - |
| Photo editing | 28462 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10077 | - |
| Writing score | 14507 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 6, 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256 GB | 64, 128, 256 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | iOS 15.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.4) |
| ROM | One UI 5.0 | - |
| OS size | 17.5 GB | 12 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 2018 mAh |
| Charge power | 25 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (51% in 30 min) | Yes (61% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:15 hr | 1:18 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:42 hr | 09:55 hr |
| Watching video | 13:05 hr | 08:38 hr |
| Gaming | 05:29 hr | 03:26 hr |
| Standby | 91 hr | 93 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Quad LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | - |
| Lenses | 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) | 1 (12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.76", Sony IMX555 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Pixel size: 1.22 micron - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens | - 8 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 76 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/4.5", Hynix Hi847 (CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- |
| Ultra-wide lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.12 micron - Sensor: 1/3.0", Sony IMX258 (Exmor-RS CMOS) |
- |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone SE (2022) from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 7 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6464 x 4864 | 3088 x 2320 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Pixel size | 0.8 microns | - |
| Sensor type | Exmor-RS CMOS | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.74" | - |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | - |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 19 | - |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Mid-range |
| Announced | January 2022 | March 2022 |
| Release date | January 2022 | March 2022 |
| SAR (head) | 0.95 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.48 W/kg | - |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
*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 S21 FE 5G is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 191