Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Google Pixel 6 Pro

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 ) that was released on January 4, 2022, against the Google Pixel 6 Pro, which is powered by Google Tensor and came out 3 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Weighs 33 grams less
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6 Pro
  • 28% higher pixel density (512 vs 401 PPI)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • The rear camera has a 4x optical zoom
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
  • Comes with 503 mAh larger battery capacity: 5003 vs 4500 mAh
  • Delivers 9% higher peak brightness (865 against 793 nits)
  • 14% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1335 and 1172 points
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Google Pixel 6 Pro crucial features
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
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Choose the importance of each parameter to more accurately identify the smartphone that best meets your particular needs.
Adjust priorities
Feature
Priority (Weight)
Display:
Camera:
Performance:
Gaming:
Battery Life:
The higher the priority, the more it will affect the final NanoReview score.

Value for money

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Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.4 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1440 x 3120 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 401 ppi 512 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes
Max rated brightness 420 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1200 nits 800 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 89.6% 88.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97% 98.5%
PWM 247 Hz 360 Hz
Response time 6 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
793 nits
865 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) 163.9 mm (6.45 inches)
Width 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) 75.9 mm (2.99 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 177 g (6.24 oz) 210 g (7.41 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gray, Green, Purple White, Black, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
89.6%
88.8%

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Google Pixel 6 Pro in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Google Tensor
Max clock 2840 MHz 2800 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 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 1.8 GHz: Cortex A55
- 2 cores at 2.25 GHz: Cortex A76
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache 4 MB 4 MB
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 660 Mali-G78 MP20
GPU shading units 1024 1280
GPU clock 792 MHz 848 MHz
FLOPS ~1622 GFLOPS ~2170.9 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1335
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
874514
CPU 226711 244572
GPU 345464 272616
Memory 135341 160815
UX 145725 190234
Total score 854248 874514
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 39.1 °C 40.4 °C
Stability 69% 56%
Graphics test 34 FPS 37 FPS
Graphics score 5703 6208
PCMark 3.0
12238
11439
Web score 10945 8605
Video editing 7077 6887
Photo editing 28510 18019
Data manipulation 10087 11172
Writing score 14391 16280
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6, 8 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128, 256, 512 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.0 Stock Android
OS size 17.5 GB 14 GB

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 5003 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 30 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (23 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (51% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:59 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:42 hr 08:47 hr
Watching video 13:05 hr 12:29 hr
Gaming 05:29 hr 04:43 hr
Standby 91 hr 93 hr
General battery life
26:34 hr
27:15 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 4x
Flash LED Dual 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° 114°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) 3 (50 MP + 48 MP + 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
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.9
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.2 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.31", Samsung GN1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Laser 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
- 48 MP
- Aperture: f/3.5
- Focal length: 104 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/2", Sony IMX586 (Exmor-RS 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)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Pixel size: 1.25 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.9", Sony IMX386 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 6 Pro from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 32 megapixels 11.1 megapixels
Image resolution 6464 x 4864 3840 x 2880
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.0
Focal length 26 mm 24 mm
Pixel size 0.8 microns 1.22 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.74" -
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) 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 6E (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 5.2
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
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
Network
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 20
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
88.9 dB
84.6 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2022 October 2021
Release date January 2022 October 2021
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
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the display, camera, performance, battery life, and design are more important to you, then choose the Google Pixel 6 Pro. But if the gaming, software, and sound are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
78 (48.1%)
84 (51.9%)
Total votes: 162

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
Avatar
Aurora Llamas 23 May 2022 09:32
Hello. Have you ever considered testing the still shot quality of both phones while taking a video at the same time? I love taking both videos and photos but I take still shots too while on video mode. I have tested the photo quality using Pixel5 and Samsung 21. I have been a Samsung galaxy user from 2010-2018 and Pixel3 from 2018-present. Appreciate your feedback. Thank you.
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