Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Google Pixel 6a
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 6a, which is powered by Google Tensor and came out 4 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
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Supports wireless charging up to 15W
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Thinner bezels – 6.6% more screen real estate
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6a
- Shows 22% longer battery life (32:23 vs 26:34 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Delivers 10% higher peak brightness (881 against 799 nits)
- 24% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1366 and 1106 points
- Ready for eSIM technology
We may receive a commission from Amazon for purchases made using the links below, but this has no bearing on our assessment methodology.
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
You can enter your local price of these phones (in USD or any other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.4 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 401 ppi | 429 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 420 nits | 500 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1200 nits | 1100 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.6% | 83% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 97% | 96.9% |
| PWM | 247 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 6 ms | 3 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) | 152.2 mm (5.99 inches) |
| Width | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) | 71.8 mm (2.83 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 177 g (6.24 oz) | 178 g (6.28 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP67 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Gray, Green, Purple | White, Black, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| 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 clock | 840 MHz | 848 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1720 GFLOPS | ~2171 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 194989 | 208269 |
| GPU | 281856 | 305908 |
| Memory | 133252 | 110039 |
| UX | 147872 | 144068 |
| Total score | 763456 | 774388 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 39.1 °C | 41.4 °C |
| Stability | 69% | 55% |
| Graphics test | 34 FPS | 37 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5757 | 6275 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 10755 | 6092 |
| Video editing | 7096 | 5676 |
| Photo editing | 28462 | 17494 |
| Data manipulation | 10077 | 9105 |
| Writing score | 14507 | 15469 |
Best Smartphones in AnTuTu 9 (139th and 134th place)
Memory
| RAM size | 6, 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256 GB | 128 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 | 14.3 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 4410 mAh |
| Charge power | 25 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (51% in 30 min) | Yes (42% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:15 hr | 1:51 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:42 hr | 11:03 hr |
| Watching video | 13:05 hr | 16:44 hr |
| Gaming | 05:29 hr | 06:15 hr |
| Standby | 91 hr | 91 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12.2 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| 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) | 2 (12.2 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 |
- 12.2 MP - Aperture: f/1.7 - Focal length: 27 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX363 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - 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) |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 17 mm - Pixel size: 1.12 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 6a from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 8 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6464 x 4864 | 3840 x 2160 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 24 mm |
| Pixel size | 0.8 microns | 1.12 microns |
| Sensor type | Exmor-RS CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.74" | 1/2.8" |
| 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 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 |
| 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
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | January 2022 | May 2022 |
| Release date | January 2022 | June 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
These smartphones have a lot in common, but we would recommend the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G. It has a better display, software, camera, and design.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 389