Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Google Pixel 7

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 7, which is powered by Google Tensor G2 and came out 9 months after. 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
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Weighs 20 grams less
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 7
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Shows 10% longer battery life (29:08 vs 26:34 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • Delivers 23% higher peak brightness (964 against 786 nits)
  • The phone is 9-months newer
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Google Pixel 7 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:
Connectivity:
The higher the priority, the more it will affect the final NanoReview score.

Value for money

You can enter your local prices of these phones (in USD or other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
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Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.4 inches 6.3 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 401 ppi 416 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 90 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes
Max rated brightness 420 nits 450 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1200 nits 1400 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 89.6% 84.9%
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 3 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
786 nits
Pixel 7 +23%
964 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) 155.6 mm (6.13 inches)
Width 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) 73.2 mm (2.88 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.7 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 177 g (6.24 oz) 197 g (6.95 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%
84.9%

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Google Pixel 7 in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Google Tensor G2
Max clock 2840 MHz 2850 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 2.35 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 2 cores at 2.85 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache 4 MB 4 MB
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 660 Mali-G710 MP7
GPU clock 840 MHz 850 MHz
FLOPS ~1720 GFLOPS ~1153 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
1104
1043
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Pixel 7 +8%
3278
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
757105
749013
CPU 194989 203616
GPU 281856 295372
Memory 133252 108654
UX 147872 142235
Total score 757105 749013
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Pixel 7 +14%
6524
Max surface temperature 39.1 °C 45.8 °C
Stability 69% 70%
Graphics test 34 FPS 39 FPS
Graphics score 5707 6524
PCMark 3.0
12207
10621
Web score 10736 7531
Video editing 7087 6201
Photo editing 28462 17984
Data manipulation 10087 10140
Writing score 14472 15673
AnTuTu 9 Android Rating (157th and 159th place)
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6, 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128, 256 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 13
ROM One UI 5.0 Stock Android
OS size 17.5 GB 14 GB

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 4355 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 20 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (20 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (51% in 30 min) Yes (48% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:40 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:42 hr 10:13 hr
Watching video 13:05 hr 16:16 hr
Gaming 05:29 hr 05:26 hr
Standby 91 hr 73 hr
General battery life
26:34 hr
Pixel 7 +10%
29:08 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 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 (50 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: 25 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
-
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 IMX381 (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 7 from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 32 megapixels 10.8 megapixels
Image resolution 6464 x 4864 3648 x 2736
Aperture 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 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Pixel 7 +22%
145
Video quality
Pixel 7 +34%
143
Generic camera score
Pixel 7 +20%
140

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
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
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
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
88.3 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2022 October 2022
Release date January 2022 October 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
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 camera and software are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G. But if the battery life and design are more of a priority – go for the Google Pixel 7.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
161 (50%)
161 (50%)
Total votes: 322

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