Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs OnePlus Nord 2 5G
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 OnePlus Nord 2 5G, which is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G and came out 6 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the gadgets.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Supports wireless charging up to 15W
- Delivers 25% higher peak brightness (792 against 633 nits)
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- 14% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (757K versus 664K)
- More recent OS version: Android 13 versus 12
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the OnePlus Nord 2 5G
- Shows 21% longer battery life (32:08 vs 26:34 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
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 | AMOLED |
| Size | 6.4 inches | 6.43 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 401 ppi | 410 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 90 Hz |
| Max rated brightness | 420 nits | 450 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1200 nits | 650 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.6% | 85.8% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 97% | 128.2% |
| PWM | 247 Hz | 119 Hz |
| Response time | 6 ms | 8 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) | 158.9 mm (6.26 inches) |
| Width | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) | 73.2 mm (2.88 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 8.3 mm (0.33 inches) |
| Weight | 177 g (6.24 oz) | 189 g (6.67 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | No |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Gray, Green, Purple | Gray, Blue, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G |
| Max. clock | 2840 MHz | 3000 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (1 + 3 + 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 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A78 - 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-A78 |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 6 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 660 | Mali-G77 MC9 |
| GPU clock | 840 MHz | 850 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1720 GFLOPS | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 194989 | 186770 |
| GPU | 281856 | 232801 |
| Memory | 133252 | 114516 |
| UX | 147872 | 131863 |
| Total score | 757753 | 664398 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Stability | 69% | 64% |
| Graphics test | 34 FPS | 25 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5787 | 4179 |
| PCMark 3.0 score | 12363 | 8588 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 9 Android Phone Scores (126th and 185th place)
Memory
| RAM size | 6, 8 GB | 6, 8, 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| 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 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) |
| ROM | One UI 5.0 | OxygenOS 12 |
| OS size | 17.5 GB | 14 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Charge power | 25 W | 65 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 (98% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:15 hr | 0:31 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:42 hr | 12:29 hr |
| Watching video | 13:05 hr | 13:49 hr |
| Gaming | 05:29 hr | 05:27 hr |
| Standby | 91 hr | 94 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 8700 x 5800 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 119° |
| Lenses | 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) | 3 (50 MP + 8 MP + 2 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: 24 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/1.56", Sony IMX766 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - 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) |
- 8 MP - Aperture: f/2.3 |
| Monochrome lens | - | - 2 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 |
| 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 OnePlus Nord 2 5G from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6464 x 4864 | 6528 x 4896 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.5 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Pixel size | 0.8 microns | 0.8 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 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 | 5.2 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | 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, NAVIC, SBAS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | No | No |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 19 | 18 |
| 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 | July 2021 |
| Release date | January 2022 | July 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 |
- 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: 47