Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs A52 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 Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G and came out 9 months before. 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
- 92% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (763K versus 397K)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
- Supports wireless charging up to 15W
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- More recent OS version: Android 13 versus 12
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
- Shows 17% longer battery life (30:59 vs 26:34 hours)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
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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
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 | Super AMOLED |
| Size | 6.4 inches | 6.5 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 401 ppi | 405 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 420 nits | 400 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1200 nits | 800 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.6% | 84.9% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 97% | 98.6% |
| PWM | 247 Hz | 250 Hz |
| Response time | 6 ms | 2.8 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) | 159.9 mm (6.3 inches) |
| Width | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) | 75.1 mm (2.96 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 8.4 mm (0.33 inches) |
| Weight | 177 g (6.24 oz) | 189 g (6.67 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP67 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Gray, Green, Purple | White, Black, Blue, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G |
| Max clock | 2840 MHz | 2200 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (2 + 6) |
| 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) |
- 6 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 570 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 2 cores at 2.2 GHz: Kryo 570 Gold (Cortex-A77) |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 8 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 660 | Adreno 619 |
| GPU clock | 840 MHz | 825 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1720 GFLOPS | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 194989 | 120704 |
| GPU | 281856 | 93965 |
| Memory | 133252 | 70414 |
| UX | 147872 | 111773 |
| Total score | 763456 | 397947 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 39.1 °C | 39.2 °C |
| Stability | 69% | 99% |
| Graphics test | 34 FPS | 6 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5757 | 1104 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 10755 | 7551 |
| Video editing | 7096 | 7115 |
| Photo editing | 28462 | 18281 |
| Data manipulation | 10077 | 7205 |
| Writing score | 14507 | 7265 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6, 8 GB | 6, 8 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 2.1 |
| Memory card | No | MicroSD |
| Memory card max size | - | Up to 1024 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) |
| ROM | One UI 5.0 | One UI 4.1 |
| OS size | 17.5 GB | 26.5 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Charge power | 25 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (51% in 30 min) | Yes (34% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:15 hr | 1:39 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:42 hr | 09:27 hr |
| Watching video | 13:05 hr | 14:55 hr |
| Gaming | 05:29 hr | 05:39 hr |
| Standby | 91 hr | 106 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 64 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 9000 x 7000 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | 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° | 123° |
| Lenses | 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) | 4 (64 MP + 12 MP + 5 MP + 5 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 |
- 64 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.7", Sony IMX682 (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) |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.12 micron - Sensor: 1/3.1", Samsung S5K3L6 (ISOCELL CMOS) |
| Macro lens | - | - 5 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 |
| Depth lens | - | - 5 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Pixel size: 1.12 micron - Sensor: 1/5.0" (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 Samsung Galaxy A52 5G from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6464 x 4864 | 6528 x 4896 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 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 | 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 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
| 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 |
| 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 | Yes |
| LTE Cat* | 19 | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | Yes |
| FM radio | No | Yes |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Mid-range |
| Announced | January 2022 | March 2021 |
| Release date | January 2022 | March 2021 |
| SAR (head) | 0.95 W/kg | 1.05 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.48 W/kg | 1.42 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- 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: 148