Home > Smartphone comparison > Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Galaxy A53 5G – which one to choose?

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs A53 5G

72 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
VS
65 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
Samsung Galaxy A53 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 A53 5G, which is powered by Exynos 1280 and came out 2 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments (2)

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
  • 88% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (813K versus 431K)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  • Shows 28% longer battery life (33:59 vs 26:34 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.1)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • Comes with 500 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4500 mAh

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and A53 5G 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

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
Phone:
Galaxy S21 FE 5G
vs
Galaxy A53 5G

Display

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 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1200 nits 830 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 89.6% 85.4%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97% 97.6%
PWM 247 Hz 250 Hz
Response time 6 ms 9 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S21 FE 5G
793 nits
Galaxy A53 5G +6%
838 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) 159.6 mm (6.28 inches)
Width 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) 74.8 mm (2.94 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.1 mm (0.32 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, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Samsung Galaxy A53 5G in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Samsung Exynos 1280
Max clock 2840 MHz 2400 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 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache 4 MB -
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 660 Mali-G68 MP4
GPU shading units 1024 -
GPU clock 792 MHz 1000 MHz
FLOPS ~1622 GFLOPS ~487 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
Galaxy S21 FE 5G +88%
813058
Galaxy A53 5G
431622
CPU 247479 112133
GPU 279733 130492
Memory 144313 77548
UX 134400 107735
Total score 813058 431622
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 39.1 °C 45.2 °C
Stability 69% 99%
Graphics test 34 FPS 13 FPS
Graphics score 5703 2287
PCMark 3.0
Web score 10889 9497
Video editing 7079 7594
Photo editing 28541 21637
Data manipulation 10075 9220
Writing score 14461 14992
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]
Submit your AnTuTu result

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6, 8 GB 6, 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128, 256 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.2
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.0 One UI 5.1
OS size 17.5 GB 36 GB

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 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 (45% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:24 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:42 hr 10:38 hr
Watching video 13:05 hr 15:55 hr
Gaming 05:29 hr 05:01 hr
Standby 91 hr 120 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S21 FE 5G
26:34 hr
Galaxy A53 5G +28%
33:59 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main 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: 1/1.72", Samsung S5KGW1P (ISOCELL 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: 1/4.0" (CMOS)
Macro lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
Depth lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.8", Sony IMX616 (Exmor-RS 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 A53 5G from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 32 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 6464 x 4864 6464 x 4864
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 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 a/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 5.1
Bluetooth features LE PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, 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 Depends on the region
Infrared port No No
Network
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 No
FM radio No -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
Galaxy S21 FE 5G +3%
88.9 dB
Galaxy A53 5G
86.1 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced January 2022 March 2022
Release date January 2022 April 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		 - Hall-effect 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

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
542 (75.8%)
173 (24.2%)
Total votes: 715

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User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Jellyfishboy812 20 October 2022 05:14
They go for the same price and the 21 Fe is better than the a53.
+10 Reply
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Daemon 16 April 2022 19:01
I keep finding that the S21 FE doesn't have microSD support, but for the vast majority of people who don't use dual SIM cards, you can use the second SIM slot for a microSD card up to 1024 Gb.
+78 Reply
Avatar
Daemon 20 April 2022 02:48
My mistake, I was thinking of the S20 FE. The S21 FE does indeed only have two SIM slots.
+84 Reply
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