Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs A54 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 A54 5G, which is powered by Exynos 1380 and came out 14 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
  • 47% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (751K versus 512K)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Thinner bezels – 6.7% more screen real estate
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G
  • Shows 41% longer battery life (37:29 vs 26:34 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • The phone is 1-year and 2-months newer
  • Comes with 500 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4500 mAh
  • Delivers 24% higher peak brightness (980 against 789 nits)
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and A54 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:
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 Super AMOLED
Size 6.4 inches 6.4 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 401 ppi 403 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 1000 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 89.6% 82.9%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97% 99.6%
PWM 247 Hz 253 Hz
Response time 6 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
789 nits
980 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) 158.2 mm (6.23 inches)
Width 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) 76.7 mm (3.02 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.2 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 177 g (6.24 oz) 202 g (7.13 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors White, Gray, Green, Purple White, Black, Green, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Samsung Galaxy A54 5G in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Samsung Exynos 1380
Max clock 2840 MHz 2400 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (4 + 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
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache 4 MB -
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 660 Mali-G68 MP5
GPU clock 840 MHz 950 MHz
FLOPS ~1720 GFLOPS ~608 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
751733
512478
CPU 194989 155921
GPU 281856 148262
Memory 133252 85150
UX 147872 126072
Total score 751733 512478
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 39.1 °C 40.6 °C
Stability 69% 98%
Graphics test 34 FPS 16 FPS
Graphics score 5706 2820
PCMark 3.0
Web score 10704 10082
Video editing 7086 7233
Photo editing 28462 25853
Data manipulation 10082 11074
Writing score 14483 16714
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

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 13
ROM One UI 5.0 One UI 5.1
OS size 17.5 GB 28 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 (56% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:03 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:42 hr 12:44 hr
Watching video 13:05 hr 17:55 hr
Gaming 05:29 hr 05:40 hr
Standby 91 hr 120 hr
General battery life
26:34 hr
37:29 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 8160 x 6120
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) 480 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 123°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) 3 (50 MP + 12 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
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 23 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)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.1", Samsung S5K3L6 (ISOCELL CMOS)
Macro lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 25 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
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 A54 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 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 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 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
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, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No Yes
Hybrid slot No Yes
LTE Cat* 19 -
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 March 2023
Release date January 2022 March 2023
SAR (head) 0.95 W/kg 0.69 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.48 W/kg 1.34 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- 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, performance, and gaming are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G. But if the display and battery life are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
460 (68.7%)
210 (31.3%)
Total votes: 670

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Heather M 31 May 2023 11:35
Very comprehensive comparison thank you.
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Tom blacksmith 14 May 2023 07:22
Excellent comprehensive review, everything you need on one page.
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Bruce Gordon 09 May 2023 01:51
Thank you for the comparison. You told me everything I wanted to know.
+3 Reply
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Bülent Yılmazer 02 May 2023 11:12
Thank you; found your comparison much more useful than those available elsewhere.
+8 Reply
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Root 02 May 2023 13:27
We are glad that our site helped you :)
+4 Reply
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