Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs OnePlus 10 Pro

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the OnePlus 10 Pro, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and came out 12 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 Plus
  • Delivers 14% higher peak brightness (890 against 781 nits)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 12% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1095 and 976 points
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the OnePlus 10 Pro
  • The rear camera has a 3.3x optical zoom
  • 36% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1000K versus 738K)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • 33% higher pixel density (525 vs 394 PPI)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • The phone is 1-year newer
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.
Price

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1440 x 3216 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 394 ppi 525 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1300 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 88.3% 90%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 98.3%
PWM 240 Hz 342 Hz
Response time 6.2 ms 11 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
890 nits
781 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 161.5 mm (6.36 inches) 163 mm (6.42 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 73.9 mm (2.91 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 8.6 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 200 g (7.05 oz) 200.5 g (7.07 oz)
Waterproof IP68 -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Purple White, Black, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
10 Pro +2%
90%

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and OnePlus 10 Pro in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
Max clock 2840 MHz 3000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 1 core at 2.9 GHz: Cortex-X1
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X2
L3 cache - 6 MB
Lithography process 5 nanometers 4 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Adreno 730
GPU clock 760 MHz 818 MHz
FLOPS - ~2236 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
1095
976
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
3501
3451
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
10 Pro +36%
1000694
CPU 189103 227709
GPU 274155 430176
Memory 137436 160925
UX 131951 175122
Total score 738170 1000694
3DMark Wild Life Performance
10 Pro +73%
9560
Max surface temperature 41.5 °C 46.5 °C
Stability 67% 64%
Graphics test 33 FPS 57 FPS
Graphics score 5538 9560
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 9205
Video editing - 5896
Photo editing - 25534
Data manipulation - 9203
Writing score - 16838
Best Smartphones in AnTuTu (145th and 56th place)
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8, 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128, 256, 512 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 12.1 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.0 OxygenOS 13
OS size 27.2 GB 32 GB

Battery

Specifications
Capacity 4800 mAh 5000 mAh
Charge power 25 W 80 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (50 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (98% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:12 hr 0:32 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:17 hr 10:04 hr
Watching video 15:27 hr 13:54 hr
Gaming 05:07 hr 04:58 hr
Standby 101 hr 100 hr
General battery life
30:26 hr
30:10 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 8000 x 6000
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Optical, 3.3x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS Up to 24FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 480 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 150°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 3 (48 MP + 8 MP + 50 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
- 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 23 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.43", Sony IMX789 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 64 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0
- Focal length: 28 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 77 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.4", Omnivision OV08A10 (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX563 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 14 mm
- Pixel size: 0.64 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.76", Samsung S5KJN1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of OnePlus 10 Pro from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 6528 x 4896
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm -
Pixel size 1.22 microns 0.8 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/2.74"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
10 Pro +7%
132
Video quality
10 Pro +18%
110
Generic camera score
10 Pro +9%
127

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, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- USB-Host mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
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* Yes No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 24 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
87.8 dB
88.1 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 January 2022
Release date February 2021 January 2022
SAR (head) 0.54 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.33 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

These smartphones have a lot in common, but we would recommend the OnePlus 10 Pro. It has a better display and performance.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
17 (34.7%)
32 (65.3%)
Total votes: 49

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