Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs S10 Plus

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 Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, which is powered by Exynos 9 Octa 9820 and came out 1 year and 11 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
  • More recent OS version: Android 15 versus 12
  • Comes with 700 mAh larger battery capacity: 4800 vs 4100 mAh
  • 30% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1017K versus 782K)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Delivers 11% higher peak brightness (885 against 797 nits)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (25W versus 15W)
  • The phone is 1 year and 11 months newer
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus
  • Shows 19% longer battery life (24:46 vs 20:53 hours)
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • 34% higher pixel density (526 vs 393 PPI)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
  • Weighs 25 grams less
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and S10 Plus 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
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
6 / 128 GB
53.0
(Average)
Value Index
94.2
(Very good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.4 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1440 x 3040 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19:9
PPI 393 ppi 526 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (48-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Screen-to-body ratio 88.7% 87.6%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 96.5%
PWM 240 Hz 235 Hz
Response time 6.2 ms 4.8 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
885 nits
797 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 161.5 mm (6.36 inches) 157.6 mm (6.2 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 74.1 mm (2.92 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 7.8 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 200 g (7.05 oz) 175 g (6.17 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling - Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Purple Black, Blue, Green, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9820
Max clock 2900 MHz 2730 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1
- 4 cores at 1.95 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.31 GHz: Cortex-A75
- 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Mongoose M4
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 5 nanometers 8 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Yes
GPU
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Mali G76 MP12
GPU shading units 448 288
GPU clock 854 MHz 720 MHz
FLOPS ~765.2 GFLOPS ~404.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 6699 -
Single-core score 1259 1017
Multi-core score 3255 2593
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1017773
CPU 380634 295808
GPU 187261 132940
Memory 186352 150643
UX 263526 202848
Total score 1017773 782239
Samples [9 tests] [9 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 81%
Graphics test - 3 FPS
Graphics score - 367
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 82%
Graphics test - 5 FPS
Graphics score - 952
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 7478
Video editing - 5765
Photo editing - 18093
Data manipulation - 7575
Writing score - 10112

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-01 (Md. Iqbal Talukder)AnTuTu 111014567
📘 2026-05-30 (Júnior)AnTuTu 111049711
📘 2026-05-08 (Arcytechsure)AnTuTu 111125806
📘 2026-04-18 (Aziz Jr)Geekbench 6 GPU6699
📘 2026-04-18 (Aziz Jr)Geekbench 6 CPU1124 / 3273
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-30 (Vzxzv)CPU Throttle76%
📘 2026-09-30 (Vzxzv)AnTuTu 11717771
📘 2026-09-24 (unknown)AnTuTu 12904674
📘 2026-05-26 (Tban)AnTuTu 11550199
📘 2026-03-31 -> RodikAnTuTu 11745471

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.1
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 512 GB

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) Android 9.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 12)
ROM One UI 7.0 One UI 4.0
OS size 27.2 GB 46.5 GB
OS updates 2 years 2 years
Security updates 4 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 4800 mAh 4100 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 15 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes, Qi/PMA (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:12 hr 1:40 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:28 hr 13:48 hr
Watching video 13:15 hr 16:28 hr
Gaming 05:04 hr 05:50 hr
Standby 105 hr 80 hr
General battery life
20:53 hr
24:46 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4000 x 3000
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Optical, 2x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 240FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 64 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 16 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.5 - 2.4
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX555 Samsung SAK2L4
Sensor size 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.8 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 64 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.4
Focal length 28 mm 52 mm
Sensor Samsung Bright S5KGW2 Samsung S5K3M3
Sensor size 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 16 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 12 mm
Sensor Sony IMX563 -
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 70 -
Preview 60 -
Zoom 114 -
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 10 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 4320 x 2432
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX374 Samsung S5K3J1
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/2.65" (≈ 0.38 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Additional lens - 8 MP, f/22, 1/4"
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 101
Video - 88

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 Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP
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 Yes
LTE Cat* 24 20
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No Yes
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 February 2019
Release date February 2021 March 2019
Launch price (MSRP) $1000 $1000
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus - Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
SAR (head) 0.54 W/kg 0.516 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.33 W/kg 1.582 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- 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

If the display, performance, gaming, connectivity, and software are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus. But if the battery life and sound are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
210 (34.3%)
403 (65.7%)
Total votes: 613

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
Jon January 20, 2022 at 08:18 AM
24 months is usually enough to safely upgrade and get better, especially when 24 months is usually the time you are already paid the previous model. In this case, S21 ultra is more likely to beat S10+ than S21+. Both S21+ & S10+ are still awesome phones. Just remember that there's no headphone jack in S21+ or SD-Card slot. Shooting 4K video will use a lot of space and 128GB isn't tbh enough, so we are forced to pick up the 256GB model which is slightly expensive. Pros are that it's faster than the 128GB model with SD-Card.
+17 Reply
Avatar
Randy May 27, 2021 at 01:00 PM
Will the s22 have a curved screen? I see that the s20 n s21 do not...
+43 Reply