Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs S21 FE 5G
57
out of 100
VS
58
out of 100
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 S21 FE 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and came out 1 year after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
- Shows 12% longer battery life (20:53 vs 18:37 hours)
- Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
- Delivers 12% higher peak brightness (879 against 786 nits)
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- 12% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1138K versus 1017K)
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
- The phone is 1 year newer
- 18% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1481 and 1259 points
- Weighs 23 grams less
Review
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.4 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 394 ppi | 403 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (48-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1300 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88.7% | 86.7% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 98.9% | 97% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 247 Hz |
| Response time | 6.2 ms | 6 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S21 Plus
6.7″ (20:9 ratio) = 16.8 in2
Galaxy S21 FE 5G
6.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
~7% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 161.5 mm (6.36 inches) | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) |
| Width | 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 200 g (7.05 oz) | 177 g (6.24 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Purple | White, Gray, Green, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 |
| Max clock | 2900 MHz | 2840 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (1 + 3 + 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 1.8 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) |
| L3 cache | - | 4 MB |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Hexagon 780 |
| Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | Adreno 660 |
| GPU shading units | 448 | 768 |
| GPU clock | 854 MHz | 840 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS | ~1290.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 6699 | 4514 |
| Single-core score | 1259 | 1481 |
| Multi-core score | 3255 | 3173 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 380634 | 415282 |
| GPU | 187261 | 207688 |
| Memory | 186352 | 174461 |
| UX | 263526 | 341497 |
| Total score | 1017773 | 1138928 |
| Samples | [9 tests] | [17 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | - | 71% |
| Graphics test | - | 3 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 390 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 68% |
| Graphics test | - | 9 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 1666 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 13606 |
| Video editing | - | 7043 |
| Photo editing | - | 28743 |
| Data manipulation | - | 10563 |
| Writing score | - | 14216 |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-01 (Md. Iqbal Talukder) | AnTuTu 11 | 1014567 |
| 📘 2026-05-30 (Júnior) | AnTuTu 11 | 1049711 |
| 📘 2026-05-08 (Arcytechsure) | AnTuTu 11 | 1125806 |
| 📘 2026-04-18 (Aziz Jr) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 6699 |
| 📘 2026-04-18 (Aziz Jr) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1124 / 3273 |
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-08 -> AlicanTuTu | AnTuTu 11 | 1198886 |
| 📘 2026-07-21 (Psycho0Dream) | AnTuTu 11 | 1157836 |
| 📘 2026-07-06 (Puzatik) | AnTuTu 11 | 1118460 |
| 📘 2026-05-10 -> AlicanTuTu | AnTuTu 11 | 1197004 |
| 📘 2026-05-10 (Alican TuTu) | AnTuTu 11 | 1197004 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) |
| ROM | One UI 7.0 | One UI 8.0 |
| OS size | 27.2 GB | 17.5 GB |
| OS updates | 2 years | 4 years |
| Security updates | 4 years | 5 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4800 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (54% in 30 min) | Yes (51% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:12 hr | 1:15 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:28 hr | 06:11 hr |
| Watching video | 13:15 hr | 11:05 hr |
| Gaming | 05:04 hr | 04:48 hr |
| Standby | 105 hr | 100 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 1.1x | Optical, 3x |
| Flash | Dual LED | 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 60FPS |
| 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: 8 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX555 | Sony IMX555 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.8 micron | 1.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 64 MP | 8 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 28 mm | 76 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung Bright S5KGW2 | Hynix Hi847 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch) | 1/4.5" (≈ 0.22 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX563 | Sony IMX258 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 1.12 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 S21 FE 5G from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3872 x 2592 | 6464 x 4864 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX374 | Sony IMX616 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
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 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| 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 |
| 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 | 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 | Flagship |
| Announced | January 2021 | January 2022 |
| Release date | February 2021 | January 2022 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1000 | $790 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus | - Samsung Galaxy S25 FE |
| SAR (head) | 0.54 W/kg | 0.95 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.33 W/kg | 1.48 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 |
| Bundled charger | - | Not included |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the camera, performance, and software are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G. But if the battery life, connectivity, and design are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 1534