Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 13
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 13, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 8 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
- The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Comes with 1773 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3227 mAh
- Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Delivers 23% higher peak brightness (1024 against 831 nits)
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- 12% higher pixel density (515 vs 460 PPI)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13
- Shows 16% longer battery life (36:13 vs 31:14 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- 57% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1740 and 1111 points
- Weighs 53 grams less
- The phone is 8-months newer
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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.
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.8 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 515 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1500 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Ceramic Shield |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.8% | 86% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | - | 129% |
| PWM | - | 609 Hz |
| Response time | - | 7.5 ms |
| Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) |
| Weight | 227 g (8.01 oz) | 174 g (6.14 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | Apple A15 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2840 MHz | 3230 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 6 (2 + 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 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.24 GHz: Avalanche |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | Apple GPU |
| GPU clock | 760 MHz | 1200 MHz |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 191240 | 210809 |
| GPU | 256481 | 324750 |
| Memory | 151369 | 134620 |
| UX | 149052 | 133782 |
| Total score | 751805 | 809642 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 40.8 °C | 45.7 °C |
| Stability | 69% | 79% |
| Graphics test | 31 FPS | 52 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5221 | 8729 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12, 16 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256, 512 GB | 128, 256, 512 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.4) |
| ROM | One UI 5.0 | - |
| OS size | 26.4 GB | 18 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 3227 mAh |
| Charge power | 25 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (54% in 30 min) | Yes (54% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:11 hr | 1:46 hr |
| Web browsing | 10:13 hr | 13:11 hr |
| Watching video | 15:32 hr | 14:33 hr |
| Gaming | 05:26 hr | 05:31 hr |
| Standby | 98 hr | 123 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 108 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 12000 x 9000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 10x | Digital |
| 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 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 4 (108 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) | 2 (12 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens | - 108 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.33", Samsung S5KHM3 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Laser autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.6 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.7 micron - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens | - 10 MP - Aperture: f/4.9 - Focal length: 240 mm - Pixel size: 1.22 micron - Sensor: 1/2.65", Samsung S5K3J1 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - 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) |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 14 mm - Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS) |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 40 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 7864 x 5200 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Pixel size | 0.7 microns | - |
| Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.65" | 1/3.6" |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 5.2 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | - |
| USB version | 3.2 | 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, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 24 | 18 |
| 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 | September 2021 |
| Release date | February 2021 | September 2021 |
| SAR (head) | 0.71 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.58 W/kg | 0.98 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display, camera, and connectivity are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. But if the performance and software are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 13.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 424
