Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Google Pixel 7 Pro

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 Google Pixel 7 Pro, which is powered by Google Tensor G2 and came out 21 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 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • Shows 14% longer battery life (31:14 vs 27:19 hours)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 7 Pro
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • The phone is 1-year and 9-months newer

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Google Pixel 7 Pro 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 AMOLED
Size 6.8 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3200 pixels 1440 x 3120 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 515 ppi 512 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes
Max rated brightness 1500 nits 550 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1500 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 89.8% 88.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 97%
PWM - 240 Hz
Response time - 4 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1024 nits
1092 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) 162.9 mm (6.41 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 76.6 mm (3.02 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 227 g (8.01 oz) 212 g (7.48 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gray, Blue White, Black, Gray
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
89.8%
88.7%

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Google Pixel 7 Pro in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Google Tensor G2
Max clock 2840 MHz 2850 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 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.35 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 2 cores at 2.85 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache - 4 MB
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Mali-G710 MP7
GPU clock 854 MHz 850 MHz
FLOPS ~1575 GFLOPS ~1153 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
3521
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
794388
CPU 191240 213533
GPU 256481 317412
Memory 151369 110534
UX 149052 149583
Total score 751010 794388
3DMark Wild Life Performance
6391
Max surface temperature 40.8 °C 44.9 °C
Stability 69% 71%
Graphics test 31 FPS 38 FPS
Graphics score 5221 6391
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 9105
Video editing - 6733
Photo editing - 18403
Data manipulation - 10818
Writing score - 16246
AnTuTu Benchmark 9 Results (161st and 137th place)
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12, 16 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256, 512 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 13
ROM One UI 5.1 Stock Android
OS size 26.4 GB 14 GB

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 23 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (23 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (46% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:11 hr 1:49 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:13 hr 09:10 hr
Watching video 15:32 hr 14:51 hr
Gaming 05:26 hr 04:48 hr
Standby 98 hr 76 hr
General battery life
31:14 hr
27:19 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 108 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 12000 x 9000 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 10x Optical, 5x
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° 126°
Lenses 4 (108 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) 3 (50 MP + 48 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
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.9
- Focal length: 25 mm
- Pixel size: 1.2 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.31", Samsung GN1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Laser autofocus
- 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
- 48 MP
- Aperture: f/3.5
- Focal length: 120 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung S5KGM1 (ISOCELL Plus 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)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Pixel size: 1.25 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.9", Sony IMX381 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 7 Pro from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 40 megapixels 10.8 megapixels
Image resolution 7864 x 5200 3648 x 2736
Aperture f/2.2 -
Focal length 26 mm -
Pixel size 0.7 microns -
Sensor type ISOCELL CMOS -
Sensor size 1/2.65" -
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 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 5.2 5.2
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, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
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 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

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 October 2022
Release date February 2021 October 2022
SAR (head) 0.71 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.58 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
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger - Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the software, battery life, and connectivity are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. But if the display and gaming are more of a priority – go for the Google Pixel 7 Pro.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
93 (65%)
50 (35%)
Total votes: 143

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