Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Huawei P30 Pro
75
out of 100
VS
61
out of 100
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 Huawei P30 Pro, which is powered by HiSilicon Kirin 980 and came out 22 months before. 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
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
- Comes with 800 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4200 mAh
- Delivers 68% higher peak brightness (1025 against 610 nits)
- 29% higher pixel density (515 vs 398 PPI)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Has a 0.33 inch larger screen size
- More recent OS version: Android 13 versus 10
- 27% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (676K versus 534K)
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
- Stereo speakers
- The phone is 1-year and 10-months newer
Reasons to consider the Huawei P30 Pro
- Supports higher wattage charging (40W versus 25W)
- Weighs 35 grams less
- Has a built-in infrared port
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
Choose the importance of each parameter to more accurately identify the smartphone that best meets your particular needs.
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.
Promotion
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.8 inches | 6.47 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels | 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 515 ppi | 398 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1500 nits | 570 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10 |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.8% | 88.89% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
| RGB color space | - | 99% |
| PWM | - | 231 Hz |
| Response time | - | 3.6 ms |
| Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) | 158 mm (6.22 inches) |
| Width | 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) | 73.4 mm (2.89 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) | 8.4 mm (0.33 inches) |
| Weight | 227 g (8.01 oz) | 192 g (6.77 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | - | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue | White, Black, Blue, Orange |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | HiSilicon Kirin 980 |
| Max clock | 2840 MHz | 2600 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 1.92 GHz: Cortex-A76 - 2 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A76 |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 7 nanometers |
| Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | Mali-G76 MP10 |
| GPU shading units | 896 | 360 |
| GPU clock | 854 MHz | 720 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1530.4 GFLOPS | ~518.4 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 142297 | 163511 |
| GPU | 240988 | 135448 |
| Memory | 151927 | 106101 |
| UX | 140705 | 129160 |
| Total score | 676754 | 534549 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 40.8 °C | 40 °C |
| Stability | 69% | 48% |
| Graphics test | 31 FPS | 14 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5221 | 2490 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 6535 |
| Video editing | - | 5713 |
| Photo editing | - | 14218 |
| Data manipulation | - | 7708 |
| Writing score | - | 10841 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12, 16 GB | 6, 8, 12 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 | UFS 2.1 |
| Memory card | No | Nano Memory |
| Memory card max size | - | Up to 256 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | Android 9.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 10) |
| ROM | One UI 5.1 | EMUI 12 |
| OS size | 26.4 GB | 13.4 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 4200 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 40 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Fast charging | Yes (54% in 30 min) | Yes, SuperCharge (70% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:11 hr | 1:05 hr |
| Web browsing | 10:13 hr | 10:48 hr |
| Watching video | 15:32 hr | 16:28 hr |
| Gaming | 05:26 hr | 05:34 hr |
| Standby | 98 hr | 99 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 108 megapixels | 40 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 12000 x 9000 | 7360 x 4912 |
| 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 30FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 4 (108 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) | 4 (40 MP + 8 MP + 20 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 |
- 40 MP - Aperture: f/1.6 - Focal length: 27 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/1.7", Sony IMX650 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase 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 |
- 8 MP - Aperture: f/3.4 - Focal length: 125 mm - Sensor: 1/4" (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) |
- 20 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 16 mm - Sensor: 1/2.7" (CMOS) - Phase autofocus |
| Depth lens | - | Yes |
| 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 Huawei P30 Pro from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 40 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 7864 x 5200 | 6528 x 4896 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 29 mm |
| Pixel size | 0.7 microns | - |
| Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | BSI CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.65" | - |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 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 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) |
| 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 | 5.2 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE, 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 | Yes |
| 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 | 21 |
| 5G support | Yes | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Mono |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | January 2021 | March 2019 |
| Release date | February 2021 | May 2019 |
| SAR (head) | 0.71 W/kg | 0.154 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.58 W/kg | 0.63 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
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 97