Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Apple iPhone 13 Pro
57
out of 100
VS
71
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 13 Pro, 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.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
- Comes with 905 mAh larger battery capacity: 4000 vs 3095 mAh
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Reverse charging feature
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- Weighs 35 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13 Pro
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Shows 31% longer battery life (23:32 vs 17:54 hours)
- 13% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1222K versus 1081K)
- Delivers 23% higher peak brightness (1066 against 864 nits)
- 65% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2450 and 1484 points
- The phone is 8 months newer
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 | OLED |
| Size | 6.2 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 421 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (48-120 Hz) | Yes (10-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 1000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85.9% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.5% | 99.8% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 510 Hz |
| Response time | 5 ms | 4.8 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) |
| Weight | 169 g (5.96 oz) | 204 g (7.2 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Gray, Pink, Purple | Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | Apple A15 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2900 MHz | 3230 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78 - 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1 |
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | Apple GPU (5 cores) |
| GPU shading units | 448 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 854 MHz | 1338 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS | ~1712.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 6754 | 21903 |
| Single-core score | 1484 | 2450 |
| Multi-core score | 3767 | 6170 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 418023 | 311650 |
| GPU | 191872 | 389528 |
| Memory | 170606 | 136036 |
| UX | 301277 | 385319 |
| Total score | 1081778 | 1222533 |
| Samples | [17 tests] | [3 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 72% | - |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 328 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 71% |
| Graphics test | - | 14 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 19 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 14 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 9 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 3765 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 64% | 70% |
| Graphics test | 10 FPS | 17 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1800 | 2949 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 13238 | - |
| Video editing | 7092 | - |
| Photo editing | 29658 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10433 | - |
| Writing score | 15614 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S21
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627) | GeekBench CPU | 1446 / 3772 |
| 📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627) | AnTuTu | 1115971 |
| 📘 2026-07-05 (Luckyy) | AnTuTu | 1086158 |
| 📘 2026-06-28 (forneusgang) | AnTuTu | 1087003 |
| 📘 2026-05-28 (Sulurya) | AnTuTu | 1099324 |
Apple iPhone 13 Pro
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-05-21 (Amogoose_) | GeekBench GPU | 21903 |
| 📘 2026-05-21 (Amogoose_) | GeekBench CPU | 2475 / 6154 |
| 📘 2026-04-13 (sgynonj) | AnTuTu | 1322345 |
| 📘 2026-03-02 (Vladi) | AnTuTu | 1222533 |
| 📘 2026-02-27 (Mental Vikash) | AnTuTu | 1200314 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) | iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 7.0 | - |
| OS size | 28.1 GB | 15.2 GB |
| OS updates | 2 years | - |
| Security updates | 4 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 3095 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 23 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (55% in 30 min) | Yes (60% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:13 hr | 1:38 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:01 hr | 09:39 hr |
| Watching video | 11:06 hr | 15:16 hr |
| Gaming | 04:21 hr | 05:20 hr |
| Standby | 95 hr | 107 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 | 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 | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 64 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.5 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX555 | Sony IMX703 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) | 1/1.66" (≈ 0.6 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.8 micron | 1.9 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 64 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.8 |
| Focal length | 28 mm | 77 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung Bright S5KGW2 | Sony IMX713 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX563 | Sony IMX772 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 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 | 75 |
| Preview | 61 | 81 |
| Zoom | 114 | 119 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 Pro from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3872 x 2592 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX374 | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 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 |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 128 |
| Video | - | 143 |
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, 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 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $800 | $1000 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S22 | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro |
| SAR (head) | 0.46 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.51 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
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 13 Pro is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 841