Home > Smartphone comparison > Galaxy S21 vs Galaxy Note 8 – which one to choose?

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Note 8

57 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21
VS
41 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Samsung Galaxy S21
Samsung Galaxy Note 8

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 Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which is powered by Exynos 9 Octa 8895 and came out 3 years and 5 months before. 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
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
  • 2.5x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1081K versus 437K)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Shows 18% longer battery life (17:54 vs 15:11 hours)
  • Delivers 59% higher peak brightness (861 against 541 nits)
  • More recent OS version: Android 15 versus 9
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Comes with 700 mAh larger battery capacity: 4000 vs 3300 mAh
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Exynos 2100
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Stereo speakers
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Note 8
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • 24% higher pixel density (522 vs 421 PPI)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 256GB
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Note 8 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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 88% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy Note 8 to Samsung Galaxy S21 is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: performance, display, and battery life.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Galaxy S21
vs
Galaxy Note 8

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.2 inches 6.3 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1440 x 2960 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 18.5:9
PPI 421 ppi 522 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (48-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 800 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 85.9% 82.9%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display		 - Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.5% -
PWM 240 Hz 257 Hz
Response time 5 ms 4.4 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy Note 8
6.3″ (18.5:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
Galaxy S21
6.2″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.4 in2
~8% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S21 +59%
861 nits
Galaxy Note 8
541 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) 162.5 mm (6.4 inches)
Width 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) 74.8 mm (2.94 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.6 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz) 195 g (6.88 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gray, Pink, Purple Black, Gold, Gray, Blue
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, rear
Screen-to-body ratio
Galaxy S21 +4%
85.9%
Galaxy Note 8
82.9%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Samsung Galaxy Note 8
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 8895
Max clock 2900 MHz 2300 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (4 + 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 1.69 GHz: Cortex-A53
- 4 cores at 2.314 GHz: Exynos M2
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 5 nanometers 10 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes No
GPU
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Mali-G71 MP20
GPU shading units 448 240
GPU clock 854 MHz 546 MHz
FLOPS ~765.2 GFLOPS ~262.1 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Galaxy S21 +252%
1484
Galaxy Note 8
422
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Galaxy S21 +146%
3767
Galaxy Note 8
1530
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 6754 -
Single-core score 1484 422
Multi-core score 3767 1530
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S21 +147%
1081778
Galaxy Note 8
437463
CPU 418023 177646
GPU 191872 79075
Memory 170606 97656
UX 301277 83086
Total score 1081778 437463
Samples [17 tests] [5 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 72% -
Graphics test 2 FPS -
Graphics score 328 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 64% -
Graphics test 10 FPS -
Graphics score 1800 -
Sources: 3DMark [5]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 13238 -
Video editing 7092 -
Photo editing 29658 -
Data manipulation 10433 -
Writing score 15614 -
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S21
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-30 (Luckyy)AnTuTu 121281558
📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627)Geekbench 6 CPU1446 / 3772
📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627)AnTuTu 111115971
📘 2026-07-05 (Luckyy)AnTuTu 111086158
📘 2026-06-28 (forneusgang)AnTuTu 111087003
Add View all (33)
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-05-01 -> GiahuyAnTuTu 11327221
📘 2026-02-22 (Javohir Uzbekistan)AnTuTu 11460222
📘 2026-01-02 (Minecrafter123)AnTuTu 11435852
📘 2025-12-12 -> Otchem1488AnTuTu 11478141
📘 2025-11-28 (SigmaHorosh123)AnTuTu 11437463
Add View all (6)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 1794 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 64 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.1
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 256 GB

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) Android 7.1.1 (Can be upgraded to Android 9.0)
ROM One UI 7.0 One UI
OS size 28.1 GB 13 GB
OS updates 2 years -
Security updates 4 years -

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 3300 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 15 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes, Qi/PMA (10 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging No -
Fast charging Yes (55% in 30 min) Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:13 hr 1:50 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 06:01 hr 05:32 hr
Watching video 11:06 hr 09:50 hr
Gaming 04:21 hr 04:03 hr
Standby 95 hr 74 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S21 +18%
17:54 hr
Galaxy Note 8
15:11 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4000 x 3000
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Optical, 2x
Flash Dual LED 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) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 64 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.7
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX555 Samsung
Sensor size 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.8 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 64 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.4
Focal length 28 mm 52 mm
Sensor Samsung Bright S5KGW2 -
Sensor size 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP -
Aperture f/2.2 -
Focal length 13 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX563 -
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) -
Pixel size 1.4 micron -
Stabilization Digital -

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Galaxy S21 +18%
118
Galaxy Note 8
100
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 70 -
Preview 61 -
Zoom 114 -
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Note 8 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 3264 x 2448
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.7
Focal length 26 mm 25 mm
Sensor Sony IMX374 CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1440p at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (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 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, 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 No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes No
Hybrid slot No Yes
LTE Cat* 24 16
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Mono
Headphone audio jack No Yes
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
Galaxy S21
87 dB
Galaxy Note 8
86.9 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 August 2017
Release date February 2021 September 2017
Launch price (MSRP) $800 $930
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S22 - Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
SAR (head) 0.46 W/kg 0.173 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.51 W/kg 1.29 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
*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 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
15 (57.7%)
11 (42.3%)
Total votes: 26

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