Samsung Galaxy S22 vs S21 FE 5G

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S22 (with Exynos 2200) that was released on February 9, 2022, against the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and came out 1 month before. 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 S22
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • 19% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (893K versus 751K)
  • Delivers 9% higher peak brightness (857 against 789 nits)
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  • Comes with 800 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 3700 mAh
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S22 and S21 FE 5G 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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
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 Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.4 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 425 ppi 401 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 780 nits 420 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1300 nits 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 87.4% 89.6%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.3% 97%
PWM 239 Hz 247 Hz
Response time 10 ms 6 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
857 nits
789 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146 mm (5.75 inches) 155.7 mm (6.13 inches)
Width 70.6 mm (2.78 inches) 74.5 mm (2.93 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.9 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 167 g (5.89 oz) 177 g (6.24 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Pink, Purple, Yellow White, Gray, Green, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
87.4%
89.6%

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S22 and Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2200 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Max clock 2800 MHz 2840 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.82 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.52 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 1 core at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-X2
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78)
- 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1)
L3 cache - 4 MB
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Samsung Xclipse 920 Adreno 660
GPU clock 1300 MHz 840 MHz
FLOPS - ~1720 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Galaxy S22 +18%
3578
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
Galaxy S22 +19%
893685
CPU 222420 194989
GPU 371227 281856
Memory 145195 133252
UX 162492 147872
Total score 893685 751733
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Galaxy S22 +14%
6532
Max surface temperature 38 °C 39.1 °C
Stability 60% 69%
Graphics test 39 FPS 34 FPS
Graphics score 6532 5706
Web score 10223 10704
Video editing 7167 7086
Photo editing 27204 28462
Data manipulation 10534 10082
Writing score 15091 14483
AnTuTu Rating (95th and 158th place)
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6, 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock - 2750 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128, 256 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.1 One UI 5.0
OS size 30.2 GB 17.5 GB

Battery

Capacity 3700 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (63% in 30 min) Yes (51% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:03 hr 1:15 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 07:42 hr
Watching video - 13:05 hr
Gaming - 05:29 hr
Standby - 91 hr
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 50 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 3x
Flash LED 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) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 3 (50 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 24 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.56", Samsung GN5 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.76", Sony IMX555 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 10 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 70 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.94", Sony IMX772 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 76 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.5", Hynix Hi847 (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 IMX713 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.0", Sony IMX258 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S22 from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 6464 x 4864
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns 0.8 microns
Sensor type CMOS Exmor-RS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/2.74"
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 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 5.2 5
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage 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 No
LTE Cat* 20 19
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
89.5 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2022 January 2022
Release date March 2022 January 2022
SAR (head) - 0.95 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.48 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
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

These smartphones have a lot in common, but we would recommend the Samsung Galaxy S22. It has a better performance, gaming, battery life, and design.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
505 (30.8%)
1135 (69.2%)
Total votes: 1640

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
Avatar
Taqiyshi 05 October 2022 14:43
It's funny how S21 fe is more expensive here compared to the base S22 because no one buys it
+52 Reply
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