Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon) vs Galaxy S21

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) that was released on January 17, 2024, against the Samsung Galaxy S21, which is powered by Exynos 2100 and came out 3 years 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

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon)
  • 2.1x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2292K versus 1081K)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 65% higher peak brightness (1397 against 848 nits)
  • Shows 10% longer battery life (19:44 vs 17:54 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • The phone is 3 years newer
  • Thinner bezels – 5% more screen real estate
  • Faster storage type - UFS 4.0 versus UFS 3.1
  • 39% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2066 and 1484 points
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon) and Galaxy S21 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 75% Yes
Yes, we think most users will notice the upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy S21 to Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon) makes sense and should feel noticeably better in daily use.
Main improvements: gaming, performance, and camera.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in connectivity.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.2 inches 6.2 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 416 ppi 421 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (24-120 Hz) Yes (48-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 2600 nits 800 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 90.9% 85.9%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.5%
PWM - 240 Hz
Response time - 5 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1397 nits
848 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 147 mm (5.79 inches) 151.7 mm (5.97 inches)
Width 70.6 mm (2.78 inches) 71.2 mm (2.8 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.9 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 167 g (5.89 oz) 169 g (5.96 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Yellow White, Gray, Pink, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon) and Samsung Galaxy S21
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Samsung Exynos 2100
Max clock 3300 MHz 2900 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 2 cores at 2.27 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 2 cores at 2.96 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 3 cores at 3.15 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X4
- 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache 12 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 750 Mali-G78 MP14
GPU shading units 1536 448
GPU clock 903-1000 MHz 854 MHz
FLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS ~765.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon) and Samsung Galaxy S21
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 17327 6754
Single-core score 2066 1484
Multi-core score 6434 3767
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
2292685
1081778
CPU 738110 418023
GPU 814230 191872
Memory 244427 170606
UX 495918 301277
Total score 2292685 1081778
Samples [18 tests] [17 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 67% 72%
Graphics test 11 FPS 2 FPS
Graphics score 1507 328
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability 62% -
Graphics test 30 FPS -
Section 1 36 FPS -
Section 2 31 FPS -
Section 3 23 FPS -
Graphics score 7976 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 50% 64%
Graphics test 28 FPS 10 FPS
Graphics score 4826 1800
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 18350 13238
Video editing 7968 7092
Photo editing 35076 29658
Data manipulation 14984 10433
Writing score 21029 15614
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#186th place)

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-05 (Самса с24)AnTuTu2278769
📘 2026-08-05 (Flames-2)AnTuTu2364143
📘 2026-06-30 (mrtcn)AnTuTu2068918
📘 2026-06-07 (Tifeh)GeekBench CPU1962 / 6035
📘 2026-06-02 (Savi)AnTuTu2319413
Samsung Galaxy S21
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627)GeekBench CPU1446 / 3772
📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627)AnTuTu1115971
📘 2026-07-05 (Luckyy)AnTuTu1086158
📘 2026-06-28 (forneusgang)AnTuTu1087003
📘 2026-05-28 (Sulurya)AnTuTu1099324

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock 4200 MHz 2750 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15)
ROM One UI 7.0 One UI 7.0
OS size 24.1 GB 28.1 GB
OS updates - 2 years
Security updates - 4 years

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 4000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes (59% in 30 min) Yes (55% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:13 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:07 hr 06:01 hr
Watching video 15:32 hr 11:06 hr
Gaming 05:03 hr 04:21 hr
Standby 83 hr 95 hr
General battery life
19:44 hr
17:54 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 4000 x 3000
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 1.1x
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 24FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 64 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL GN3 Sony IMX555
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 10 MP 64 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.0
Focal length 67 mm 28 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL 3K1 Samsung Bright S5KGW2
Sensor size 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 0.8 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX564 Sony IMX563
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 65 70
Preview 69 61
Zoom 135 114
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon) from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 10 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 3872 x 2592
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU Sony IMX374
Sensor size 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (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 5.3 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
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
- USB-Host mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode - Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 24
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 2024 January 2021
Release date January 2024 February 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $800
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) - Samsung Galaxy S22
SAR (head) 0.87 W/kg 0.46 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.35 W/kg 1.51 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 -
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S24 (Snapdragon):
    - The 128 GB variant features UFS 3.1 memory, other models have UFS 4.0.
    - There are two models: one with dual Nano SIM, and the other with 1 Nano SIM + eSIM.
*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 S24 (Snapdragon) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
113 (41.4%)
160 (58.6%)
Total votes: 273

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