Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs S21 Ultra
87
out of 100
VS
62
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on January 22, 2025, against the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is powered by Exynos 2100 and came out 4 years and 1 month 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
- 2.9x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3128K versus 1074K)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Shows 30% longer battery life (28:43 vs 22:05 hours)
- Delivers 39% higher peak brightness (1429 against 1025 nits)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- The phone is 4 years and 1 month newer
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
- The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Has 2 SIM card slots
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
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Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.9 inches | 6.8 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3120 pixels | 1440 x 3200 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 498 ppi | 515 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | Yes (10-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | - | 1500 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 2600 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Touch sampling rate | 240 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Armor 2 | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 92.4% | 89.5% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 97.7% | - |
| PWM | 240 Hz | - |
| Response time | 1 ms | - |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | - |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 162.8 mm (6.41 inches) | 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) |
| Width | 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) | 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 218 g (7.69 oz) | 227 g (8.01 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
| Repairability | Good (3.23/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite | Samsung Exynos 2100 |
| Max clock | 4470 MHz | 2900 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 6) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M) - 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L) |
- 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 | 8 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Yes |
| Graphics | Adreno 830 | Mali-G78 MP14 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 448 |
| GPU clock | 1100 MHz | 854 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~3379.2 GFLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 26581 | 6870 |
| Single-core score | 3202 | 1486 |
| Multi-core score | 10347 | 3800 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 987646 | 420330 |
| GPU | 1190760 | 186151 |
| Memory | 362214 | 193925 |
| UX | 587932 | 273776 |
| Total score | 3128552 | 1074182 |
| Samples | [66 tests] | [11 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 61% | - |
| Graphics test | 17 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 2272 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | 40 FPS | - |
| Section 1 | 50 FPS | - |
| Section 2 | 40 FPS | - |
| Section 3 | 29 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 10441 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 56% | - |
| Graphics test | 34 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5827 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 21582 | - |
| Video editing | 8625 | - |
| Photo editing | 34425 | - |
| Data manipulation | 17556 | - |
| Writing score | 26844 | - |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#86th place)
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-29 (VortexGen) | AnTuTu 12 | 3414404 |
| 📘 2026-09-06 (Trexsotiy) | Battery life | SOT 12:30 / 03:16 |
| 📘 2026-09-02 -> Mohamed_136 | Battery life | SOT 8:02 / 17:11 |
| 📘 2026-08-29 (PaWK) | AnTuTu 11 | 3034536 |
| 📘 2026-08-23 (Apple Slayer) | AnTuTu 11 | 3254557 |
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-30 -> fh_hxx19 | AnTuTu 12 | 1191592 |
| 📘 2026-09-30 -> fh_hxx19 | AnTuTu 12 | 1191592 |
| 📘 2026-07-22 (Squizzyyy) | AnTuTu 11 | 857016 |
| 📘 2026-06-02 (My name) | AnTuTu 11 | 1271841 |
| 📘 2026-06-02 (Tim) | AnTuTu 11 | 1213515 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 5300 MHz | 2750 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | One UI 7.0 |
| OS size | 30.4 GB | 26.4 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | 2 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 4 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (25 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | Yes | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (72% in 30 min) | Yes (54% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:59 hr | 1:11 hr |
| Battery cycles | 2000 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 11:10 hr | 07:58 hr |
| Watching video | 19:32 hr | 13:59 hr |
| Gaming | 06:22 hr | 05:14 hr |
| Standby | 132 hr | 111 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#69th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 200 megapixels | 108 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 16320 x 12240 | 12000 x 9000 |
| Zoom | Optical, 5x | Optical, 10x |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 24FPS |
| 4K video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 240FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 200 MP 2) Telephoto: 50 MP 3) Telephoto: 10 MP 4) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
1) Standard: 108 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Telephoto: 10 MP 4) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 200 MP | 108 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP2 | Samsung S5KHM3 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) | 1/1.33" (≈ 0.75 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.6 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Laser autofocus | Laser autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 10 MP |
| Aperture | f/3.4 | f/4.9 |
| Focal length | 111 mm | 240 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX854 | Samsung S5K3J1 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.52" (≈ 0.4 inch) | 1/2.65" (≈ 0.38 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.7 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN3 | Sony IMX563 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch) | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.7 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 165 | 70 |
| Preview | 81 | 67 |
| Zoom | 137 | 106 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from DxOMark | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 40 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 7864 x 5200 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Samsung S5KGH1 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/2.65" (≈ 0.38 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 133 |
| Video | - | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 5.4 | 5.2 |
| 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 |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | - | 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 2025 | January 2021 |
| Release date | February 2025 | February 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1299 | $1200 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra | - Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra |
| SAR (head) | 1.25 W/kg | 0.71 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.42 W/kg | 1.58 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 S25 Ultra:
- Supports up to 2 eSIMs. The international model has 2 physical SIM slots, while the U.S. version has 1.
- Uses Grade 5 titanium and Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass on both sides.
*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 S25 Ultra is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 323
