Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs S21 FE 5G
79
out of 100
VS
58
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S26 FE (with Exynos 2500) that was released on August 27, 2026, against the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and came out 4 years and 9 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
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Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
- Delivers 134% higher peak brightness (1860 against 795 nits)
- 2x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2289K versus 1138K)
- Shows 38% longer battery life (25:38 vs 18:37 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
- The phone is 4 years and 9 months newer
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
- Weighs 16 grams less
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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
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 | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.4 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 385 ppi | 403 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1300 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1900 nits | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus Plus | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88.6% | 86.7% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | - | 97% |
| PWM | - | 247 Hz |
| Response time | - | 6 ms |
| Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S26 FE
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
Galaxy S21 FE 5G
6.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
~9% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 161.6 mm (6.36 inches) | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) |
| Width | 76.9 mm (3.03 inches) | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 193 g (6.81 oz) | 177 g (6.24 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Gray, Blue, Purple | White, Gray, Green, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2500 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 |
| Max clock | 3300 MHz | 2840 MHz |
| CPU cores | 10 (1 + 2 + 5 + 2) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 2 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A520 - 5 cores at 2.36 GHz: Cortex-A725 - 2 cores at 2.74 GHz: Cortex-A725 - 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X925 |
- 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 | 16 MB | 4 MB |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Hexagon 780 |
| Graphics | Xclipse 950 | Adreno 660 |
| GPU shading units | 1024 | 768 |
| GPU clock | 999 MHz | 840 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~4091.9 GFLOPS | ~1290.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 22100 | 4514 |
| Single-core score | 2217 | 1481 |
| Multi-core score | 7699 | 3173 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 771016 | 415282 |
| GPU | 723824 | 207688 |
| Memory | 356421 | 174461 |
| UX | 438435 | 341497 |
| Total score | 2289696 | 1138928 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | [17 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | - | 71% |
| Graphics test | - | 3 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 390 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 68% |
| Graphics test | - | 9 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 1666 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 13606 |
| Video editing | - | 7043 |
| Photo editing | - | 28743 |
| Data manipulation | - | 10563 |
| Writing score | - | 14216 |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-11-02 (Mikl) | AnTuTu 12 | 2981426 |
| 📘 2026-10-15 -> Malagau2 | AnTuTu 12 | 2751051 |
| 📘 2026-10-13 (Feran) | AnTuTu 12 | 2750381 |
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-08 -> AlicanTuTu | AnTuTu 11 | 1198886 |
| 📘 2026-07-21 (Psycho0Dream) | AnTuTu 11 | 1157836 |
| 📘 2026-07-06 (Puzatik) | AnTuTu 11 | 1118460 |
| 📘 2026-05-10 -> AlicanTuTu | AnTuTu 11 | 1197004 |
| 📘 2026-05-10 (Alican TuTu) | AnTuTu 11 | 1197004 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | - | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 17 | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) |
| ROM | One UI 9.0 | One UI 8.0 |
| OS size | - | 17.5 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | 4 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 5 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4900 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | - | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (69% in 30 min) | Yes (51% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:08 hr | 1:15 hr |
| Web browsing | 09:42 hr | 06:11 hr |
| Watching video | 17:42 hr | 11:05 hr |
| Gaming | 06:12 hr | 04:48 hr |
| Standby | 117 hr | 100 hr |
General battery life
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 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 123° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 8 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 8 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN3 | Sony IMX555 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" (≈ 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 |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 8 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 75 mm | 76 mm |
| Sensor | OmniVision OV08A10 | Hynix Hi847 |
| Sensor size | 1/4.4" (≈ 0.23 inch) | 1/4.5" (≈ 0.22 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3L6 | Sony IMX258 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3648 x 2736 | 6464 x 4864 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | CMOS | Sony IMX616 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| 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 | 5.4 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| 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
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | August 2026 | January 2022 |
| Release date | September 2026 | January 2022 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $699 | $790 |
| Successor | - | - Samsung Galaxy S26 FE |
| SAR (head) | - | 0.95 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 1.48 W/kg |
| Sensors | - 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
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 6