Xiaomi 12 vs Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
58
out of 100
VS
58
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.28-inch Xiaomi 12 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1) that was released on December 28, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and came out 1 month after. 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 Xiaomi 12
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Supports higher wattage charging (67W versus 25W)
- 16% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1322K versus 1138K)
- Delivers 13% higher peak brightness (902 against 799 nits)
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
- Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Shows 17% longer battery life (18:37 vs 15:58 hours)
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- 48% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1481 and 998 points
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 | AMOLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.28 inches | 6.4 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 419 ppi | 403 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (60-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 500 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1100 nits | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Touch sampling rate | 480 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.3% | 86.7% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | - | 97% |
| PWM | - | 247 Hz |
| Response time | - | 6 ms |
| Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 152.7 mm (6.01 inches) | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) |
| Width | 69.9 mm (2.75 inches) | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.16 mm (0.32 inches) | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 180 g (6.35 oz) | 177 g (6.24 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Pink | White, Gray, Green, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 |
| Max clock | 3000 MHz | 2840 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 1 core at 3 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 | 6 MB | 4 MB |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Hexagon 780 |
| Graphics | Adreno 730 | Adreno 660 |
| GPU shading units | 1024 | 768 |
| GPU clock | 818 MHz | 840 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1675.3 GFLOPS | ~1290.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 7989 | 4514 |
| Single-core score | 998 | 1481 |
| Multi-core score | 3638 | 3173 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 501164 | 415282 |
| GPU | 224623 | 207688 |
| Memory | 208718 | 174461 |
| UX | 387671 | 341497 |
| Total score | 1322176 | 1138928 |
| Samples | [10 tests] | [17 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 92% | 71% |
| Graphics test | 4 FPS | 3 FPS |
| Graphics score | 590 | 390 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 63% | 68% |
| Graphics test | 13 FPS | 9 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2255 | 1666 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 12213 | 13606 |
| Video editing | 7422 | 7043 |
| Photo editing | 28303 | 28743 |
| Data manipulation | 10164 | 10563 |
| Writing score | 14805 | 14216 |
Recent User Tests
Xiaomi 12
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-18 (qwerty5313) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 5731 |
| 📘 2026-10-18 (qwerty5313) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1640 / 4097 |
| 📘 2026-10-18 (qwerty5313) | AnTuTu 12 | 1452589 |
| 📘 2026-10-05 (mirtasd) | AnTuTu 11 | 941860 |
| 📘 2026-09-20 (Wan) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1653 / 4280 |
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 | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) |
| ROM | HyperOS 3 | One UI 8.0 |
| OS size | - | 17.5 GB |
| OS updates | - | 4 years |
| Security updates | - | 5 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Max charge power | 67 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (50 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (87% in 30 min) | Yes (51% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:46 hr | 1:15 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:17 hr | 06:11 hr |
| Watching video | 10:46 hr | 11:05 hr |
| Gaming | 04:42 hr | 04:48 hr |
| Standby | 71 hr | 100 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8192 x 6144 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Optical, 3x |
| Flash | Dual 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 | 1920 FPS (720p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 123° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Ultrawide: 13 MP 3) Macro: 5 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 8 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX766 | 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 |
| Image resolution | - | 8 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | - | 76 mm |
| Sensor | - | Hynix Hi847 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/4.5" (≈ 0.22 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | - | Optical |
| Image resolution | 13 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 12 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | OmniVision OV13B10 | Sony IMX258 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 5 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Focal length | 50 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K5E9 | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 55 | - |
| Preview | 69 | - |
| Zoom | 72 | - |
| Samples | Photo samples of Xiaomi 12 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6528 x 4896 | 6464 x 4864 |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | OmniVision OV32B40 | Sony IMX616 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.7 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) 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 | 5.2 | 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, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | No | 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 | December 2021 | January 2022 |
| Release date | December 2021 | January 2022 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $580 | $790 |
| Successor | - Xiaomi 17 | - Samsung Galaxy S25 FE |
| SAR (head) | - | 0.95 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 1.48 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 67 W | Not included |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the gaming is more important to you, then choose the Xiaomi 12. But if the software and design are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 738