Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro

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Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 14 Pro, which is powered by Apple A16 Bionic and came out 20 months after. 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 S21
  • Comes with 800 mAh larger battery capacity: 4000 vs 3200 mAh
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Reverse charging feature
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
  • Weighs 37 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 14 Pro
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Delivers 108% higher peak brightness (1798 against 864 nits)
  • 69% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1362K versus 806K)
  • Shows 40% longer battery life (36:09 vs 25:44 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
  • The phone is 1-year and 8-months newer
  • 89% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2526 and 1340 points

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Apple iPhone 14 Pro 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

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.2 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1179 x 2556 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 421 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes
Max rated brightness 800 nits 1000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 87.2% 87%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.5% 99.8%
PWM 240 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 5 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
864 nits
1798 nits

Design and build

Height 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) 147.5 mm (5.81 inches)
Width 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 7.85 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz) 206 g (7.27 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gray, Pink, Purple Black, Silver, Gold, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Apple iPhone 14 Pro in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Apple A16 Bionic
Max clock 2900 MHz 3460 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 3.46 GHz: Everest
Lithography process 5 nanometers 4 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Apple A16 GPU
GPU shading units 896 640
GPU clock 854 MHz 1398 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~1789.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
1362268
CPU 150223 320177
GPU 340353 462876
Memory 151885 251434
UX 158712 323335
Total score 806977 1362268
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 38.9 °C 41.2 °C
Stability 66% 79%
Graphics test 34 FPS 59 FPS
Graphics score 5714 9874
PCMark 3.0
Web score 12591 -
Video editing 7113 -
Photo editing 29385 -
Data manipulation 10438 -
Writing score 16561 -

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz -
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128, 256, 512, 1024 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) iOS 16 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17)
ROM One UI 5.1 -
OS size 28.1 GB -

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 3200 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 23 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (55% in 50 min) Yes (60% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:35 hr 1:41 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:27 hr 12:35 hr
Watching video 12:26 hr 15:45 hr
Gaming 04:31 hr 05:56 hr
Standby 92 hr 120 hr
General battery life
25:44 hr
36:09 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 8000 x 6000
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Optical, 3x
Flash Dual LED Dual 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) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 4 (48 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 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
- 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 24 mm
- Pixel size: 1.22 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.28", Sony IMX803 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 64 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0
- Focal length: 28 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Focal length: 77 mm
- Sensor: 1/3.5" (Exmor-RS 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 IMX563 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55" (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Depth lens - Yes
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 14 Pro from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length 26 mm 23 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns -
Sensor type CMOS Exmor-RS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/3.6"
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 5.3
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C -
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- USB-Host mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support * Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 24 20
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 2021 September 2022
Release date February 2021 September 2022
SAR (head) 0.46 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.51 W/kg -
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger - 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 Apple iPhone 14 Pro is definitely a better buy.

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