Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Motorola Edge 30

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Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Motorola Edge 30

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 ) that was released on January 4, 2022, against the Motorola Edge 30, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus and came out 4 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 FE 5G
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • Delivers 26% higher peak brightness (797 against 632 nits)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Comes with 480 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 4020 mAh
  • Reverse charging feature
  • 13% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1174 and 1038 points
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Motorola Edge 30
  • Higher display refresh rate – 144 Hz
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • Weighs 22 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Motorola Edge 30 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
Scores with a red asterisk ( * ) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.4 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 401 ppi 405 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 144 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 420 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1200 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 89.6% 86.2%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97% 96%
PWM 247 Hz 250 Hz
Response time 6 ms 13 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
797 nits
632 nits

Design and build

Height 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) 159.38 mm (6.27 inches)
Width 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) 74.23 mm (2.92 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 6.79 mm (0.27 inches)
Weight 177 g (6.24 oz) 155 g (5.47 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP52
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors White, Gray, Green, Purple Silver, Blue, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Motorola Edge 30 in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus
Max clock 2840 MHz 2500 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 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)
- 4 cores at 1.9 GHz: Kryo 670 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.2 GHz: Kryo 670 Gold (Cortex-A78)
- 1 core at 2.5 GHz: Kryo 670 Prime (Cortex-A78)
L3 cache 4 MB -
Lithography process 5 nanometers 6 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 660 Adreno 642
GPU shading units 1024 768
GPU clock 792 MHz 550 MHz
FLOPS ~1622 GFLOPS ~844.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 140597 189684
GPU 209723 168600
Memory 134992 125560
UX 139479 149274
Total score 625671 635077
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 39.1 °C 50.6 °C
Stability 69% -
Graphics test 34 FPS -
Graphics score 5703 -
PCMark 3.0
Web score 10889 -
Video editing 7079 -
Photo editing 28541 -
Data manipulation 10075 -
Writing score 14461 -

Memory

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

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.0 -
OS size 17.5 GB 20 GB

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 4020 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 33 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (51% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 22 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:04 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:42 hr -
Watching video 13:05 hr -
Gaming 05:29 hr -
Standby 91 hr -
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 118°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) 3 (50 MP + 50 MP + 2 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
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.55", Omnivision OV50A (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 76 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.5", Hynix Hi847 (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
-
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.0", Sony IMX258 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Pixel size: 0.64 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.76", Samsung S5KJN1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
Depth lens - - 2 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark -
Selfie camera
Megapixels 32 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 6464 x 4864 6464 x 4864
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.4
Focal length 26 mm -
Pixel size 0.8 microns 0.7 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS ISOCELL CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.74" 1/3.14"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 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 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 5.2
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
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 * 19 18
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
88.9 dB
84.6 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2022 April 2022
Release date January 2022 May 2022
SAR (head) 0.95 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.48 W/kg -
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Yes, 33 W
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the performance, gaming, connectivity, software, and sound are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G . But if the battery life is more of a priority – go for the Motorola Edge 30 .

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