Xiaomi 12 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
79
out of 100
VS
76
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.73-inch Xiaomi 12 Pro (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1) that was released on December 28, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is powered by Exynos 2100 and came out 12 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 12 Pro
- Supports higher wattage charging (120W versus 25W)
- 39% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1162K versus 833K)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
- The phone is 1-year newer
- Weighs 23 grams less
- 13% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1642 and 1458 points
- Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
- Shows 22% longer battery life (31:14 vs 25:40 hours)
- Comes with 400 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4600 mAh
- More recent OS version: Android 13 versus 12
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
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
Value for money
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.73 inches | 6.8 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels | 1440 x 3200 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 521 ppi | 515 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | Yes |
| Max rated brightness | 970 nits | 1500 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1500 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.6% | 89.8% |
| Display features |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.8% | - |
| PWM | 367 Hz | - |
| Response time | 5 ms | - |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | - |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 163.6 mm (6.44 inches) | 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) |
| Width | 74.6 mm (2.94 inches) | 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.66 mm (0.34 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 204 g (7.2 oz) | 227 g (8.01 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Green, Pink | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | Samsung Exynos 2100 |
| 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 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78 - 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1 |
| L3 cache | 6 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 730 | Mali-G78 MP14 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 896 |
| GPU clock | 818 MHz | 854 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2512.8 GFLOPS | ~1530.4 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 310850 | 236566 |
| GPU | 404697 | 255535 |
| Memory | 206389 | 157504 |
| UX | 238519 | 183564 |
| Total score | 1162829 | 833650 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 41.2 °C | 40.8 °C |
| Stability | 68% | 69% |
| Graphics test | 55 FPS | 31 FPS |
| Graphics score | 9302 | 5221 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 11824 | - |
| Video editing | 7637 | - |
| Photo editing | 29183 | - |
| Data manipulation | 9393 | - |
| Writing score | 14790 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 8, 12 GB | 12, 16 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | 2750 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256 GB | 128, 256, 512 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 12 | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) |
| ROM | MIUI 13 | One UI 5.1 |
| OS size | 26.5 GB | 26.4 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4600 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 120 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) |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 8 min) | Yes (54% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:21 hr | 1:11 hr |
| Web browsing | 08:57 hr | 10:13 hr |
| Watching video | 10:04 hr | 15:32 hr |
| Gaming | 05:05 hr | 05:26 hr |
| Standby | 89 hr | 98 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 108 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8700 x 5800 | 12000 x 9000 |
| Zoom | Optical, 2x | Optical, 10x |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 24FPS | Up to 24FPS |
| 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 | 115° | 120° |
| Lenses | 3 (50 MP + 50 MP + 50 MP) | 4 (108 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens |
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.9 - Focal length: 24 mm - Pixel size: 1.22 micron - Sensor: 1/1.28", Sony IMX707 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- 108 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.33", Samsung S5KHM3 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Laser autofocus - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens |
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.9 - Focal length: 48 mm - Pixel size: 0.64 micron - Sensor: 1/2.76", Samsung JN1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Phase autofocus |
- 10 MP
- Aperture: f/4.9 - Focal length: 240 mm - Pixel size: 1.22 micron - Sensor: 1/2.65", Samsung S5K3J1 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Ultra-wide lens |
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 14 mm - Pixel size: 0.64 micron - Sensor: 1/2.76", Samsung JN1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) |
- 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) |
| Camera features |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
| Samples | Photo samples of Xiaomi 12 Pro from DxOMark | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 40 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6528 x 4896 | 7864 x 5200 |
| Aperture | f/2.5 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Pixel size | 0.7 microns | 0.7 microns |
| Sensor type | CMOS | ISOCELL CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.14" | 1/2.65" |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.2 |
| USB features |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - USB-Host mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, 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 | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat * | 20 | 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 | December 2021 | January 2021 |
| Release date | December 2021 | February 2021 |
| SAR (head) | - | 0.71 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 1.58 W/kg |
| Sensors |
- 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 | Yes, 120 W | - |
*
Disclaimer!
NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the performance and gaming are more important to you, then choose the Xiaomi 12 Pro . But if the battery life, connectivity, software, and design are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra .
