Samsung Galaxy S21 vs A52s 5G

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Samsung Galaxy S21 vs A52s 5G

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G and came out 8 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
  • 42% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (806K versus 568K)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  • Shows 22% longer battery life (31:30 vs 25:44 hours)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
  • Comes with 500 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 4000 mAh
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
  • The phone is 8-months newer

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 and A52s 5G 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 Super AMOLED
Size 6.2 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 421 ppi 405 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 800 nits 400 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 800 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 87.2% 84.9%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.5% 138.1%
PWM 240 Hz 231 Hz
Response time 5 ms 9 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
864 nits

Design and build

Height 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) 159.9 mm (6.3 inches)
Width 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) 75.1 mm (2.96 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.4 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz) 189 g (6.67 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Rear material Plastic Plastic
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors White, Gray, Pink, Purple White, Black, Green, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G
Max clock 2900 MHz 2400 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 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 1.8 GHz: Kryo 670 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 670 Gold (Cortex-A78)
- 1 core at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 670 Prime (Cortex-A78)
Lithography process 5 nanometers 6 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Adreno 642
GPU shading units 896 768
GPU clock 854 MHz 550 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~844 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 150223 193069
GPU 340353 135757
Memory 151885 106531
UX 158712 129094
Total score 806977 568424
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 38.9 °C 47.9 °C
Stability 66% 98%
Graphics test 34 FPS 14 FPS
Graphics score 5714 2462
PCMark 3.0
Web score 12591 10316
Video editing 7113 7102
Photo editing 29385 25833
Data manipulation 10438 9247
Writing score 16561 13562

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6, 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128, 256 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.1
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.1 One UI 5.0
OS size 28.1 GB 26 GB

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (55% in 50 min) Yes (53% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:35 hr 1:28 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:27 hr 09:19 hr
Watching video 12:26 hr 15:35 hr
Gaming 04:31 hr 05:10 hr
Standby 92 hr 110 hr
General battery life
25:44 hr
31:30 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 64 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 9000 x 7000
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Digital
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 4 (64 MP + 12 MP + 5 MP + 5 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
- 64 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.7", Sony IMX682 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- 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
-
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: 1.12 micron
Macro lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
Depth lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/5.0" (CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark -
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 6528 x 4896
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns 0.8 microns
Sensor type CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/2.8"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) 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 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 Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C 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 Depends on the region
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support * Yes No
Hybrid slot No Yes
LTE Cat * 24 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No Yes
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced January 2021 August 2021
Release date February 2021 September 2021
SAR (head) 0.46 W/kg 0.88 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.51 W/kg 0.84 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the performance, gaming, connectivity, and design are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 . But if the battery life is more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G .

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