Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs S20 FE 5G

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs S20 FE 5G

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G and came out 3 months before. 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 Plus
  • Comes with 300 mAh larger battery capacity: 4800 vs 4500 mAh
  • 12% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (839K versus 748K)
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Exynos 2100
  • 15% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1429 and 1238 points
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and S20 FE 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 6.7 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 394 ppi 407 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 400 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 88.3% 84.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 95.7%
PWM 240 Hz 227 Hz
Response time 6.2 ms 2.8 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 161.5 mm (6.36 inches) 159.8 mm (6.29 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 74.5 mm (2.93 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 8.4 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 200 g (7.05 oz) 190 g (6.7 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Purple White, Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G
Max clock 2840 MHz 2840 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 585 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 585 Gold (Cortex-A77)
- 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 585 Prime (Cortex-A77)
L3 cache - 4 MB
Lithography process 5 nanometers 7 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Adreno 650
GPU shading units 896 1024
GPU clock 854 MHz 587 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~1202.1 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 244088 233087
GPU 269299 196634
Memory 159004 141288
UX 164833 175074
Total score 839148 748579
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 41.5 °C 37.9 °C
Stability 67% 91%
Graphics test 33 FPS 23 FPS
Graphics score 5538 3875
Web score - 9910
Video editing - 7169
Photo editing - 30029
Data manipulation - 9733
Writing score - 13125

Memory

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

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.1 One UI 5.0
OS size 27.2 GB 25.6 GB

Battery

Capacity 4800 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (37% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:12 hr 1:35 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:17 hr 10:02 hr
Watching video 15:27 hr 15:39 hr
Gaming 05:07 hr 04:33 hr
Standby 101 hr 110 hr
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4032 x 3024
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) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 3 (12 MP + 8 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
- 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
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
- 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 76 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.5" (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: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.0" (CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus from DxOMark -
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 6528 x 4896
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.0
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns 0.8 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/2.74"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

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
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- USB-Host mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
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 * Yes No
Hybrid slot No Yes
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 2020
Release date February 2021 October 2020
SAR (head) 0.54 W/kg 0.5 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.33 W/kg 1.35 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
Bundled charger - Yes, 15 W
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

These smartphones have a lot in common, but we would recommend the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus . It has a better performance, gaming, and design.

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