Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs OnePlus 9 Pro

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs OnePlus 9 Pro

73 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
VS
76 out of 100
OnePlus 9 Pro

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 OnePlus 9 Pro, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and came out 3 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 Plus
  • Comes with 300 mAh larger battery capacity: 4800 vs 4500 mAh
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the OnePlus 9 Pro
  • The rear camera has a 3.3x optical zoom
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • 33% higher pixel density (525 vs 394 PPI)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (65W versus 25W)

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and OnePlus 9 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 AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1440 x 3216 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 394 ppi 525 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1300 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 88.3% 90.3%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 97.8%
PWM 240 Hz 192 Hz
Response time 6.2 ms 41.5 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 161.5 mm (6.36 inches) 163.2 mm (6.43 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 73.6 mm (2.9 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 8.7 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 200 g (7.05 oz) 197 g (6.95 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Purple White, Black, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and OnePlus 9 Pro in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
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 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)
L3 cache - 4 MB
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Adreno 660
GPU shading units 896 1024
GPU clock 854 MHz 840 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~1622 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 244088 201729
GPU 269299 243518
Memory 159004 159120
UX 164833 194264
Total score 839148 805198
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 41.5 °C 45.6 °C
Stability 67% 58%
Graphics test 33 FPS 34 FPS
Graphics score 5538 5707
Web score - 8580
Video editing - 6053
Photo editing - 28299
Data manipulation - 9712
Writing score - 15802

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8, 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 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 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.1 OxygenOS 13
OS size 27.2 GB 16 GB

Battery

Capacity 4800 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 65 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (50 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (100% in 32 min)
Full charging time 1:12 hr 0:32 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:17 hr 11:19 hr
Watching video 15:27 hr 12:04 hr
Gaming 05:07 hr 04:57 hr
Standby 101 hr 113 hr
General battery life

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, 3.3x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 480 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 140°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 4 (48 MP + 8 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
- 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 23 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.43", Sony IMX789 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Laser 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
- 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 77 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.4", Omnivision OV08A10 (PureCel)
- 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)
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 14 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.56", Sony IMX766 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
Depth lens - - 2 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of OnePlus 9 Pro from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 16 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 4920 x 3264
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.0
Focal length 26 mm -
Pixel size 1.22 microns 1 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS Exmor-RS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/3.06"
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 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 5.2
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- USB-Host mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, SBAS
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 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 March 2021
Release date February 2021 March 2021
SAR (head) 0.54 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.33 W/kg 1.21 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
- Fingerprint
* 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 OnePlus 9 Pro . It has a better display and camera.

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