Samsung Galaxy S21 vs OnePlus 8T

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Samsung Galaxy S21 vs OnePlus 8T

70 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21
VS
69 out of 100
OnePlus 8T

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the OnePlus 8T, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 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
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the OnePlus 8T
  • Shows 20% longer battery life (31:00 vs 25:44 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.1)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (65W versus 25W)
  • Has a 0.35 inch larger screen size
  • Comes with 500 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 4000 mAh

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 and OnePlus 8T 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 6.2 inches 6.55 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 421 ppi 402 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 800 nits 760 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 87.2% 87%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.5% 97.2%
PWM 240 Hz 458 Hz
Response time 5 ms 13 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
864 nits
810 nits

Design and build

Height 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) 160.7 mm (6.33 inches)
Width 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) 74.1 mm (2.92 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.4 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz) 188 g (6.63 oz)
Waterproof IP68 No
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gray, Pink, Purple Silver, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 and OnePlus 8T in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
Max clock 2900 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
806977
CPU 150223 237030
GPU 340353 194865
Memory 151885 138888
UX 158712 182856
Total score 806977 757632
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 38.9 °C 48.1 °C
Stability 66% 99%
Graphics test 34 FPS 23 FPS
Graphics score 5714 3856
PCMark 3.0
13558
Web score 12591 9564
Video editing 7113 5769
Photo editing 29385 28626
Data manipulation 10438 10007
Writing score 16561 14537

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8, 12 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 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 28.1 GB 20 GB

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 65 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (55% in 50 min) Yes (94% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:35 hr 0:37 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:27 hr 11:47 hr
Watching video 12:26 hr 13:43 hr
Gaming 04:31 hr 04:34 hr
Standby 92 hr 93 hr
General battery life
25:44 hr
31:00 hr

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 Digital
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) 480 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 4 (48 MP + 16 MP + 5 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/1.7
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.25", Sony IMX586 (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)
- 16 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.0" (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
Macro lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
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 from DxOMark Photo samples of OnePlus 8T 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 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 5.1
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 No
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
87 dB
82.5 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 October 2020
Release date February 2021 October 2020
SAR (head) 0.46 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.51 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

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 OnePlus 8T .

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