Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Motorola Edge 30
70
out of 100
VS
70
out of 100
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 Motorola Edge 30, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus and came out 16 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
- Delivers 37% higher peak brightness (864 against 632 nits)
- Handles wireless charging up to 15W
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
- 27% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (806K versus 635K)
- Reverse charging feature
- 29% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1340 and 1038 points
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Motorola Edge 30
- Higher display refresh rate – 144 Hz
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
- The phone is 1-year and 4-months newer
- Weighs 14 grams less
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
Scores with a red asterisk (
*
) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Value for money
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | 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 | 144 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 500 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 87.2% | 86.2% |
| Display features |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.5% | 96% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 250 Hz |
| Response time | 5 ms | 13 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) | 159.38 mm (6.27 inches) |
| Width | 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) | 74.23 mm (2.92 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 6.79 mm (0.27 inches) |
| Weight | 169 g (5.96 oz) | 155 g (5.47 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP52 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Gray, Pink, Purple | Silver, Blue, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus |
| Max clock | 2900 MHz | 2500 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 1.9 GHz: Kryo 670 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.2 GHz: Kryo 670 Gold (Cortex-A78) - 1 core at 2.5 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 | ~844.8 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 150223 | 189684 |
| GPU | 340353 | 168600 |
| Memory | 151885 | 125560 |
| UX | 158712 | 149274 |
| Total score | 806977 | 635077 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 38.9 °C | 50.6 °C |
| Stability | 66% | - |
| Graphics test | 34 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5714 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 12591 | - |
| Video editing | 7113 | - |
| Photo editing | 29385 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10438 | - |
| Writing score | 16561 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6, 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| 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 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) |
| ROM | One UI 5.1 | - |
| OS size | 28.1 GB | 20 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 4020 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 33 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 (50% in 22 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:35 hr | 1:04 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:27 hr | - |
| Watching video | 12:26 hr | - |
| Gaming | 04:31 hr | - |
| Standby | 92 hr | - |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 8192 x 6144 |
| 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 30FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 118° |
| Lenses | 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) | 3 (50 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 |
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8 - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/1.55", Omnivision OV50A (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) |
- 50 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Pixel size: 0.64 micron - Sensor: 1/2.76", Samsung S5KJN1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Phase autofocus |
| Depth lens | - |
- 2 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4 |
| Camera features |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark | - |
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3872 x 2592 | 6464 x 4864 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Pixel size | 1.22 microns | 0.7 microns |
| Sensor type | CMOS | ISOCELL CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" | 1/3.14" |
| 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 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 | 5.2 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE |
| 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 |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC * | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| 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 | 18 |
| 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 | April 2022 |
| Release date | February 2021 | May 2022 |
| 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 |
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | - | Yes, 33 W |
*
Disclaimer!
NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the performance, gaming, connectivity, software, and sound are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 . But if the camera and battery life are more of a priority – go for the Motorola Edge 30 .
