Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs S10 Plus

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs S10 Plus

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, which is powered by Exynos 9 Octa 9820 and came out 23 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 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Shows 33% longer battery life (31:14 vs 23:31 hours)
  • Comes with 900 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4100 mAh
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 28% higher peak brightness (1023 against 798 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
  • 29% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (833K versus 644K)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • More recent OS version: Android 13 versus 12
  • Supports higher wattage charging (25W versus 15W)
  • The phone is 1-year and 11-months newer
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
  • Weighs 52 grams less
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and S10 Plus 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 6.8 inches 6.4 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3200 pixels 1440 x 3040 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19:9
PPI 515 ppi 522 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 1500 nits 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Screen-to-body ratio 89.8% 87.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 96.5%
PWM - 235 Hz
Response time - 4.8 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) 157.6 mm (6.2 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 74.1 mm (2.92 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 7.8 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 227 g (8.01 oz) 175 g (6.17 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling - Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gray, Blue Black, Blue, Green, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9820
Max clock 2840 MHz 2730 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 2 + 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 1.95 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.31 GHz: Cortex-A75
- 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Mongoose M4
Lithography process 5 nanometers 8 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Mali-G76 MP12
GPU shading units 896 432
GPU clock 854 MHz 720 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~607 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 236566 144798
GPU 255535 242166
Memory 157504 125475
UX 183564 129002
Total score 833650 644797
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 40.8 °C 42.5 °C
Stability 69% 82%
Graphics test 31 FPS 19 FPS
Graphics score 5221 3230
Web score - 6521
Video editing - 5799
Photo editing - 18486
Data manipulation - 6931
Writing score - 9827

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12, 16 GB 8, 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256, 512 GB 128, 1024 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.1
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 512 GB

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 9.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 12)
ROM One UI 5.1 One UI 4.0
OS size 26.4 GB 46.5 GB

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 4100 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 15 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes, Qi/PMA (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:11 hr 1:40 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:13 hr 06:58 hr
Watching video 15:32 hr 12:01 hr
Gaming 05:26 hr 03:39 hr
Standby 98 hr 80 hr
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 108 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 12000 x 9000 4000 x 3000
Zoom Optical, 10x Optical, 2x
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 240FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 4 (108 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) 3 (12 MP + 12 MP + 16 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 108 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.33", Samsung S5KHM3 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Laser autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.5 - 2.4
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung SAK2L4 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 10 MP
- Aperture: f/4.9
- Focal length: 240 mm
- Pixel size: 1.22 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.65", Samsung S5K3J1 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 52 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.6", Samsung S5K3M3 (ISOCELL 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)
- 16 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 12 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Phase autofocus
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 40 megapixels 10 megapixels
Image resolution 7864 x 5200 4320 x 2432
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Pixel size 0.7 microns 1.22 microns
Sensor type ISOCELL CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.65" 1/2.65"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (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
Bluetooth version 5.2 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, 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
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 No

Sound

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

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 February 2019
Release date February 2021 March 2019
SAR (head) 0.71 W/kg 0.516 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.58 W/kg 1.582 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- 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

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is definitely a better buy.

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