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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Honor 90

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Honor 90

76 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
VS
77 out of 100
Honor 90
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Honor 90

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Honor 90, which is powered by Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition and came out 29 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • Optical image stabilization
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • 17% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (833K versus 713K)
  • Stereo speakers
  • 18% higher pixel density (515 vs 435 PPI)
Reasons to consider the Honor 90
  • Supports higher wattage charging (66W versus 25W)
  • The phone is 2-years and 5-months newer
  • Delivers 18% higher peak brightness (1206 against 1023 nits)
  • Weighs 44 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Honor 90 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
Scores with a red asterisk ( * ) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Galaxy S21 Ultra
vs
Honor 90

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.8 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3200 pixels 1200 x 2664 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.98:9
PPI 515 ppi 435 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 1500 nits 600 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 89.8% 90.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display 		- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.7%
PWM - 728 Hz
Response time - 1 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S21 Ultra
1023 nits
Honor 90 +18%
1206 nits

Design and build

Height 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) 161.9 mm (6.37 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) 183 g (6.46 oz)
Waterproof IP68 No
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors Black, Silver, Gray, Blue Black, Silver, Blue, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Honor 90 in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition
Max clock 2840 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 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.36 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 1 core at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A710
Lithography process 5 nanometers 4 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Adreno 644
GPU shading units 896 768
GPU clock 854 MHz 660 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~1013.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 236566 214987
GPU 255535 168077
Memory 157504 178183
UX 183564 146324
Total score 833650 713354
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 40.8 °C 51 °C
Stability 69% -
Graphics test 31 FPS -
Graphics score 5221 -

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12, 16 GB 8, 12, 16 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256, 512 GB 256, 512 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.2
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 13
ROM One UI 5.1 MagicOS 7.1
OS size 26.4 GB 23 GB

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 66 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (20% in 5 min)
Full charging time 1:11 hr 0:55 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:13 hr -
Watching video 15:32 hr -
Gaming 05:26 hr -
Standby 98 hr -
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 108 megapixels 200 megapixels
Image resolution 12000 x 9000 16256 x 12192
Zoom Optical, 10x Digital
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Digital
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° 112°
Lenses 4 (108 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) 3 (200 MP + 12 MP + 2 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
- 200 MP
- Aperture: f/1.9
- Pixel size: 0.56 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.4", Samsung ISOCELL HP3 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
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
-
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
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
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 Ultra from DxOMark -
Selfie camera
Megapixels 40 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 7864 x 5200 8160 x 6112
Aperture f/2.2 -
Focal length 26 mm -
Pixel size 0.7 microns -
Sensor type ISOCELL CMOS -
Sensor size 1/2.65" -
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 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 MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.2 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
- 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 Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 24 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

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

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced January 2021 May 2023
Release date February 2021 June 2023
SAR (head) 0.71 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.58 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, 66 W
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the display and battery life are more important to you, then choose the Honor 90 . But if the camera, performance, gaming, connectivity, design, and sound are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra .

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