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Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Apple iPhone SE (2020)

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Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Apple iPhone SE (2020)

70 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21
VS
58 out of 100
Apple iPhone SE (2020)
Samsung Galaxy S21
Apple iPhone SE (2020)

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone SE (2020), which is powered by Apple A13 Bionic and came out 9 months before. 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 (1)

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
  • Comes with 2179 mAh larger battery capacity: 4000 vs 1821 mAh
  • Thinner bezels – 21.8% more screen real estate
  • Has 2.7x more RAM: 8GB versus 3GB
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 1.5 inches larger screen size
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Shows 8% longer battery life (25:44 vs 23:55 hours)
  • Delivers 30% higher peak brightness (864 against 663 nits)
  • The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone SE (2020)
  • Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
  • 21% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1620 and 1340 points
  • Weighs 21 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Apple iPhone SE (2020) 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
Phone:
Galaxy S21
vs
iPhone SE (2020)

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED IPS LCD
Size 6.2 inches 4.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 750 x 1334 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 16:9
PPI 421 ppi 326 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 800 nits 625 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 87.2% 65.4%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display 		- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.5% 99.9%
PWM 240 Hz Not detected
Response time 5 ms 29 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 2457:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S21 +30%
864 nits
iPhone SE (2020)
663 nits

Design and build

Height 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) 138.4 mm (5.45 inches)
Width 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) 67.3 mm (2.65 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 7.3 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz) 148 g (5.22 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gray, Pink, Purple White, Black, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-button
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Apple iPhone SE (2020) in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Apple A13 Bionic
Max clock 2900 MHz 2650 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 6 (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 1.6 GHz: Thunder
- 2 cores at 2.65 GHz: Lightning
Lithography process 5 nanometers 7 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Apple A13 GPU
GPU shading units 896 256
GPU clock 854 MHz 1230 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~629.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 150223 129399
GPU 340353 223288
Memory 151885 107740
UX 158712 204233
Total score 806977 665085
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 38.9 °C 44.3 °C
Stability 66% 68%
Graphics test 34 FPS 41 FPS
Graphics score 5714 6878
PCMark 3.0
Web score 12591 -
Video editing 7113 -
Photo editing 29385 -
Data manipulation 10438 -
Writing score 16561 -

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 3 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz -
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 64, 128, 256 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) iOS 13 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17)
ROM One UI 5.1 -
OS size 28.1 GB 8.4 GB

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 1821 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes, Qi (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (55% in 50 min) Yes (55% in 60 min)
Full charging time 1:35 hr 2:32 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:27 hr 09:36 hr
Watching video 12:26 hr 07:32 hr
Gaming 04:31 hr 03:06 hr
Standby 92 hr 86 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S21 +8%
25:44 hr
iPhone SE (2020)
23:55 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Digital
Flash Dual LED Quad 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) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° -
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 1 (12 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
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 28 mm
- Pixel size: 1.22 micron
- Sensor: 1/3", Apple iSight Camera (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)
-
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support 		- Bokeh mode
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone SE (2020) from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 7 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 3088 x 2320
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 32 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns 1 microns
Sensor type CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" -
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 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 Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C No
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 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support * Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 24 16
5G support Yes No

Sound

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

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced January 2021 April 2020
Release date February 2021 April 2020
SAR (head) 0.46 W/kg 0.98 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.51 W/kg 0.99 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
Bundled charger - Yes, 5 W
* 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 is definitely a better buy.

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