Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Note 10 Lite

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Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Note 10 Lite

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 ) that was released on January 4, 2022, against the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite, which is powered by Exynos 9 Octa 9810 and came out 24 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 FE 5G
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • Delivers 28% higher peak brightness (797 against 623 nits)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • 31% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (625K versus 476K)
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Snapdragon 888
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Stereo speakers
  • The phone is 2-years newer
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite
  • Shows 20% longer battery life (31:54 vs 26:34 hours)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Note 10 Lite 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 6.4 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 401 ppi 394 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 420 nits 600 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1200 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 89.6% 86.6%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97% 140.4%
PWM 247 Hz 229 Hz
Response time 6 ms 8 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) 163.7 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) 76.1 mm (3 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.7 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 177 g (6.24 oz) 199 g (7.02 oz)
Waterproof IP68 No
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gray, Green, Purple White, Black, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9810
Max clock 2840 MHz 2700 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78)
- 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1)
- 4 cores at 1.9 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.9 GHz: Exynos M3
L3 cache 4 MB -
Lithography process 5 nanometers 10 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 660 Mali-G72 MP18
GPU shading units 1024 324
GPU clock 792 MHz 572 MHz
FLOPS ~1622 GFLOPS ~370.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 140597 145575
GPU 209723 116075
Memory 134992 94664
UX 139479 116061
Total score 625671 476742
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 39.1 °C 41.9 °C
Stability 69% -
Graphics test 34 FPS -
Graphics score 5703 -
Web score 10889 -
Video editing 7079 -
Photo editing 28541 -
Data manipulation 10075 -
Writing score 14461 -

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6, 8 GB 6, 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128 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 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.0 One UI 5.0
OS size 17.5 GB 21 GB

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (51% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:40 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:42 hr 11:40 hr
Watching video 13:05 hr 13:07 hr
Gaming 05:29 hr 05:05 hr
Standby 91 hr 105 hr
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4000 x 3000
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 2x
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 120°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) 3 (12 MP + 12 MP + 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/1.7
- Focal length: 27 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55" (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 76 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.5", Hynix Hi847 (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 52 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.6" (CMOS)
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.0", Sony IMX258 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 12 mm
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark -
Selfie camera
Megapixels 32 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 6464 x 4864 6464 x 4864
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 25 mm
Pixel size 0.8 microns 0.8 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS ISOCELL CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.74" 1/2.8"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac)
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 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage 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 * No No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 19 20
5G support Yes No

Sound

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

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2022 January 2020
Release date January 2022 February 2020
SAR (head) 0.95 W/kg 0.29 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.48 W/kg 1.08 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
Bundled charger Not included -
* 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 FE 5G is definitely a better buy.

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