Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs Galaxy A71

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs Galaxy A71

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy A71, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 and came out 13 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 Plus
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 2.4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (839K versus 344K)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 71% higher peak brightness (888 against 519 nits)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • Optical image stabilization
  • The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
  • Comes with 300 mAh larger battery capacity: 4800 vs 4500 mAh
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Stereo speakers
  • The phone is 1-year and 1-month newer
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A71
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
  • Weighs 21 grams less
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Galaxy A71 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 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 394 ppi 393 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ No
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 88.3% 87.2%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 98.2%
PWM 240 Hz 247 Hz
Response time 6.2 ms 3.8 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
888 nits
519 nits

Design and build

Height 161.5 mm (6.36 inches) 163.6 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 76 mm (2.99 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 7.7 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 200 g (7.05 oz) 179 g (6.31 oz)
Waterproof IP68 No
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Purple Black, Silver, Blue, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Samsung Galaxy A71 in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Qualcomm Snapdragon 730
Max clock 2840 MHz 2200 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 6)
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
- 6 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 470 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 2 cores at 2.2 GHz: Kryo 470 Gold (Cortex-A76)
Lithography process 5 nanometers 8 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Adreno 618
GPU shading units 896 256
GPU clock 854 MHz 700 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~358.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 244088 109500
GPU 269299 67070
Memory 159004 75848
UX 164833 88913
Total score 839148 344710
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 41.5 °C 37.5 °C
Stability 67% 97%
Graphics test 33 FPS 4 FPS
Graphics score 5538 740
Web score - 5547
Video editing - 5841
Photo editing - 14060
Data manipulation - 6693
Writing score - 8941

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6, 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 1866 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 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.1 One UI 5.0
OS size 27.2 GB 23.8 GB

Battery

Capacity 4800 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 35 min)
Full charging time 1:12 hr 1:22 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:17 hr 10:32 hr
Watching video 15:27 hr 14:49 hr
Gaming 05:07 hr 04:45 hr
Standby 101 hr 109 hr
General battery life
32:03 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 64 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 9000 x 7000
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Digital
Flash Dual LED 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 30FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 960 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 4 (64 MP + 12 MP + 5 MP + 5 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
- 64 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.7", Samsung Bright S5KGW1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
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)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
Macro lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
Depth lens - - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/5.0" (CMOS)
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A71 from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 6528 x 4896
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns 0.8 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS ISOCELL CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/2.8"
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 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
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP
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 Active
eSIM support * Yes No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 24 12
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 Mid-range
Announced January 2021 December 2019
Release date February 2021 February 2020
SAR (head) 0.54 W/kg 0.51 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.33 W/kg 1.56 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
* 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 Plus is definitely a better buy.

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